Big Bear Lake or Tucson?

Neither is a beach destination, but Big Bear Lake at least has water to get into. It is a cool summer lake with a supervised swim beach at Meadow Park and rocky shoreline elsewhere, better suited to kayaks and paddleboards than to long swims.

Tucson has no natural swimming worth the name. You swim in your hotel or resort pool, the creek pools in Sabino Canyon come and go with the rains, and the nearest sea is a four-hour drive into Mexico.

Tucson has a cuisine of its own, and Big Bear does not. Sonoran Mexican cooking means mesquite-grilled carne asada, paper-thin flour tortillas and Sonoran hot dogs from south-side stands. There are long-running family kitchens along South 12th Avenue, and desert ingredients such as tepary beans and prickly pear turn up on menus.

Big Bear feeds hungry skiers and hikers with diner breakfasts, burgers, pizza and brewpub pints in the Village, and many visitors simply cook in their cabins. The food keeps you going, but it is not a reason to go.

The gap here is wide. Tucson has a sight of national standing in the painted and gilded interior of Mission San Xavier del Bac. Add the adobe streets of Barrio Viejo and El Presidio, the Native American collections of the Arizona State Museum and the rows of aircraft at the Pima Air & Space Museum, and you have two or three full days.

Big Bear's history comes down to a small museum, the Discovery Center and a dirt-road drive past the 1860s gold-rush remains in Holcomb Valley. The chalet-style Village is modern.

Tucson has a real night out and Big Bear barely has one. Fourth Avenue's dive bars and patios and the cocktail bars and rooftops of Congress Street are within walking distance of each other. They are lively on weekends during the university term, though modest by big-city standards.

In Big Bear the evening ends with après-ski in a Village pub or a brewpub pint, then the hot tub and an early night. Neither town has clubs worth travelling for.

Both are serious bases for the outdoors, of opposite kinds. Big Bear Lake is alpine, with pine and oak forest around a lake. Winter brings two ski areas with reliable snowmaking and bald eagles on the lake. In summer there are mountain-bike runs, the Pacific Crest Trail and the San Gorgonio Wilderness.

Tucson is desert first, with saguaro forests in the national park on both sides of town, canyon trails at Sabino and Catalina State Park, serious road cycling and birdwatching of world standing. The drive up Mount Lemmon adds pine forest and rock climbing. Its desert trails are best in the cool season, while Big Bear's are at their best in summer.

Tucson has far more within reach. Bisbee's Victorian mining streets, Wild West Tombstone, the artists' village of Tubac with the Tumacácori mission ruins, the Sonoita wineries and Biosphere 2 all make easy days out by car.

From Big Bear, winding mountain roads slow everything down. Lake Arrowhead and the Oak Glen orchards are the realistic outings, and Riverside or Palm Springs mean a long day, so most visitors stay on the mountain.

Both work well for families, in different ways. Big Bear is about snow for children who rarely see it, with sledding hills and beginner lessons. In summer there are the alpine slide, pedal boats and the small Alpine Zoo, all from a roomy cabin.

Tucson has more day attractions, from the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum to the planetarium and the giant aircraft. They are spread across the city, though, and hard going in the summer heat. Big Bear's drawbacks are the thin air and roads that crawl on winter weekends.

In both places a car is essential, so the difference lies in what you can do without one. Big Bear's Village is compact and walkable, and a local bus and a seasonal trolley run to the ski areas. The mountain roads up can need snow chains and crawl on busy weekends.

In Tucson, the Sun Link streetcar links a walkable core of downtown, Fourth Avenue and the university. The national park, the Desert Museum and Mount Lemmon are all on the edges or well outside, but traffic is light and parking easy.

Big Bear's shopping fills about an hour. It comes down to a few Village blocks of fudge and candy stores, bear souvenirs and outfitters renting skis and kayaks, and for anything bigger you drive down to the valley.

Tucson's shopping is about the region rather than fashion, and it gives you far more worth taking home. Look for Native American jewellery, Tohono O'odham baskets and Mexican folk art in the old-town galleries and in Tubac, and for vintage finds along Fourth Avenue. Each winter the gem and mineral show fills hotels and tents across the city.

Tucson is the easier place to keep costs down. Mid-range hotels cost less than in the larger Southwest cities, taquerías and hot dog stands make eating cheaply simple, and summer brings real bargains, though the winter gem show pushes rates up.

Big Bear can be economical for a group sharing a cabin midweek. On winter weekends, though, the cabin rates, lift tickets and gear hire add up quickly, and eating out costs as much as in the lowlands.

On stage, Big Bear offers a community arts centre with local theatre, free concerts by the lake in summer and the Bavarian bands of its autumn Oktoberfest.

For an evening at a concert or a show, Tucson is well ahead, mostly from autumn to spring. The symphony, the opera and the Arizona Theatre Company give it a small but genuine season. Touring productions play Centennial Hall, the restored Fox Theatre hosts concerts, and the city's deep mariachi tradition comes together at its annual conference.

In Big Bear, you mostly relax at the cabin, with a wood stove, a deck under the pines and the private hot tub that comes with many rentals. There are also a few day spas in town. It is peaceful midweek, but winter weekends bring crowds.

Tucson goes much further. Big Bear leaves you to unwind on your own, but the desert resorts in the Catalina foothills and out towards Oracle build whole stays around massage, fitness, guided desert walks and meditation, with spa pools looking out at the mountains. Add the winter sun and the quiet, and Tucson is the better choice for a restful break. Neither town has thermal baths or a bathhouse tradition.