Carmel-by-the-Sea or Moab?

Carmel at least has a real beach. It is a long curve of white sand below Ocean Avenue, lined with cypress trees, and it is lovely for sunset walks and letting children dig. Swimming is another matter, because the water stays cold and the surf is strong all year, and the coves to the south have dangerous shore breaks.

Moab is high desert with no beach at all. Cooling off means Mill Creek's shallow pools, Ken's Lake or a careful dip from a Colorado River sandbar. In both places most visitors end up swimming in a pool, but only Carmel gives you sand to spend an afternoon on.

Carmel eats far better. Small French and Italian dining rooms, cottage bistros and a run of tasting rooms serve Monterey Bay's Dungeness crab, sand dabs and calamari, along with wines from the Santa Lucia Highlands. The catch is that dinner is formal, early and expensive, and there is little that is casual or comes from outside Europe and California.

Moab's Main Street feeds hungry hikers rather than diners. It has burgers, tacos, pizza, brewpubs and coffee shops that open early, with big portions and dusty boots welcome. Utah's alcohol rules make a glass of wine with dinner more of a procedure than it is in California.

Neither place calls for a long cultural itinerary, but Carmel has more to show. Mission San Carlos Borromeo, where Junípero Serra is buried, is one of the finest of the California missions. The village adds storybook cottages from the 1920s, Robinson Jeffers' hand-built Tor House and a dense spread of galleries.

Moab's history lies outside the town. Ancestral Puebloan and Fremont petroglyphs line the cliffs along Potash Road and Kane Creek, and there are dinosaur trackways nearby. In town, the small Museum of Moab fills an hour or so.

Both towns are quiet after dark, and the difference is in mood. In Carmel an evening means a tasting room before closing, a long dinner and perhaps a nightcap in a hotel lounge, and the streets are still by ten. In Moab mountain bikers and rafters fill a couple of brewpubs to swap stories, and a place may stay lively on a busy weekend, but most people are in bed early and up again before dawn. The best night out in Moab is the star-filled sky.

Moab has the greater outdoors. Arches begins minutes from town, the canyon views from Island in the Sky and Dead Horse Point are less than an hour away, and the Slickrock Trail, the Whole Enchilada descent from the La Sal Mountains, rafting, climbing and jeep tracks give it a range of adventure few places can match. Its limit is the heat, so plan for spring and autumn.

Carmel's nature is gentler and comes from the sea. Point Lobos has granite headlands, sea otters and harbour seals, with grey whales passing offshore in winter and spring. Bixby Bridge and the redwoods of Big Sur are an easy drive away, and you can kayak among otters in Monterey Bay.

From Carmel you can reach real places to spend a day. Monterey's Cannery Row and adobe old town and Pacific Grove's Victorian streets are close, and the wineries of Carmel Valley, the Steinbeck country around Salinas and the boardwalk at Santa Cruz are within easy reach. San Francisco is possible as a long day out.

Moab's outings are mostly more landscape. The towns within reach, such as Green River, Monticello and Bluff, are small. The best cultural trip is a long drive south to Edge of the Cedars and the stone towers of Hovenweep.

Carmel has a slight edge, mostly because of the Monterey Bay Aquarium fifteen minutes away, which can fill a whole day. Tide pools at Point Lobos and Pacific Grove add more, although the cold water and the grown-up restaurants are drawbacks.

Moab suits children who love scrambling over rocks. It has short walks to Sand Dune Arch, dinosaur tracks, Junior Ranger programmes and calm raft floats. Summer heat and unfenced drops at the viewpoints make it hard going with toddlers. Both places work best with school-age children.

Carmel is easier without your own transport, though not by much. The village grid can be walked in full, apart from a steep hill down to the beach, and thin bus services reach Monterey and Carmel Valley. Point Lobos, Big Sur and the wineries still need a car.

In Moab, Main Street and a cycle path up to the Arches entrance are the only places you can manage without one. There is no useful public transport, the trailheads are often down dirt tracks and a high-clearance vehicle opens up much more of the backcountry.

Carmel offers polished browsing. There are plein-air galleries, cashmere and jewellery in small courtyards off Ocean Avenue and Dolores Street, and some upmarket chain stores at the edges of the village. It is small and costly, and an afternoon covers it.

Moab sells what its visitors need, which is bike and climbing gear, camping supplies, geodes and fossils from the rock shops, and some Navajo jewellery and weavings. It is practical rather than stylish.

Neither is cheap, but Moab is easier on the wallet. Its motels charge high prices in spring and autumn, and guided rafting or jeep tours add up. On the other hand, one park entry lasts a week, campgrounds and free dispersed camping are easy to find, the hikes cost nothing and winter is far cheaper.

Carmel is priced as a luxury destination all year. It has boutique inns, expensive dinners and almost no cheap food. The usual way to save is to stay in Monterey or Seaside and drive in.

Carmel has a real summer season. The Carmel Bach Festival has filled July with Baroque concerts since 1935, the Sunset Center hosts touring acts through the year and the open-air Forest Theater stages plays among the pines. The Monterey Jazz Festival nearby adds September.

Moab's highlight is a single event, the Moab Music Festival at the end of summer, where chamber concerts are sometimes held in canyon grottoes reached by boat. Otherwise there is little beyond a weekend band in a brewpub.

Carmel is built for unwinding. The resort spas of Pebble Beach and Carmel Valley offer massages and pools, the inns have fireside rooms and in-room treatments, and the misty mornings set an unhurried pace, which suits couples on a slow weekend.

Moab is for exertion rather than rest. Its handful of day spas mostly ease aching cyclists' legs. Its own kind of calm comes from quiet desert evenings and the cliffs turning red at sunset, and those who want true rest book a ranch or a cabin in the La Sals.