Bend or Carmel-by-the-Sea?

Carmel has a real beach. Its long arc of white sand below Ocean Avenue, with views across to Pebble Beach, is the place for a sunrise walk or a blanket at sunset. The water is cold and the surf rough, though, and the beaches to the south are too dangerous for swimming.

Bend is hours from any ocean. Its summer water life is tubing the Deschutes through town and taking chilly dips in the Cascade Lakes in August. That is pleasant, but it is a short add-on to a stay rather than a seaside you would plan around.

The two eat about equally well but in very different styles. Bend revolves around beer: brewpubs with big menus, food-cart pods with fire pits, and coffee before an early trailhead start, all casual and fairly cheap.

Carmel serves candlelit French and Italian dinners, Dungeness crab and sand dabs from the bay, and wines from the Santa Lucia Highlands. It is refined, pricey and done early. In neither town will you find much international food.

Carmel has more to see. Mission San Carlos Borromeo, where Junípero Serra is buried, is one of the finest missions in California. Add the storybook cottages and Robinson Jeffers' Tor House and you have a morning or two of real character.

Bend's best cultural stop is the High Desert Museum, with its live animals and regional history. Beyond that there are the brick blocks downtown and the old mill smokestacks, which together fill about an afternoon.

Neither town is lively after dark, but Bend at least has evenings out. Taprooms and food-cart courtyards are busy, and downtown has a short run of cocktail and dive bars that fill up on summer weekends. In Carmel a night out is a tasting room, a long dinner and maybe a hotel lounge nightcap, and the streets are quiet by ten.

Both are outstanding outdoor bases, but the landscapes are opposites. Bend is volcanic high desert under the Three Sisters, with skiing on Mount Bachelor, mountain biking from town, climbing at Smith Rock, and lava caves and obsidian fields at Newberry, all in reliable sunshine.

Carmel is coast. Point Lobos has granite coves full of seals and otters, Big Sur's bluffs and redwoods are close by, whales pass offshore and you can kayak or dive in the kelp forests of Monterey Bay. Expect fog on summer mornings, while Bend's summers are dry and clear.

Carmel has many more places to visit nearby. Monterey's Cannery Row and old Spanish capital, Victorian Pacific Grove, the tasting rooms of Carmel Valley, Steinbeck country in Salinas and the Santa Cruz boardwalk are all easy outings.

From Bend, the trips are mostly into landscape. Sisters makes a pleasant western-style main street outing, but the ranching towns nearby offer little, and Crater Lake and the Painted Hills each take a long day's drive.

Bend is the easier town for children. Floating the river, exploring the Lava River Cave by lantern, the otters at the High Desert Museum, ski school on Mount Bachelor and the playful lawns of Drake Park make the whole town feel built for active families.

Carmel itself is grown-up and quiet, and the cold surf rules out paddling. It does have the Monterey Bay Aquarium fifteen minutes away and good tide pools, so it works for school-age children who love wildlife.

You need a car in both, because the real attractions lie outside town. In Bend the compact centre is linked by a riverside path, and cycling on trails and quiet streets is a real way of getting about. A seasonal shuttle runs to the ski slopes.

Carmel's square-mile grid is pleasant to walk, though the hill down to the beach is steep and the lanes are dark at night with few pavements. Thin bus services reach Monterey, and summer parking in the centre is tight.

Carmel is the better place to browse. It has an unusual number of galleries for its size, and courtyards tucked between them hold cashmere, jewellery and wine shops, though it is small and expensive.

Bend's shopping is mostly practical: chain stores in the Old Mill buildings and a few independent boutiques. Its one strength is outdoor gear, with good ski, bike and climbing shops and consignment stores for used equipment.

Neither is cheap, but Carmel is in another league. Its village inns are priced as luxury all year, dinners and wine tasting cost a lot, and many visitors stay in Monterey or Seaside to save money.

Bend is expensive in summer and on ski weekends. Food carts, free trails and rivers, and quieter spring and autumn midweek stays still give you ways to keep costs down. You will need a hire car in either place.

Both have modest arts scenes that are busiest in summer, but they appeal to different audiences. Bend has touring rock, folk and country acts at its riverside amphitheatre, free concerts in the parks and the Tower Theatre for the rest of the year.

Carmel is classical and theatrical. The Bach Festival has run since 1935, the Forest Theater puts on plays under the pines, and the Monterey Jazz Festival takes place next door each September.

Carmel is the more restful choice. The spas at the Pebble Beach lodges and the Carmel Valley resorts are well regarded, inns offer in-room treatments, and the misty, still pace of the village is restful in itself.

In Bend, relaxing mostly means a hot tub after skiing or a day spa in Sunriver. The primitive hot springs at Paulina Lake are a hike, not a pampering. People come here to be active rather than to rest.