Palm Beach or Pensacola?

Both are first-rate beach towns, but the beaches are different. Palm Beach has the Atlantic warmed by the Gulf Stream, so the sea stays swimmable in winter. However, much of the island's own shore sits behind seawalls and private estates, and the wider sand is a drive away at Singer Island, Jupiter or Delray.

Pensacola has miles of open, protected shore on Santa Rosa Island, with very white quartz sand, low dunes and gentle Gulf surf. The calm sound side is ideal for toddlers. The catch is the season: in winter the water is too cold for most swimmers, and rip currents need watching on rough days.

You will eat about equally well in both, in very different settings. Palm Beach is formal, with French and Italian dining rooms, terrace lunches off Worth Avenue, stone crab in season and dress codes taken seriously. The relaxed options, including Cuban bakeries and Caribbean takeaways, are across the bridge in West Palm Beach.

Pensacola is barefoot by comparison. Raw and chargrilled oysters, royal red shrimp and gumbo with a Creole touch are eaten at waterfront shacks, and Palafox Street adds modern Southern cooking and brewery taprooms.

Each fills two or three days, but they tell different stories. Palm Beach is about Gilded Age money. The Flagler Museum in Henry Flagler's marble Whitehall, Mizner's Mediterranean Revival vias and the ocean-front estates are the sights, and the Norton Museum adds a serious art collection.

Pensacola is about older, layered history: Spanish, French and British rule seen in the Seville district and Plaza Ferdinand, the brick Fort Pickens, and the National Naval Aviation Museum's huge collection of aircraft. Art lovers lean to Palm Beach, and history buffs lean to Pensacola.

Pensacola is the more fun place after dark. Palafox Street and the Seville Quarter fill at weekends with locals and young Navy personnel, the island has sand-floored beach bars with a summer party mood, and the rowdy roadhouse on the Alabama line at Perdido Key is an institution.

On Palm Beach the evening usually ends with dinner and a hotel bar, and the island is silent by eleven. A night out there means crossing to Clematis Street in West Palm Beach.

The two are broadly matched, and both are flat and full of water, but the highlights differ. Palm Beach is strongest underwater: natural reefs lie close offshore, and the shallow Blue Heron Bridge site is famous for seahorses and octopus. On land you have alligators at Loxahatchee and manatees gathering in winter.

Pensacola's strength is the protected coast itself. The national seashore has dunes, salt marsh and dolphins in the bay, and inland the Blackwater River is excellent for canoeing and tubing. Divers there go to a sunken aircraft carrier rather than a living reef.

Palm Beach has the bigger outing on its doorstep. Miami's Art Deco South Beach, Little Havana and Wynwood are about an hour away by fast train, with no driving needed, and Delray and Jupiter's lighthouse make easy half-days.

From Pensacola, the best trip is Mobile, an hour west, with its antebellum streets and Mardi Gras heritage, plus Fairhope across the bay. Beyond that, the choices are mostly beach towns like Destin and Seaside, and every one of them means a drive.

Children do equally well in both, in different ways. Palm Beach's formal island can feel stiff for children, so the fun is across the bridge: the zoo with its panthers, the science centre and aquarium, Manatee Lagoon and a drive-through safari park.

Pensacola is a simpler beach vacation, built around calm sound-side water and condos with kitchens and pools. Planes are the special draw: the aviation museum and the home of the Blue Angels. Neither has theme parks.

Palm Beach is easier without a car, though not by much. Its centre is walkable, the flat Lake Trail is a lovely bike route, downtown West Palm Beach has a free trolley, and the fast train reaches Miami.

In Pensacola, only Palafox Street and the historic district are walkable. The beach, the naval air station and Perdido Key are spread along highways and bridges, so even short trips become drives.

Palm Beach is a real shopping destination, and Pensacola is not. Worth Avenue's few blocks hold the major luxury houses and jewellers among palm-shaded courtyards, the consignment shops are known for their designer finds, and Antique Row in West Palm Beach is a long strip of dealers.

In Pensacola, Palafox Street has some independent boutiques and gift shops, and the Saturday market adds local crafts. The rest is a chain mall and beach souvenirs.

Pensacola costs far less. It is moderate for a US beach town: rooms in town are cheaper, the biggest museum is free and the seashore is inexpensive, though car hire adds up.

Palm Beach is one of the most expensive resorts in the country, with winter hotel rooms and restaurants priced for the very wealthy. Staying in West Palm Beach or coming in the humid summer softens the cost, but it is never cheap.

Palm Beach has the stronger stage, but mostly in winter. The Kravis Center brings visiting orchestras, ballet and touring Broadway, and also hosts Palm Beach Opera's short season. Palm Beach Dramaworks puts on serious plays, and the Society of the Four Arts holds chamber concerts.

Pensacola's restored 1925 Saenger Theatre hosts its own symphony, opera and ballet. That is impressive for a small city, but it is regional in scale.

Neither has a bathing tradition, but Palm Beach is built for unwinding. Big oceanfront resorts have polished spas, salt-water pools and fitness programmes, and the island is quiet and slow away from the high season.

Pensacola has hotel day spas and massage studios in town. Its calm comes from the empty off-season stretches of the island and Perdido Key.