Anaheim or Tijuana?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Anaheim has the better sand within reach. Half an hour by car takes you to Huntington's long surf beach, the harbour at Newport and the small coves of Laguna. Swimming there is a normal part of the day, in a wetsuit outside late summer.

Tijuana's own Playas de Tijuana is for a walk along the promenade to the border fence rather than a swim, because runoff spoils the water. For a beach day people go to Rosarito, half an hour south. It is livelier, with beach bars and horse rides, but the surf is rougher and the sea is just as cool.

Food is where Tijuana pulls well ahead, and it is the main reason many people cross the border. Stands carving adobada, bowls of birria with its broth and carts piled with clams and octopus keep serving late into the night. Baja Med restaurants in Zona Río and Chapultepec, craft taprooms and Valle de Guadalupe wines add a more serious level.

In Anaheim, the good eating is away from the resort's counters and chains. Look for the Lebanese and Yemeni bakeries of Little Arabia on Brookhurst Street and the pho and banh mi of Little Saigon next door. That gives a wider spread of cuisines, but you need a car to reach it.

Anaheim's culture comes down to a single landmark. Disneyland was the first Disney park and the only one Walt Disney saw finished, which makes it a real piece of American history. Little else survives of the German vineyard and citrus town beyond the Mother Colony House and the old packing houses. For museums such as the Bowers in Santa Ana or the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, you have to drive.

Tijuana gives you more to see in the city itself, though it is still only a day or two's worth. Under its dome, the Centro Cultural holds the Museo de las Californias, which follows the peninsula from rock art and missions to the border. Avenida Revolución keeps its Prohibition-era look and the Moorish Jai Alai palace. The mural-covered fence at Playas makes the border itself the most striking sight of all.

After dark, the two cities go in opposite directions. An Anaheim evening usually ends with the park fireworks and a drink on the resort promenade. Anything livelier means driving to Long Beach or Los Angeles.

Tijuana has been a place to go out since Prohibition. Avenida Revolución has the loud balcony bars aimed at visitors, while the cantinas and small dance spots of Calle Sexta and the cocktail bars of Colonia Cacho draw locals until late. Stay in those areas and use ride-hailing to get back.

Anaheim has more of the outdoors within easy reach. The Santa Ana Mountains and the Cleveland National Forest have chaparral trails, and Crystal Cove and the Laguna Coast Wilderness add tide pools and bluff-top walks. Whale-watching boats leave Newport in both winter and summer.

Tijuana's own hills are dry and built over, and its best scenery lies down the coast. There you find the cliff road to Ensenada, the surf breaks near Rosarito and gentle cycling among the vineyards. Proper hiking in the Sierra de Juárez is too far for a day trip.

Both cities make good bases, but Anaheim has the longer list. Los Angeles, with the Getty and Griffith Observatory, is about an hour away. Mission San Juan Capistrano and the ferry to Catalina add variety, and San Diego is a drive down the coast, with no border on the way.

Tijuana's strength is Baja: lobster in Puerto Nuevo, Ensenada's fish market and the wineries of the Valle de Guadalupe. San Diego is close as well, but the queue back into the United States can take hours.

Few places anywhere suit children as well as Anaheim. Disneyland and California Adventure stand side by side among family hotels, Knott's Berry Farm is ten minutes away, and many families never need to leave that small area.

Tijuana has enough for a day: hands-on science at El Trompo, the IMAX dome and the small animal collection in Parque Morelos. Beyond that, patchy pavements, distances that need a car and a main avenue aimed at drinkers make it a harder place to bring children.

Both are car cities with one walkable pocket, and the difference is what that pocket holds. In Anaheim it is the resort district, where hotels and shuttles serve the parks. Metrolink and Amtrak trains from the stadium run to Los Angeles and San Diego, but for anything else you need a hire car.

Tijuana's walkable core is downtown and Avenida Revolución, a short walk from the San Ysidro crossing. Elsewhere there is no metro and the route taxis are hard for visitors to work out. Taxis and ride-hailing are plentiful and cheap, though, so you rarely need a car.

Anaheim is better for shopping if you are after brands. A short drive to Costa Mesa takes you to one of the country's largest luxury malls, outlet centres cover the mid-range, and the resort is full of Disney merchandise. Independent shops are scarce.

Tijuana's shopping is different in kind. You bargain for silver, leather and pottery near the border, buy chillies and vanilla in Mercado Hidalgo and browse the galleries of Pasaje Rodríguez. It has character but little fashion.

The difference in cost is large. In Tijuana, eating from stands and markets, staying in a mid-range hotel and getting around town all cost little. Only the Revolución bars aimed at day-trippers and the better Baja Med and wine-country tables come close to international prices.

Anaheim's bill is driven by the parks: multi-day tickets, the premium for hotels near the gates and food priced for a captive crowd, plus car hire and parking. Chain motels further out and suburban restaurants help, but it stays a costly trip.

Anaheim has the edge for a formal evening, thanks to the Segerstrom Center in Costa Mesa. The Pacific Symphony plays there, and touring Broadway shows and ballet come through. The arena hosts big tours, and the night-time shows inside Disney are well produced.

Tijuana offers less, but more of it is local. The regional orchestra plays at the Centro Cultural, and a local opera company is known for its yearly open-air staging in a working-class district. There are mariachis on Plaza Santa Cecilia and the Calle Sexta bars where the Nortec sound grew up.

Neither city is a place to slow down, but Anaheim makes resting a little easier without going far. The big resort hotels are built with pools and spas for a quiet day between park visits, and the Korean bathhouse culture of the nearby suburbs means a sauna and a scrub are close at hand. When you want real peace, the clifftop spa resorts of Laguna Beach and Dana Point are a short drive down the coast.

Tijuana has less to fall back on. Zona Río hotel spas and cheap massages are there, but the noise and the border traffic are never far away. Its well-known clinics are for dental and medical treatment, not rest. Here, real calm means leaving the city for a stay on a vineyard estate in the wine valleys, about an hour and a half away.