Carmel-by-the-Sea or Palm Springs?

Carmel at least has a real beach. A long curve of white sand lies at the foot of Ocean Avenue, with cypress trees behind it and Pebble Beach across the bay. It is excellent for sunset walks and digging, but cold water and strong surf keep almost everyone out of the sea, and the coves further south are for looking at only.

Palm Springs has no shore at all. The ocean is about two hours away over the mountains, so swimming means a hotel pool. Those pools are warm through a long season, but if you want sand and sea views, Carmel is the only one of the two that offers them.

The two eat about equally well, in different styles. Carmel is about candlelit French and Italian dining rooms, Dungeness crab and sand dabs from the bay, and Pinot Noir from nearby tasting rooms. Dinners are refined, expensive and early, and cheap or casual food is hard to find.

Palm Springs is more relaxed: long patio brunches, poolside cocktails and mid-range American cooking along Palm Canyon Drive. It also has date shakes from the Indio groves and honest Mexican taquerias further down the valley. Neither has much variety for its popularity.

Palm Springs has more to see. Its mid-century modern neighbourhoods, with Albert Frey's houses, Richard Neutra's Kaufmann House and the folded roofs of the Alexander homes, fill a day of driving or cycling. The art museum and the Agua Caliente Cultural Museum, which tells the Cahuilla story, add depth.

Carmel's sights are fewer and older. The 1771 mission where Junípero Serra is buried, the storybook cottages, Robinson Jeffers' Tor House and the galleries make a lovely morning or two, but there is no major museum to fill a longer stay.

Palm Springs is the only one of the two with a night out. Arenas Road has a long-established run of LGBTQ bars with patios and drag nights, retro cocktail lounges line Palm Canyon Drive, and hotel pool parties fill spring weekends. It is friendly rather than big, and few places stay open very late.

Carmel's evenings end with a tasting room, a long dinner and perhaps a hotel nightcap, and the streets are silent by ten.

Both are outdoor destinations, and Carmel has the edge. Point Lobos, five minutes away, has granite headlands, sea otters and passing whales. Beyond it lie Garrapata's bluffs, Bixby Bridge and the redwoods of Big Sur, and kayaking and diving in the kelp of Monterey Bay add time on the water. The mild climate means all of this works in every month.

Palm Springs offers a starker contrast. The aerial tramway climbs to pine forest at about 2,600m, palm oases hide in the Indian Canyons, and Joshua Tree's boulders and night skies are an hour away. Summer heat cuts the hiking season back hard, though.

Carmel has the richer choice of easy outings. Monterey's Cannery Row and adobe buildings, Pacific Grove's Victorian houses and the sunny tasting rooms of Carmel Valley are all close. Steinbeck country around Salinas, San Juan Bautista and the Santa Cruz boardwalk make fuller days, and San Francisco is possible as a long day.

The trips from Palm Springs are odder and fewer. There is Idyllwild in the pines, the lived-in film set of Pioneertown, and the abandoned resorts and Salvation Mountain on the Salton Sea. Los Angeles and San Diego are too far to visit comfortably in a day.

Carmel works better with children, mainly because the Monterey Bay Aquarium is fifteen minutes away. Add the tide pools at Point Lobos and Pacific Grove and a playground in Monterey, and wildlife-minded children are well served, even if the sea is too rough for paddling.

Palm Springs has good outings in the Living Desert, the tramway and the Air Museum. However, many boutique hotels are adults-only, the social life revolves around cocktails, and from late spring the middle of the day is too hot to spend outside.

You will want a car in either place, but Carmel is a little easier on foot. The square-mile village is walkable, though the hill to the beach is steep. Thin buses reach Monterey and Carmel Valley, while Point Lobos, Big Sur and the aquarium need a car.

Palm Springs has a flat, compact downtown and good cycling through the modernist neighbourhoods in the cooler months. Everything beyond it means driving, and in summer walking anywhere at midday is out of the question. Its one clear advantage is an airport right on the edge of town.

Palm Springs gives a keen shopper more. The Uptown Design District specialises in mid-century furniture, lighting and vintage clothing, Village Fest brings craft stalls downtown each week, and El Paseo and the Cabazon outlets cover luxury and bargains.

Carmel is mostly for browsing: an unusual number of art galleries plus cashmere and jewellery boutiques in its courtyards. It is polished and small, and you can cover it in an afternoon.

Neither is cheap, but Palm Springs gives you more ways to save. Its peak months, from winter into spring, are expensive, yet in the summer heat rooms become a real bargain, and simple motels exist all year.

Carmel stays at luxury prices even out of season. Its boutique inns, dinners and wine tasting all cost a lot, so the usual way to save is to sleep in Monterey or Seaside and enjoy the free beach and coastal walks.

Palm Springs has the wider range. Coachella and Stagecoach fill the Indio polo grounds each April, the McCallum Theatre hosts touring shows, the valley casinos book well-known acts, and drag cabaret and piano bars run through the season.

Carmel's offer is smaller and more classical. The Bach Festival has filled its summers since 1935, the Forest Theater stages plays among the pines, and the Monterey Jazz Festival arrives each September. Outside those seasons, little is on.

Palm Springs is built around rest. Its own Agua Caliente spring has a bathhouse where you can soak, the spa motels of Desert Hot Springs fill their pools with hot mineral water straight from the ground, and the slow pool days are a reason to come in themselves.

In Carmel, rest comes from misty mornings, dark quiet evenings and a spa day at a Pebble Beach or Carmel Valley resort. It is restful, but there is no water to bathe in.