Carmel-by-the-Sea or Page, Arizona?

Carmel Beach is the lovelier stretch of sand, fine and white beneath the cypresses, but it is for walking rather than swimming. The Pacific stays cold all year, and the coves south of town have a dangerous shore break. Page has no sea at all, yet in midsummer Lake Powell warms enough for long swims, from the open sand at Lone Rock or by boat into sandstone coves where you jump off the rock into deep water.

So if you actually want to get in the water, Page wins clearly between June and September. Outside those months neither place is for swimming, and Page's shoreline moves with the lake level and has no lifeguards.

Carmel eats far better. It has candlelit French and Italian dining rooms, tasting rooms pouring Pinot Noir from the Santa Lucia Highlands, and Dungeness crab, sand dabs and calamari from Monterey Bay. Dining is refined and early rather than varied, and for anything cheap or casual you drive to Monterey.

Page feeds road-trippers with diners, barbecue, Mexican places and chains. Its one distinctive dish is the Navajo taco on frybread, which is worth seeking out, but food is not a reason to go.

Neither town is made for museum days, but Carmel has more to see. Mission San Carlos Borromeo, with Junípero Serra's grave and its stone basilica, is one of the finest missions in California. The storybook cottages, Robinson Jeffers' Tor House and the galleries fill another morning or two.

Page dates only from the dam project of the 1950s, so its sights are the Glen Canyon Dam visitor centre and a small museum devoted to John Wesley Powell. Its deeper culture belongs to the Navajo Nation around it rather than to the town.

Both are early-to-bed towns, so the real choice is what kind of quiet evening you want. In Carmel the dinner is the evening: local Pinot Noir in a tasting room while it is still open, then a slow meal in a candlelit cottage dining room, and the unlit lanes are dark and silent soon after. For a bar with any crowd at all you have to drive into Monterey, and even that stays low-key.

Page swaps the wine list for the sky. Its few bars and its brewpub serve road-trippers who mostly turn in early before sunrise canyon tours. The best thing to do after dark is drive a short way out of town, where the desert is dark enough for the stars to become the main event.

Both are superb bases for the outdoors, and Page has the edge for sheer spectacle. Horseshoe Bend and the Antelope slot canyons are minutes from town, and Lake Powell's flooded red canyons lead by boat to Rainbow Bridge. Lees Ferry is the starting point for rafting and float trips, and the Vermilion Cliffs and the Wave are within reach.

Carmel's landscape is gentler and greener: the cypress headlands and otter coves of Point Lobos, Bixby Bridge and the redwoods of Big Sur, and kayaking and whale-watching on Monterey Bay. The walking is easier in its mild climate, while Page's midday heat in summer sends you onto the water.

Carmel has many more places to visit. Monterey's Cannery Row and adobe old town, Victorian Pacific Grove, the tasting rooms of Carmel Valley, Steinbeck's Salinas and the boardwalk at Santa Cruz all make easy outings, and San Francisco is a long day out.

Around Page, the scenery is the trip and there are few towns. The options are Lees Ferry's pioneer buildings, the cliff dwellings at Navajo National Monument and the small Western town of Kanab, with long drives in between.

Carmel works better for families, mainly because the Monterey Bay Aquarium is a quarter of an hour away and can fill a whole day. The tide pools at Point Lobos and the playground in Monterey add to it. On the downside, the water is too rough and cold for small children, and the restaurants suit quiet adults.

Page is a good choice for outdoorsy children, who will love a lake day at Lone Rock and the short canyon tours. But nothing there is built for children, the summer sun is harsh, and the unfenced drops at Horseshoe Bend need close watching.

You need a car in both, though less so in Carmel. You can walk the square-mile village from Ocean Avenue down to the sand, and sparse local buses reach Monterey, although Point Lobos, Big Sur and the wineries all need a car.

In Page only the motel strip is walkable, there is no useful public transport, and the sights are spread along open highway. Carmel has Monterey's small airport close by, while Page's nearest major airports are hours away, so it is really a place to reach on a road trip.

Carmel is the better place to browse. It has an unusual number of galleries showing plein-air painting and photography, plus boutiques tucked into courtyards selling cashmere, jewellery and wine. It is polished but small, and you can cover it in an afternoon.

Page has supermarkets, boating stores and gift shops, with one real draw: Navajo silver, turquoise, rugs and pottery sold at trading posts, sometimes straight from the maker.

Neither is cheap, but Page is easier on the wallet. Meals and fuel cost what they do in any small American town, and you can save by camping at Lone Rock or Wahweap or by visiting in winter, although canyon tours and boat hire add up.

Carmel is priced as a luxury destination all year, from its boutique inns to wine tasting and dinner, with little cheap food to balance it. The beach and the coastal walks are free, and staying in Monterey or Seaside is the usual way to save.

For a village, Carmel has a real summer season. The Carmel Bach Festival has run since 1935, there are concerts at the Sunset Center, and the open-air Forest Theater puts on plays under the pines, with the Monterey Jazz Festival close by in September. Page offers little beyond Navajo dance presentations for visitors and the odd bar band, nothing worth planning a trip around.

Carmel is the place to slow down. It has misty mornings, rooms with fireplaces and well-regarded spas at the Pebble Beach lodges and the Carmel Valley resorts, though no thermal baths. Page has motel pools and a few hotel treatments, and its calm comes from the silent desert nights. The days there start early and stay busy.