Rehoboth Beach or St. Augustine?

The two are evenly matched for beaches. Both have wide, pale Atlantic sand with quieter state-park stretches at the ends. They differ in how you reach the beach and how long the swimming season lasts. In Rehoboth the beach is the town: you step off the boardwalk onto the sand, with Cape Henlopen's wilder dunes to the north. The water is only properly warm in July and August.

St. Augustine's beaches are across the Bridge of Lions on Anastasia Island, a short drive from the old town. They run from the state park's dunes down to quieter Crescent Beach. The sea is several degrees warmer and stays fine for swimming from late spring well into autumn, though it is usually greenish rather than clear.

Neither is a serious food destination, and they are about level, but the food is quite different. Rehoboth has more chef-led restaurants than most beach towns its size, thanks to its long history as a summer escape from Washington. Add steamed blue crabs, raw bars and a strong craft-beer culture. St. Augustine's food comes from its Minorcan settlers, with the fiery datil pepper in clam chowder and pilau, and from local shrimp eaten at casual places by the marsh creeks, although along St. George Street the cooking mostly serves passing tourists.

This is where the two differ most. St. Augustine was founded by the Spanish in 1565. The coquina walls of the Castillo de San Marcos, the balconied lanes of the Spanish quarter and Flagler's lavish hotels, one now a college and the other the Lightner Museum, give you several days of real sightseeing.

Rehoboth began as a Methodist camp meeting in the 1870s, and a few old cottages still recall it. The Rehoboth Art League is its main cultural stop, and visitors who want history usually drive over to Lewes.

Rehoboth is the better choice for a night out. As a long-standing LGBTQ resort, it has piano lounges, drag nights and sociable bars around Baltimore Avenue. Dewey Beach next door adds big outdoor deck bars and a younger, louder weekend crowd, though only in summer.

St. Augustine's evenings are calmer: an after-dinner drink in a courtyard pub or tavern around St. George Street and the bayfront, with Flagler College students adding some life in term time. Neither town has much in the way of clubs.

Both are low, flat and coastal, with dunes, salt marsh and dolphins offshore, so the outdoors is gentle in either. Rehoboth's strengths are Cape Henlopen's tall dunes, the woodland bike trail to Lewes and the inland bays for sailing and paddleboarding. St. Augustine has the Matanzas River and the Guana Tolomato Matanzas reserve for marsh walks, birding and kayaking through the creeks, but summer heat pushes most outings into the early morning.

Every outing from either town needs a car, and both offer a decent list rather than a remarkable one. Rehoboth's trips are short and small in scale: historic Lewes is ten minutes away, the ferry crosses Delaware Bay to Victorian Cape May, and Ocean City's boardwalk lies to the south.

St. Augustine's best days out take longer but are bigger. Jacksonville's museums and gardens are under an hour north. Kennedy Space Center and the Orlando theme parks each make a full day, at about two hours' drive each way.

Rehoboth suits children better. Lifeguarded beaches are a few steps from the rental houses, and Funland's gentle rides and arcade games are right on the boardwalk. Cape Henlopen has calm bay water and a nature centre for the youngest.

St. Augustine also works well with children, with the Alligator Farm, cannon firings at the fort and a lighthouse to climb. But its beaches need a drive, and the summer heat tires small children quickly.

Once you have arrived, Rehoboth is easier to get around. Downtown, the boardwalk and the beach are all a short walk apart, bikes go everywhere on the flat grid, and a cycle trail runs on to Lewes. A seasonal trolley reaches Dewey Beach and the outlets. The catch is getting there: there is no train, and the highway clogs on summer weekends.

St. Augustine's historic district is compact and good to walk. However, the beaches and lighthouse are across the water and local buses are of little use, so most visitors drive and park once.

Rehoboth gives shoppers more reason to come. Delaware has no sales tax, which brings shoppers from several states to the outlet centres along the highway, and Rehoboth Avenue mixes independent boutiques, home shops and bookshops in among the beachwear. St. Augustine's St. George Street sells mostly fudge and pirate souvenirs. The antique dealers and galleries of Aviles Street and a bottle of datil-pepper sauce are the better finds.

Neither is cheap, and a stay costs much the same in both. Rehoboth's beach houses and hotels charge high-season premiums on summer weekends, but prices fall sharply in spring and autumn, and the lack of sales tax helps. In St. Augustine the old-town inns and B&Bs are the expensive part, so savings come from motels by the highway or on the island and from midweek visits outside the spring and summer peaks.

St. Augustine has more live music, mainly because of its open-air amphitheatre in the woods on Anastasia Island. It brings touring rock, country and folk acts for much of the year, and acoustic sets play on old-town bar patios most nights.

Rehoboth has less on, and most of it is seasonal: free summer concerts at the bandstand, musicals and cabaret from a small local company, and the autumn film festival. For bigger touring acts, visitors drive further south in Sussex County.

Neither has a bathing tradition or much beyond a few day spas and hotel treatment rooms, so in both places relaxation comes from the slow pace rather than pampering. Rehoboth is quietest in June, September and on autumn weekends, with long walks on the empty boardwalk and bike rides under the pines. In St. Augustine, the calm comes from a B&B veranda or courtyard garden and an evening stroll along the bayfront seawall, best midweek.