Sarasota or St. Pete Beach?

These are two of the best stretches of sand on the Gulf, and the swimming is the same in both: calm, shallow water that is bath-warm from May to October and cool in winter. Red tide can affect either. The difference is in layout. Sarasota's beaches are spread across several keys, from Siesta Key's powdery quartz close to town to the quieter, residential sands of Longboat Key and Anna Maria Island, with shark-tooth hunting at Venice to the south.

St. Pete Beach is one continuous strip you can walk, with low-rise, unhurried Pass-a-Grille at its southern tip. The dune-backed beaches of Fort De Soto and boat trips to the undeveloped sands of Shell Key are a short drive away.

Neither place is worth travelling to just for the food, and both rely on the same Gulf seafood: grouper sandwiches, stone crab claws in season and fish shacks by the water. Sarasota has more choice in town, with bistros and wine bars along Main Street and St Armands Circle. It also has the unusual pleasure of Amish and Mennonite home cooking and pie in Pinecraft.

St. Pete Beach is more casual. Eating there centres on sunset dinners on a deck at Pass-a-Grille or Corey Avenue, with plenty of chain and resort restaurants along Gulf Boulevard. For more ambitious cooking you drive across to St. Petersburg.

Sarasota is well ahead here. The Ringling alone fills a day, with Rubens canvases in the art museum, John Ringling's Venetian Gothic mansion Ca' d'Zan and the circus museum. Around town are the mid-century modernist buildings of the Sarasota School of Architecture and the 1920s Mediterranean Revival streets of Burns Court.

St. Pete Beach has the pink 1920s Don CeSar as its landmark, Pass-a-Grille's old beach cottages and small history museum, and the Spanish-American War batteries at Fort De Soto. For proper museums, visitors cross the bay to St. Petersburg.

Evenings end early in both places. Neither has a club scene, and the crowd tends to gather for the sunset and leave soon after. Sarasota's version is more grown-up and more of a town night out: wine bars, cocktail bars and pubs along Main Street, with open-air beach bars at Siesta Key Village.

St. Pete Beach is barefoot by comparison, with tiki decks and cover bands along Gulf Boulevard and at Pass-a-Grille and a few livelier bars on Corey Avenue. It is better placed for a late night, though: downtown St. Petersburg is about half an hour away, while from Sarasota it is a longer drive.

Both are flat coastal country where the wildlife is the main attraction, and in both the summer heat pushes outdoor plans into the early morning. Sarasota has the bigger draw on land. Myakka River State Park, about half an hour inland, has prairies, a treetop canopy walkway and alligators on the riverbanks. On the coast there are mangrove tunnels off Lido Key and manatees in Sarasota Bay.

St. Pete Beach is almost entirely about the water. You can paddle the mangrove trails at Fort De Soto and Shell Key, take a dolphin boat, fish from the piers or watch roseate spoonbills and pelicans on the flats at the mouth of Tampa Bay.

St. Pete Beach is better placed for day trips. St. Petersburg, with the Dalí Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts, is about half an hour away, and Tampa's Ybor City is under an hour. Dunedin and Tarpon Springs lie to the north, and Sarasota's Ringling estate is about an hour south across the Sunshine Skyway. Orlando's theme parks are possible in a long day.

From Sarasota the same St. Petersburg and Tampa sights are an hour or more away, and Orlando is out of reach. To make up for it, Sarasota has better outings to the south: the 1920s planned town of Venice and the Edison and Ford winter estates at Fort Myers.

Both offer small children the same calm, shallow water and soft sand, and in both you will plan around the summer heat and drive between outings. Sarasota's own attractions are good ones: the aquarium at Mote Marine Laboratory, with sharks, turtles and manatees, and the giant model circus at the Ringling. Rentals with pools are easy to find.

St. Pete Beach is slightly ahead because of what is within reach. Locally there is shelling on Shell Key, dolphin boats and the fort and fishing pier at Fort De Soto. Clearwater's and Tampa's aquariums are within an hour, Busch Gardens is nearer than from Sarasota, and Orlando works as a long day out.

You will want a car in either place. The buses are slow, and almost every outing beyond the beach is a drive. Sarasota has three separate walkable areas, downtown, St Armands Circle and Siesta Key Village. They are linked by causeways that get congested in the winter season, and a free trolley runs along Siesta Key.

St. Pete Beach is simpler: one narrow strip along Gulf Boulevard with a trolley running its whole length, so you can get around town without the car. Tampa's airport is roughly 45 minutes away by road.

Sarasota is the better place to shop. St Armands Circle, a ring of shops selling resort wear and jewellery alongside galleries, makes a pleasant afternoon. Main Street and Palm Avenue add independent boutiques, and a regional mall covers the chain brands.

St. Pete Beach sells mostly swimwear, beach gear and souvenirs along Gulf Boulevard. There are a few boutiques on Corey Avenue and small craft shops in Pass-a-Grille, but for malls or department stores you drive inland.

Both are expensive in the same American-resort way. Restaurant bills come with tax and a tip on top, you will probably pay for a hire car, and the free beaches are the main saving. Prices peak at slightly different times: Sarasota's keys are dearest from January to April, St. Pete Beach from February to April. Both get cheaper in late summer.

The ways to save differ. In Sarasota it pays to stay on the mainland rather than on the keys, and the state parks charge little to get in. In St. Pete Beach, older motels a block back from the sand and casual seafood places keep costs down, and the beaches cost nothing beyond parking.

This is where the two differ most. Sarasota has an unusually full arts calendar for its size, mostly from autumn to spring. There is opera in a restored 1920s theatre, a ballet company known for Frederick Ashton's work, a full orchestral season, the Asolo Repertory Theatre on the Ringling grounds, and touring shows at the purple Van Wezel hall on the bay.

In St. Pete Beach, live performance means a cover band or an acoustic set at a beach bar. The nearest equivalents are the Florida Orchestra and the theatres in St. Petersburg, or Tampa's large performing arts centre for touring musicals and opera.

Both are mainly about an unhurried pace. Neither has a bathing tradition, and wellness means resort and day spas. Sarasota has one thing St. Pete Beach lacks: Warm Mineral Springs, about forty minutes south, a spring-fed pool that stays warm all year. Sunrise yoga on the sand is also easy to find.

St. Pete Beach's calm comes from the daily rhythm of a morning walk, a long afternoon and a sunset everyone stops to watch, and it is most relaxed in Pass-a-Grille. Each has its busy spell: winter traffic on Sarasota's keys and the spring-break weeks at St. Pete Beach.