Carmel-by-the-Sea or Sonoma?

Carmel at least has a beach at the bottom of its main street: a long curve of fine white sand under the cypresses, good for walking the dog at sunrise or sitting out at sunset. Cold surf and morning fog rule out swimming for most people, and Monastery Beach and Carmel River State Beach are lovely to look at but dangerous in the water.

Sonoma has no beach of its own. The coast around Bodega Bay is over an hour away and just as cold, so a summer swim means a hotel pool or the gravel shore of the Russian River. In fairness, the river gets warmer than any water off Carmel.

In Sonoma, food and wine are the reason to come. The valley's own Cabernet, old-vine Zinfandel and Carneros Pinot Noir are poured at wineries a short drive from the plaza, and the cooking is built on local cheese, olive oil and produce. It is ideal for a long lunch over a good bottle.

Carmel eats very well for a village, with candlelit French and Italian dining rooms, Dungeness crab and sand dabs from the bay, and tasting rooms for Santa Lucia Highlands wines. Still, it is a place for a refined dinner rather than a wine valley, and for anything cheap or casual you drive into Monterey.

Neither town keeps you busy for long, and on sights they are evenly matched, so the difference lies in what you go to see. Both have a Franciscan mission, and between them they mark the two ends of the story: Junípero Serra, who founded the chain, lies buried at Carmel, while Sonoma's was the last mission to be built. Beyond its mission, Carmel is about how the place looks. You wander the lanes for the fairy-tale cottages, the timber houses left by the early painters and writers, and Robinson Jeffers's stone tower on the shore, with galleries in between.

Sonoma is about what happened there. Its sights stand together around the plaza, where the mission, the adobe barracks and the site of the 1846 Bear Flag Revolt form one state historic park you can see in a single loop. Vallejo's house and Jack London's ruins are close by. Choose Carmel to enjoy an artists' village, and Sonoma for the story of how California changed hands.

Neither town is for a night out, and both are quiet by late evening. In Carmel an evening means a wine bar and a nightcap in a hotel lounge. Sonoma's plaza has a little more going on, with a brewpub, a couple of saloons and pleasant summer nights on the square. For anything livelier you drive to Monterey from Carmel, or to Santa Rosa or San Francisco from Sonoma.

Carmel has the more spectacular setting. Point Lobos, with its granite headlands, sea otters and grey whales passing in winter and spring, is five minutes south. Bixby Bridge and the redwoods of Pfeiffer Big Sur are within an hour, and Monterey Bay adds kayaking and whale-watching.

Sonoma's countryside is softer and more pastoral. There are back roads through the vines for cycling, the Sonoma Overlook trail starting near the plaza, and the meadows and redwood groves of Sugarloaf Ridge. Point Reyes and the wild coast are about an hour away, and in high summer the valley floor can be hot and smoky.

Sonoma is the better base for day trips. San Francisco is about an hour away, close enough for a full day in the city. Napa and its wine towns are just over the hills, and Healdsburg, Petaluma and Sausalito are all within reach, though many of these outings are another wine town.

From Carmel, Monterey and Pacific Grove are so close they barely count as trips, and Salinas, San Juan Bautista and the Santa Cruz boardwalk make good outings. San Francisco, though, is two and a half hours away, which makes it a long day.

Carmel is the easier choice with children, mostly because of its neighbour. The Monterey Bay Aquarium, with its otters and kelp forest tank, can fill a whole day, and the tide pools and the Dennis the Menace Playground fill others. The sea is too cold and rough for small children to paddle in, though.

Sonoma has a playground on the plaza, a miniature railway and an African wildlife park near Santa Rosa, but little else for children once the tasting rooms take over. Families usually do better visiting for a day from a base in San Francisco.

You need a car in both for the main things worth doing, but Carmel's village is a self-contained grid of about a square mile that you can walk from Ocean Avenue down to the beach. Buses, though infrequent, run to Monterey and Carmel Valley. Expect a steep hill, unlit lanes and tight parking in summer.

In Sonoma only the plaza and the tasting rooms close to it are within walking distance. The wineries, parks and coast are spread across the valley, and many visitors book a driver or a tour so that nobody has to drive after tasting. Cycling the flat valley roads is a pleasant alternative.

Carmel has slightly more to browse. It has an unusual number of galleries for its size, selling plein-air painting, photography and sculpture, plus courtyard boutiques for cashmere and jewellery and two small open-air shopping centres. Sonoma's plaza is more about food and drink to take home, from olive oil and cheese to bottles bought at the winery, with a farmers' market in summer. Neither has a department store, and neither is worth the trip for shopping alone.

Both are expensive in much the same way, with boutique rooms priced for well-off weekend visitors and costly dinners. The extra costs fall differently. In Sonoma, tasting fees and drivers for tasting days add up, while Carmel makes up a little with a free beach, free village streets and coastal walks that cost nothing. The usual way to save is to sleep elsewhere: Monterey or Seaside for Carmel, Santa Rosa or Petaluma for Sonoma.

Both are summer towns for live performance, and both go quiet out of season. Carmel has the longer tradition. The Bach Festival has filled its summers with Baroque concerts since 1935, the Forest Theater stages plays under the pines, and the Monterey Jazz Festival is close by every September.

Sonoma answers with Broadway-style evenings among the ruins and oaks of Jack London State Historic Park, plus concerts at the wineries. For classical music, the Green Music Center's fine concert hall, half an hour away, draws touring orchestras.

Carmel offers spa lodges rather than spring water. The spas of the Pebble Beach lodges and the Carmel Valley resorts are well regarded, and some village inns bring treatments to your room. Misty mornings, fireside rooms and dark, still evenings make it a good place for a slow, comfortable weekend for two.

Sonoma has hot water coming out of the ground. At Boyes Hot Springs, on the edge of town, natural mineral water feeds the pools of a historic resort spa that sells day passes, and the mud baths of Calistoga are about an hour over the hills. Away from the springs, the slow days and quiet terraces of the plaza are what make it restful.