St. Pete Beach or St. Petersburg, Florida?

These are the same beaches: St. Pete Beach is the strip of fine quartz sand that St. Petersburg's visitors drive out to. What differs is where you wake up. In St. Pete Beach the Gulf is across the road. You can choose between Pass-a-Grille's wide, sunset-facing sand and quieter Upham Beach, and Fort De Soto and Shell Key are just to the south.

Downtown St. Petersburg faces the bay, not the Gulf, so every beach day starts with a drive or the rapid bus west. In return it is a better base for variety, with Clearwater Beach and the ferry-only sands of Caladesi Island within about 40 minutes to the north.

St. Pete Beach does the Gulf staples well: grouper sandwiches, smoked fish spread and stone crab claws in season, eaten at a seafood shack or on a deck at sunset. Beyond Pass-a-Grille and Corey Avenue the choice thins out into chain and resort dining along Gulf Boulevard.

St. Petersburg serves the same seafood but has much more range behind it. The Grand Central and Edge districts along Central Avenue add brunch places and a few ambitious chef-led kitchens, and the city's many small breweries and taprooms are its strongest suit. Anyone staying on the beach who wants a better meal ends up driving here.

This is where the two differ most. St. Pete Beach's sights fit into an afternoon: the pink Don CeSar hotel, Pass-a-Grille's old cottages and small history museum, and the Spanish-American War batteries at Fort De Soto.

St. Petersburg has the Dalí Museum on its waterfront, with the largest collection of his work outside Spain. The Museum of Fine Arts, the Chihuly glass, the James Museum of Western art and the Arts and Crafts museum are all within walking distance, and murals cover the walls of the Central Arts District. That is two or three full days of looking, and it is half an hour's drive from the beach.

In St. Pete Beach the evening peaks at sunset, with cover bands on the tiki decks along Gulf Boulevard and at Pass-a-Grille. A few bars on Corey Avenue stay lively, but most people are back at their rooms not long after dark.

St. Petersburg offers a proper night out on Central Avenue, where cocktail bars, rooftop terraces, sports bars and taprooms are close enough to walk between, busiest at weekends and in winter. It is still not a clubbing town. For dancing late, both send you across the bay to Ybor City.

The landscape is the same in both: flat mangrove channels, seagrass flats and shallow bay water, where dolphins are easy to spot and manatees arrive in the cooler months. St. Pete Beach puts you closest to the paddling trails at Fort De Soto and Shell Key and to the fishing piers. St. Petersburg adds Weedon Island Preserve's mangrove trails on the bay side and the long, paved Pinellas Trail for flat cycling.

Both reach the same places: Ybor City and the riverwalk in Tampa, the sponge docks at Tarpon Springs, the Ringling in Sarasota, Anna Maria Island, and Orlando at the limit of a day.

The difference is where you start. From St. Pete Beach, the Sunshine Skyway puts Sarasota and Anna Maria within easy reach, and St. Petersburg itself, with its museums, becomes one of the best outings. From downtown St. Petersburg, Tampa and the towns to the north are a little closer, while the beach becomes the trip out.

Families do about equally well in either. St. Pete Beach is the simpler base with small children: the water is calm and shallow, many hotels open straight onto the sand, and dolphin boats and shelling at Shell Key are close by.

St. Petersburg adds Great Explorations, a hands-on children's museum that is useful on a stormy afternoon, but every beach day then needs a drive. Busch Gardens, the Tampa aquariums and the Clearwater Marine Aquarium are a similar drive from either base.

Neither works well without a car. St. Pete Beach is one long strip with a beach trolley, and Pass-a-Grille and Corey Avenue are pleasant to walk. Downtown St. Petersburg is the better place to be on foot, with the pier, the museums and Central Avenue close together and a rapid bus out to the sand. Beyond that core, both are car country.

Shopping in St. Pete Beach is mostly swimwear and souvenirs on Gulf Boulevard, with a handful of boutiques on Corey Avenue and small craft shops in Pass-a-Grille.

St. Petersburg is the better place to browse. Central Avenue and the Grand Central District have vintage and record shops, and its galleries sell local glass and prints. In winter there is the Saturday Morning Market downtown. Neither has a designer street, so for brand names both look to the malls in Tampa.

Both are expensive in the American way. Beachfront rates are highest from February to April, meals come with tax and tips on top, and most visitors need a hire car. In St. Pete Beach, the main saving is an older motel a block back from the sand. St. Petersburg has another option: a room downtown or a little inland costs less than beachfront, but you pay for it with a drive and parking every time you want the beach.

Live music in St. Pete Beach means a cover band or an acoustic set at a beach bar, and nothing more ambitious.

St. Petersburg has a modest but real stage scene. The Mahaffey Theater on the waterfront hosts the Florida Orchestra and touring shows, and there is a professional regional theatre company, a concert hall in a restored former church and an open-air courtyard for rock and indie bands. For opera, ballet and the big Broadway tours, both send you to Tampa's performing arts centre.

Neither has a bathing tradition, and both rely on resort spas and day spas. St. Pete Beach makes unwinding effortless, because a slow beach day is the default and Pass-a-Grille's sleepy streets are on the doorstep. St. Petersburg adds yoga studios and shady waterfront parks among the banyans, which suits people who relax better with a little town around them.