Anaheim or San Diego?

San Diego lives on its coast, with around 110km of shoreline: Coronado's wide strand, the boardwalk at Mission and Pacific Beach, gentle surf at La Jolla Shores and calm, sheltered water in Mission Bay for small children. You can be on the sand within minutes of most hotels.

Anaheim is about 20km inland, so Huntington's surf beach, Newport's harbour and Laguna's coves need a car and around half an hour each way. The water is equally cool off both, warm enough without a wetsuit only in late summer.

San Diego has the stronger local identity: Baja-style fish tacos, California burritos from late-opening taco shops, fresh seafood by the water and one of the country's densest craft-beer scenes, with taprooms across North Park and Miramar. Convoy Street adds a long run of Asian kitchens.

Anaheim eats poorly around the resort, where chains and park counters rule, but rewards anyone who drives out. Little Arabia on Brookhurst Street and Little Saigon in Westminster and Garden Grove are genuinely good reasons to leave the hotel area.

Anaheim's one real landmark is Disneyland itself, the park Walt Disney saw open, plus the Mother Colony House and old packing houses. For museums you drive to the Bowers in Santa Ana or the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda.

San Diego offers considerably more. Balboa Park's Spanish Colonial Revival buildings hold a full day of museums, the USS Midway and the Maritime Museum's ships line the waterfront, and Old Town, Mission San Diego de Alcalá and Cabrillo National Monument cover the region's Spanish, Mexican and early American history.

In Anaheim the evening usually ends with the park fireworks and a few drinks along the resort promenade, with brewpubs downtown and crowds near the stadiums on game nights.

San Diego has several distinct scenes to pick from: rooftop bars and clubs in the Gaslamp Quarter, a rowdy beach-bar strip in Pacific Beach, and neighbourhood cocktail bars and taprooms in North Park and Hillcrest, which also anchors the gay scene. It is easy and sociable rather than late-night famous.

San Diego puts the outdoors at the door: the sandstone bluffs of Torrey Pines, sea lions and kayak routes into the sea caves at La Jolla Cove, and tide pools at Cabrillo. About an hour inland, the Cuyamaca and Laguna mountains and the badlands of Anza-Borrego add forest and desert.

Anaheim's surroundings are pleasant rather than dramatic, and everything needs a drive. The Santa Ana Mountains, Crystal Cove's bluff-top walks and whale-watching boats from Newport and Dana Point make good outings, but none of it is on the doorstep.

Anaheim's central spot gives it the edge. Los Angeles, with Hollywood, Griffith Observatory and the Getty, is about an hour away, Long Beach and the Queen Mary are closer, and ferries cross to Catalina. San Juan Capistrano, Laguna Beach and Temecula are all easy, and San Diego itself is a two-hour drive.

San Diego's list is shorter but more unusual, because the border is so close. Tijuana is a trolley ride and a walk away, and the Valle de Guadalupe vineyards are about two hours south, while Julian's apple-pie hills and the North County beach towns cover the US side.

Both are among the best places anywhere for children, but they work differently. Anaheim concentrates everything: two Disney parks and Knott's Berry Farm sit within minutes of hundreds of family hotels, so there is little driving and few wasted hours.

San Diego offers more variety, with the zoo and Safari Park, SeaWorld, Legoland and Balboa Park's lawns and museums, plus real beaches for paddling. The trade-off is distance, as each big attraction tends to take a whole day including the drive.

Neither works well without a car, but San Diego is a little easier. Its trolley links downtown, Little Italy, Old Town and the border, and coastal trains reach the North County beach towns.

Anaheim's resort district is walkable and served by shuttles, which is enough for a parks-only stay. Beyond it, Orange County is freeways and wide boulevards, and apart from trains to Los Angeles and San Diego you will rely on a hire car or ride-hailing.

Anaheim edges ahead for big-name shopping, mainly thanks to the luxury mall in Costa Mesa about 20 minutes south, along with outlet centres and a vast range of Disney merchandise in the resort. It is all done by car, mall to mall.

San Diego has less firepower but more character: independent boutiques and vintage shops in Little Italy and North Park, galleries in La Jolla, Mexican crafts in Old Town and an outlet centre by the border.

Both are expensive, for similar reasons. In Anaheim the multi-day park tickets and the hotels near the gates take most of the budget, though chain motels a short drive away and the Vietnamese and Middle Eastern districts help.

San Diego's costs are spread across beach and downtown hotels and several high-priced attractions. Its free beaches, Balboa Park's gardens and cheap taco shops make low-spend days easier to put together.

San Diego has the stronger stage. The Old Globe in Balboa Park and the La Jolla Playhouse are serious producing theatres that have sent shows to Broadway, the symphony plays outdoors on the bay in summer, and there is a short opera season.

Anaheim's evening shows are mostly Disney parades, water spectacles and park musicals, polished but made for families. For a formal night out, the Segerstrom Center in Costa Mesa hosts the Pacific Symphony and touring Broadway.

San Diego is the more restful stay. Encinitas has a long-standing yoga and meditation culture around its clifftop gardens, Coronado, La Jolla and Carlsbad have resort spas, and slow beach mornings come naturally.

An Anaheim trip built on early starts and park crowds is rarely calm. Relaxation means the resort hotel pool, a Korean-style day spa in the suburbs, or a drive to the clifftop spas of Laguna Beach and Dana Point.