I’d say Far Rockaway is the better of the two. But I’m biased. Bayswater has its nice blocks and the area right on the bay is beautiful but a large portion of it isn’t very pleasant. The neighborhood bordering Far Rockaway and Bayswater is pretty scary. Bayswater does have more affordable housing.
Far Rockaway is mostly Jewish- a lot of shuls, yeshivos and schools. The community is a varied one- there are a lot of younger families living there and a few shuls catering to them. It has the LIRR-a fifty minute ride to Penn, and the A train but that takes an hour and a half to Manhattan.
It used to be a very close knit community- not so much anymore just by extension of the fact that is way larger than it ever was.
You get the best of both in Far Rockaway- a nice New York community that’s just a little out of all the overwhelmingness of Brooklyn and Manhattan.