Tampa or Virginia Beach?

Virginia Beach is the true beach resort of the two. A wide strip of pale sand runs along the Oceanfront, with a boardwalk behind it, lifeguards and surf by the fishing pier. The calmer bay beaches near First Landing suit toddlers, and the dunes of Sandbridge are quieter. The drawback is a short swimming season on a cool Atlantic.

Tampa's own shore is mostly seawall. Its fine white sand is at Clearwater, St Pete Beach and Fort De Soto, up to an hour's drive away. The Gulf there is gentler and much warmer for more of the year, but each beach day is a separate outing.

Tampa has a culinary history that Virginia Beach lacks. The Cuban, Spanish and Sicilian heritage of Ybor City gives it pressed Cuban sandwiches with salami, deviled crab croquettes, café con leche and the century-old Columbia Restaurant. Food halls and the neighbourhood places of Seminole Heights add a modern layer.

Virginia Beach is strongest when it sticks to the water. Lynnhaven oysters, steamed blue crab and she-crab soup are worth seeking out around the inlet. The Oceanfront strip itself is mostly chains and buffets, and for more variety locals drive into Norfolk.

Neither city is a major cultural destination, but Tampa offers more to fill a few days. You can explore Ybor City's cigar factories and Latin social clubs, Henry Plant's 1891 hotel with its silver minarets, and the art and history museums along the river.

Virginia Beach's sights are few but historic. Cape Henry is where English colonists first landed in 1607, and the old lighthouse and the early colonial Thoroughgood House are nearby. Beyond those, the King Neptune statue on the boardwalk is the main landmark.

Tampa offers more choice of night out, any time of year. Seventh Avenue in Ybor City has dance clubs and a late, rowdy weekend crowd, and SoHo has polished cocktail patios. There are also rooftops and taprooms on the Riverwalk, and every winter the Gasparilla pirate festival turns the bayfront into a giant party.

In Virginia Beach, going out mostly means summer on Atlantic Avenue, with casual beach bars and rooftop decks full of vacationers and sailors. Town Center is the more grown-up option. Off-season the strip closes early, and there is hardly any club scene.

Both cities are flat, watery coastal places with roughly equal outdoor appeal, but the experiences differ. In Tampa you kayak through cypress swamp, paddle mangrove tunnels, see manatees in winter and swim in the clear springs at Crystal River and Weeki Wachee. Winter and spring are the seasons for it.

Virginia Beach is better for walking and cycling empty coast. Back Bay and False Cape protect a long barrier spit of marsh and shoreline, and First Landing has trails through maritime forest. Its outdoor season is summer, with surfing and kayaking out to see dolphins.

Virginia Beach has the stronger day out. About an hour away, Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown and Yorktown cover the founding of English America and the end of the Revolutionary War. Kitty Hawk, Norfolk's waterfront and Richmond add to the list.

Tampa's outings are more varied but carry less weight. You can see the Dalí Museum in St Petersburg, the Greek sponge docks of Tarpon Springs, Sarasota's Ringling estate and the Frank Lloyd Wright buildings in Lakeland. None of them has the historical depth of Virginia's colonial towns.

Both cities work well with children, in different ways. Tampa is the theme-park choice: Busch Gardens has roller coasters and an animal park, there are ZooTampa and the Florida Aquarium, and Legoland and Orlando are within reach. However, almost everything requires a drive.

Virginia Beach is a traditional seaside resort. There is the boardwalk with bike rentals, the Virginia Aquarium's sea turtles and otters, and calm bay water for toddlers. Colonial Williamsburg, where children can join in with costumed tradespeople, is an hour away.

Tampa's car-free zone is its city core. A heritage-style streetcar and the Riverwalk link Downtown, the Channel District and Ybor City, so a short stay among the museums and cigar-district restaurants works on foot. The beaches, Busch Gardens and South Tampa are all a drive away, often over bridges that clog at rush hour.

Virginia Beach is slightly easier without wheels, as long as you sleep at the Oceanfront. You can walk or cycle the boardwalk, and a summer trolley runs along Atlantic Avenue, so the beach itself needs no car. Sandbridge, Town Center and the state parks still do, and in both places most visitors end up renting one.

Tampa has a bit more for shoppers. There is an upscale mall with the luxury brands, the open-air boutiques of Hyde Park Village, and the one genuine local craft: cigars rolled by hand in small Ybor City shops.

Virginia Beach offers chain stores at Town Center and a regional mall. The Oceanfront adds surf shops with a long history alongside rows of souvenir T-shirt stores.

Overall costs are about the same, and both need a car, so the difference lies in the seasons. Tampa is cheapest in summer, when the heat and storms keep visitors away, and most expensive in the winter and spring high season. Cuban sandwich counters keep lunches cheap, but theme parks are a big expense for families.

Virginia Beach works the other way. Oceanfront rooms and beach houses are expensive on summer weekends and drop sharply out of season. The beach, the boardwalk and the state parks cost little or nothing.

Tampa has the better programme on its own doorstep. The Straz Center hosts touring Broadway shows, opera, ballet and the Florida Orchestra, and the ornate 1926 Tampa Theatre puts on films and concerts. Small rock venues gather in Ybor City.

Virginia Beach has summer amphitheatre tours and free concerts on the boardwalk stages. For opera, the symphony or the spring Virginia Arts Festival, you go to Norfolk.

Neither city has a bathing tradition, and in both the spas are mostly in hotels. In Tampa, relaxing means leaving the humid, spread-out city for the Gulf islands and their slow days of sunsets and long lunches. Virginia Beach can be calm without moving anywhere, with early mornings on the boardwalk and the quiet of spring and autumn, but avoid high summer, when the resort is crowded and loud.