Albuquerque or Huntington Beach?

There is no contest here. Albuquerque is a high desert city whose river is silty and not used for swimming, so cooling off means a hotel pool or a drive out to Cochiti Lake.

Huntington Beach is built around its sand: about 14km of it, wide and flat, with volleyball nets, bonfire rings and surfers from dawn. The Pacific stays cool for much of the year and rip currents keep swimmers near the lifeguard towers. Even so, for a beach vacation this is the place.

Albuquerque has the more distinctive food. New Mexican cooking is a reason to visit in itself: red and green chile, carne adovada and stuffed sopaipillas. It is at its best in old family places in the valleys and along Route 66, and in late summer the city smells of roasting chile.

Huntington Beach eats casually, with fish tacos by the pier and brewpubs on the coast highway. Its best meals are a short drive inland, in the pho houses and banh mi bakeries of Little Saigon. Neither city is strong on fine dining.

Albuquerque has much more to see. Old Town's plaza and its 1793 church, the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, the National Hispanic Cultural Center, the nuclear science museum and the rock carvings at Petroglyph National Monument fill a couple of rewarding days.

In Huntington Beach the sights are the pier, the surfing museum and the Hall of Fame handprints at the foot of Main Street, which together take an afternoon. For museums and heritage, visitors drive to Los Angeles or the mission towns down the coast.

The two are close: both are quiet midweek and come alive on Friday and Saturday nights. In Albuquerque, the downtown bars and clubs get rowdy late, Nob Hill is calmer with cocktail bars and taprooms, and much of the evening is spent on brewery patios.

Huntington Beach puts everything on one Main Street strip. A young local crowd fills the sports bars and rooftop beach bars, and summer weekends get loud. For a bigger night out you drive to Long Beach or Los Angeles.

The Sandia Mountains give Albuquerque the edge. They rise straight from the suburbs, a tramway runs to a crest above 3,000m with forest trails along the top, and the steep La Luz Trail climbs the whole mountain on foot. The cottonwood bosque along the river, the volcanic escarpments to the west and the Jemez Mountains are all within easy reach.

In Huntington Beach the outdoors means the ocean: surfing, paddleboarding in the harbour channels and excellent birding at the Bolsa Chica wetlands. Inland the land is flat suburb, so for hills you drive to Crystal Cove or the Laguna coast.

Both make good bases if you have a car, but the trips are very different. From Albuquerque you head into the old Southwest. Choices include Santa Fe's plaza and the Canyon Road galleries, Acoma Pueblo on its mesa, the cliff dwellings of Bandelier and the mining villages of the Turquoise Trail, though the drives are long and the places far apart.

From Huntington Beach the trips are to big cities and the coast. Los Angeles is an hour away, Laguna Beach and the mission at San Juan Capistrano are close, a ferry reaches Catalina Island and San Diego lies further south.

Huntington Beach is the stronger family base. Disneyland, California Adventure and Knott's Berry Farm are all within half an hour, and the sand is on the doorstep, though the waves suit boogie boards more than toddlers.

Albuquerque does well with less. It has the BioPark's zoo and aquarium, Explora and the dinosaur halls, and the ride up the tramway. In October the Balloon Fiesta sends hundreds of balloons up together at dawn. The strong sun at altitude is the main thing to plan around.

Both are built for the car, and most visitors rent one. Albuquerque has the Central Avenue bus linking Old Town, downtown and Nob Hill, plus a commuter train to Santa Fe, and driving and parking are easy.

In Huntington Beach, Main Street can be walked and the flat beachfront path suits a bike. Everything else means busy freeways, and beach parking fills on summer weekends.

What you take home is completely different. Albuquerque is the place for Native and Southwestern craft: turquoise and silver jewellery, Pueblo pottery and Navajo weaving, sold around Old Town and the Pueblo Cultural Center. Chile ristras make easy souvenirs.

Huntington Beach sells surf culture, with boards and beachwear along Main Street. South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, twenty minutes away, has the luxury fashion houses that Albuquerque lacks.

Albuquerque is easier on the budget. Hotels are fairly priced except during Balloon Fiesta week, family restaurants serve generous plates and many of the main sights cost little or nothing, though a rental car is still a real expense.

Huntington Beach is a dear stretch of coast. Beachfront rooms are expensive in summer and at weekends, and the car and parking come on top. The free beach, the cheaper motels inland and the county's Vietnamese and Mexican food all help.

For an evening out without getting in the car, Albuquerque offers the fuller programme. Touring musicals and the philharmonic play at Popejoy Hall, the KiMo Theatre stages shows in its Pueblo Deco interior, flamenco has deep roots, and Native dances are performed at the Pueblo Cultural Center on weekends.

Huntington Beach itself has cover bands in the bars and summer concerts in the park. The serious stages are a short drive away in Costa Mesa, where the Segerstrom Center hosts the Pacific Symphony, ballet and opera, and South Coast Repertory runs a respected theatre season.

Neither city is a spa destination, and in both, pampering means a resort hotel. What differs is the setting. Albuquerque's calm comes from its dry air and big skies, and its best relaxation is a drive to the mineral pools at Jemez Springs or the bathhouses around Santa Fe.

Huntington Beach is for unwinding by doing little: yoga on the sand, sunset on the pier and an evening around a beach fire.