Carmel-by-the-Sea or Monterey?

Neither town is a place to swim. The difference is in how you use the shore. Carmel has the better single beach: a long curve of white sand at the bottom of Ocean Avenue, backed by cypress trees, where people walk their dogs at sunrise and gather with blankets at sunset. The coves to the south are beautiful but have dangerous drop-offs.

Monterey's shore is more varied. There is Del Monte Beach on the eastern edge of town and the open-Pacific dunes at Asilomar in Pacific Grove. On warm autumn days, families paddle in the calm shallows near the wharf.

Both towns cook with the same Dungeness crab, sand dabs, artichokes and Carmel Valley Pinot Noir, and Carmel has a slight edge for a special dinner. Its square-mile grid is full of small French and Italian dining rooms, candlelit bistros and courtyard breakfast cafés, though dinner there is expensive and fairly early.

Monterey is better for casual meals. The chowder places on the wharf and Cannery Row are aimed at day visitors, but the side streets of Old Monterey offer more choice, and this is where Carmel residents go for cheaper or non-European food.

Monterey has more history to explore. As the old capital of Spanish and Mexican Alta California, it has a walkable cluster of adobes, including the Custom House and Colton Hall, where California's first constitution was written. There is also the Royal Presidio Chapel, the Steinbeck canneries of Cannery Row and a regional art museum.

Carmel has the Mission, where Junípero Serra is buried, along with storybook cottages, Tor House and its many galleries. That fills a morning or two. Since the Mission is only ten minutes from Monterey, visitors staying there can see both.

Neither town has clubs, but Monterey at least has a night out. Alvarado Street has a short run of pubs, brewpubs and wine bars, busy with students from the language and naval schools, and Cannery Row picks up a little on weekends.

In Carmel the evening means a tasting room before it closes, a long dinner and perhaps a nightcap in a hotel lounge, and the streets are silent by ten.

Both towns share one of the finest stretches of coast in North America. The difference is which side of it is closer. Carmel is five minutes from Point Lobos and the start of Big Sur, so it is the better base for walking cliffs, coves and redwood canyons. It also has the oak-covered trails of Garland Ranch in the sunny Carmel Valley.

Monterey is better for wildlife from the water. Whale-watching boats leave the harbour for the deep submarine canyon offshore, otters float beside the shoreline path, and you can cycle to Lovers Point or reach Elkhorn Slough and Pinnacles.

The two towns offer almost the same day trips, and each counts the other as its nearest. Monterey is a little better placed for going north. Salinas and its Steinbeck country are about half an hour away, Santa Cruz's boardwalk is under an hour, and San Francisco is a shorter drive.

From Carmel, the wine lanes of Carmel Valley Village and the vineyards of the Santa Lucia Highlands are the most natural outing.

Monterey is much better for children. The aquarium, with its kelp forest, otters and hands-on exhibits for small children, is on the waterfront trail. Sea lions crowd the wharf, Dennis the Menace Park is close by, and whale-watching boats leave from the harbour. The beachfront rides of Santa Cruz are under an hour away.

Carmel is safe and gentle but built for adults, with galleries, wine and quiet restaurants. Families staying there drive to the aquarium and enjoy the tide pools and sandcastles on Carmel Beach.

Both towns are easy on foot at their centre, and both need a car for Point Lobos, Big Sur and the wineries. They differ in the terrain. Monterey's main sights lie along a flat waterfront trail from the wharf through Cannery Row to Pacific Grove, which is just as good on a hired bike.

Carmel is a compact square-mile grid with a steep hill down to the beach. Its residential lanes have few pavements and no street lights, so walks after dark feel rural.

Neither town is a shopping destination, and they offer different things. Carmel is for browsing. Its galleries of plein-air painting and photography sit among courtyards with cashmere, jewellery and homeware boutiques.

Monterey sells mostly saltwater taffy and sea-otter souvenirs along the wharf, with an open-air mall for everyday needs. Its more interesting finds are in the antique shops of Pacific Grove nearby.

Both towns are expensive, but Carmel is dearer. Its rooms are mostly boutique inns and cottages priced as a luxury destination all year, and it has very little cheap food to balance the bill.

Monterey has more ways to save. Chain motels line the highway, Seaside and Marina are just inland, and many of its pleasures cost nothing, such as the coastal trail, the tide pools and the wildlife you can watch from the shore. That is why visitors to Carmel on a budget often stay in Monterey.

The two towns share one festival calendar, but each hosts a different part of it. Carmel's part is classical music and theatre. The Bach Festival has filled its summers with Baroque concerts since 1935, many of them at the Sunset Center, a former school that also brings in touring musicians and speakers through the year. The Forest Theater stages plays and musicals outdoors among the pines.

Monterey's part is jazz and rock history. Its September jazz festival is one of the longest-running anywhere, held on the fairgrounds where the 1967 Pop Festival took place. Between festivals, the restored Golden State Theatre downtown hosts touring acts and some local bars have live music. Carmel's quieter months come down to community theatre and a guitarist in a wine bar.

Neither town has thermal baths, so rest here means spas, quiet and walks, and Carmel does that better. Its evenings are dark and still, several inns will bring a treatment to your room, and you can spend a weekend by the fire with Point Lobos close by.

Monterey relies on the same spas in Pebble Beach and Carmel Valley. Its waterfront is busier, and on summer weekends it fills with crowds and traffic, so a calm stay there works best midweek or out of season.