Carmel-by-the-Sea or Las Vegas?

Neither is a swimming destination, but Carmel does have a real beach: a long curve of white sand under cypress trees at the foot of Ocean Avenue, good for walking, digging and sunset picnics. The water stays cold and rough all year, and the coves further south are for looking at only.

Las Vegas has no shore at all apart from the gravel of Boulder Beach on Lake Mead, a reservoir with no shade. Swimming there happens in resort pools and wave pools, which are far warmer than Carmel's sea but no substitute for a coastline.

Las Vegas offers far more choice. The Strip brings together famous chefs, steakhouses and tasting menus, and Spring Mountain Road adds kilometres of Sichuan, Korean, Thai and Vietnamese cooking, much of it open late.

Carmel's food is smaller in scale and more tied to the area: Dungeness crab, sand dabs and Castroville artichokes, Pinot Noir from the Santa Lucia Highlands, and candlelit bistros in cottages. It does these things well, but meals are early, expensive and almost all European or Californian, with nothing like the range or the late hours.

Both are short on sights, but in opposite ways. Carmel's interest is old and quiet: Mission San Carlos Borromeo with Junípero Serra's grave, the storybook cottages of the 1920s and Tor House, which Robinson Jeffers built by hand, plus a surprising number of galleries.

Las Vegas offers spectacle instead, from the themed resorts and fountains to the light canopy over Fremont Street, with the Neon Museum and the Mob Museum telling its short history. Either fills a morning or two. Go to Carmel for heritage and architecture, and to Las Vegas for showmanship.

This is the biggest gap between the two. Las Vegas runs around the clock, with casino bars that never close, star DJs in the resort clubs, dayclub pool parties, and cheaper dive and cocktail bars around Fremont Street and the arts district.

An evening in Carmel means a tasting room, dinner and maybe a hotel lounge, and the village is silent by ten. Even a drive to Monterey's Alvarado Street only adds a few modest bars.

Both have outstanding scenery nearby, but Carmel's is more varied and easier to enjoy all year. Point Lobos, the Big Sur cliffs, the redwoods of Pfeiffer Big Sur, oak trails in Garland Ranch, and the otters, kelp forest and whales of the bay are enough for a full week of walking and paddling.

Las Vegas has the sandstone and climbing of Red Rock Canyon, the flame-coloured rock of Valley of Fire and pine forest on Mount Charleston. It is striking country, but from June to September the heat limits desert hiking to dawn.

Carmel has the wider choice of outings, and most are short. Monterey's Cannery Row and adobes, Victorian Pacific Grove, the Carmel Valley vineyards, Steinbeck country around Salinas and the boardwalk at Santa Cruz are all within about an hour.

Las Vegas has Hoover Dam and Boulder City, and after that mostly distance. The Grand Canyon, Zion and Death Valley are magnificent landscapes, but they mean long days on the road rather than easy excursions.

Carmel is the gentler place for children, though it is not built for them. The Monterey Bay Aquarium can fill a whole day, and the tide pools at Point Lobos and Pacific Grove suit young naturalists. The cold sea and grown-up restaurants are the limits.

Las Vegas has rides, a shark aquarium and the Discovery Children's Museum. But casino floors on every route, adult advertising and summer heat make it work better as one stop on a national parks road trip.

Carmel is a square-mile village you can cross on foot in minutes, from the shops of Ocean Avenue down the steep hill to the beach. Its residential lanes have no street lights and few pavements, the buses to Monterey and Carmel Valley are infrequent, and Point Lobos, Big Sur and the aquarium all mean driving and finding a parking space.

The Strip is a corridor of about 6km, and its size is misleading on foot: the resorts are huge, footbridges and casino interiors lengthen every route, and summer heat makes walking punishing. The monorail, the buses that run all night and plenty of taxis make up for that, although Red Rock and Hoover Dam still need a hire car or a tour.

Las Vegas is the place for a proper shopping spree. The Roman arcade at Caesars Palace, the Venetian's canal-side shops, the Fashion Show mall and two large outlet centres hold most of the major brands, all indoors and out of the heat.

In Carmel, shopping is mostly browsing. Galleries of plein-air painting and photography and courtyard boutiques selling cashmere and jewellery can all be covered in an afternoon. It has more individual character, but far less to buy.

Carmel leaves you almost no way to cut the cost, while Las Vegas pays off for anyone who books carefully. In Carmel, the cottage inns, candlelit dinners and wine tasting are priced as luxury in every season, and there is little cheap food to even things out. The usual saving is to sleep in Monterey or Seaside and drive in. The beach and the coastal walks, at least, are free.

In Las Vegas, rooms on and near the Strip can be good value from Sunday to Thursday, downtown is cheaper again, and a meal on Spring Mountain Road costs far less than one in the resorts. Weekends, resort fees, headline shows and club entry are what push the bill up fast.

Las Vegas wins easily on any night of the year. Its resort theatres stage acrobatic and water spectacles, magicians, comedians and star residencies, and the Smith Center adds touring Broadway, the Philharmonic and ballet.

Carmel's arts are seasonal and smaller but have real history: the Bach Festival since 1935, summer plays at the open-air Forest Theater, and the Monterey Jazz Festival nearby each September. Outside those seasons there is little on.

Carmel is the more restful place overall, because the calm comes from the setting: misty mornings, dark quiet evenings, rooms with a fire, and spa days at the Pebble Beach lodges or the Carmel Valley resorts.

Las Vegas has the bigger spas, with thermal circuits and salt and ice rooms open to day visitors, but they sit inside casinos designed to keep you stimulated. To rest there, choose a non-gaming hotel and book your spa time early in the day.