Carmel-by-the-Sea or Sedona?

Neither is a place to swim, but only Carmel has a real beach. Carmel Beach is a long curve of white sand under the cypresses, good for sunset walks, dogs and digging. Treat the cold, rough Pacific as scenery, and most visitors swim in a hotel pool.

Sedona's water is Oak Creek, which offers a slide down the sandstone at Slide Rock and a few cool pools below the cliffs. These spots are small and crowded on hot weekends, and they are worth a dip after a hike but are not somewhere to spend the day.

Carmel eats better. Its cottage bistros serve French and Italian cooking built on Dungeness crab, sand dabs and Castroville artichokes, and its tasting rooms pour Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir within a few steps of each other.

Sedona's kitchens lean Southwestern, with chilli and grilled meat, plus a good number of vegetarian and health-minded places, and the view from the terrace often matters more than the plate. Neither town has street food or anything cheap, though Carmel at least has nearby Monterey for a casual meal.

Carmel has a little more to see, and its history goes deeper. Mission San Carlos Borromeo, founded in 1771 and the burial place of Junípero Serra, is one of the finest missions in California. Walks through the village take in the fairy-tale cottages and Robinson Jeffers' hand-built Tor House.

Sedona's best building is the Chapel of the Holy Cross, set into a butte, and its older story lies outside town in the Sinagua cliff dwellings at Palatki and Honanki. In either place the sights fill a morning or two.

Both towns are asleep early, so choose by the kind of quiet evening you want. In Carmel it is a wine bar before closing, a long dinner and a nightcap in a hotel lounge. Sedona has a few brewpubs in Uptown and a dark sky clear enough for real stargazing.

Both are outstanding, but Sedona's landscape is the more dramatic, and it has the denser trail network. Cathedral Rock, Devil's Bridge and the West Fork of Oak Creek are all close by, the slickrock singletrack draws serious mountain bikers, and the Grand Canyon's South Rim is about two hours away.

Carmel's appeal is the meeting of land and sea. Point Lobos has granite coves full of seals and otters, grey whales pass offshore, and the Big Sur road runs south to Bixby Bridge and the redwoods. The bay also adds kayaking and kelp diving, which Sedona's desert cannot match.

The outings are equally good but very different. From Carmel they are coastal and literary: Cannery Row and Monterey's adobes, the lighthouse at Pacific Grove, Steinbeck country around Salinas and the boardwalk at Santa Cruz.

From Sedona they head into old Arizona. There is the mining town of Jerome on its hillside, the five-storey cliff dwelling at Montezuma Castle, the Tuzigoot pueblo, and the Verde Canyon Railroad through a canyon with no road.

Carmel is the easier choice with children, mainly because the Monterey Bay Aquarium, with its otters and kelp forest, is fifteen minutes away. The tide pools at Point Lobos and Dennis the Menace Playground add more, though the cold surf rules out paddling.

Sedona works for active families who will enjoy Slide Rock, the lower Bell Rock paths and a bumpy jeep tour. Beyond that, nothing in Sedona is made for children, and the exposed trails need care in summer.

Carmel is easier on foot. The village is a compact grid of about a square mile, running from Ocean Avenue down to the sand, and thin bus services link it to Monterey. You still need a car for Point Lobos, Big Sur and the aquarium.

Sedona is spread out along two highways that meet at the Y, and only Uptown is walkable. Trailheads mean driving and early parking, with a shuttle to only a few of them. Most visitors drive up from Phoenix, about two hours away, while Carmel has Monterey's small airport close by.

Both are gallery towns with no department stores, and both are better for browsing than for serious shopping. In Carmel you find plein-air landscapes, cashmere and jewellery in small courtyards off Ocean Avenue and Dolores Street.

Sedona's shops are more Western and spiritual. Tlaquepaque's arts village sells pottery and crafts, the galleries along the main road sell Native American jewellery and rugs, and the town has a long row of crystal and metaphysical shops.

Neither is cheap, but Carmel is the more expensive. Its boutique inns charge luxury prices even outside summer, and there is almost no low-cost food to balance them. Staying in Monterey or Seaside is the usual way to save.

Sedona's resorts are expensive too, especially in spring and autumn, but its main attraction costs little: the trails need only a parking pass, and a picnic lunch replaces a restaurant meal. Rooms in Cottonwood or Flagstaff bring the cost down further.

Carmel has far more on stage. The Bach Festival has filled its summers with Baroque music since 1935, the Sunset Center hosts touring musicians all year, and the Forest Theater puts on plays outdoors among the pines. In September the Monterey Jazz Festival is just up the road.

Sedona has the Sedona International Film Festival in late winter, some chamber concerts and Native American flute music in resort lounges, and no concert hall.

Sedona is the place for a real retreat. Beyond its canyon-view spa resorts it offers yoga, meditation, breathwork and alternative therapies, and the sunrise vortex walks have become a ritual of their own.

Carmel's restfulness comes from its misty mornings and still evenings, plus a comfortable spa day at the Pebble Beach or Carmel Valley lodges. It suits a slow weekend for two better than a dedicated wellness stay. Neither town has hot springs or a bathing tradition.