Carmel-by-the-Sea or Tucson?

Carmel at least has a beach worth visiting: a long curve of white sand below Ocean Avenue, backed by cypress and good for sunset walks, dogs and children digging. Swimming is another matter, because the water stays cold and the surf is rough. Most people swim in a hotel pool and use the shore for walking.

Tucson has no coast. The nearest sea is a weekend drive away in Mexico, so the water you will meet is the resort pool, plus the occasional seasonal pool in Sabino Canyon.

Carmel cooks for a candlelit evening. Its French and Italian dining rooms make the most of the bay, with Dungeness crab, sand dabs and calamari, and the Pinot Noir comes from the Santa Lucia Highlands just inland. Dinner is refined, early and expensive, and there is little that is casual in between.

Tucson's food is the stronger reason to travel. Its Sonoran Mexican cooking, with mesquite-grilled carne asada and flour tortillas so thin they are almost translucent, is a regional cuisine that Carmel has nothing to match. It is also cheap and informal, served everywhere from hot dog carts to family kitchens on South 12th Avenue. Beyond that one cuisine the choice is narrow, so come for Sonoran cooking done properly rather than for variety.

Each city has a great Spanish mission. Carmel's has Junípero Serra's grave and a fine stone basilica, while San Xavier del Bac outside Tucson has one of the country's most richly painted church interiors. Beyond that, Tucson offers more: the adobe rows of Barrio Viejo, the Native American collections of the Arizona State Museum and the huge Pima Air & Space Museum.

Carmel's culture is mostly in its streets. There are the storybook cottages, the artists' colony houses and Robinson Jeffers's granite Tor House, which together make a pleasant morning or two rather than a full itinerary.

Tucson has a real night out, even if it is a casual one. Students and locals fill the dive bars and patios of Fourth Avenue, and Congress Street adds cocktail bars, rooftops and a few dance floors, though it is quieter in summer. In Carmel an evening means a tasting room, dinner and possibly a hotel nightcap, and the village is asleep by ten.

Both are excellent bases for the outdoors, but Carmel's coast is the bigger draw. Point Lobos's granite coves, sea otters and winter whales sit five minutes away, Bixby Bridge and the Big Sur bluffs about half an hour, and you can kayak among otters on Monterey Bay. It works year-round, with summer fog the only catch.

Tucson offers desert instead: forests of saguaro on both sides of the city, canyon trails in Sabino and Catalina, and a drive up Mount Lemmon from cactus to pine. It is superb from autumn to spring but limited to dawn starts or the mountains in the summer heat.

The two are about equal for outings, but the flavour differs. From Carmel the trips stay coastal and literary: Cannery Row and old Monterey, Pacific Grove's Victorian lighthouse town, Steinbeck country in Salinas and the boardwalk at Santa Cruz.

From Tucson you head into frontier country, with Tombstone's Wild West streets, the copper-mining hills of Bisbee, the Tumacácori mission ruins and the grassland wineries of Sonoita. Biosphere 2 is an unusual extra. Both lists need a car.

Tucson has a slight edge for families, at least in the cooler months. The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, the zoo, a planetarium, a western film set with stunt shows and rows of giant aircraft give children plenty of variety. In summer the heat pushes everyone into pools or up the mountain.

Carmel works best for school-age children who love wildlife. The Monterey Bay Aquarium can fill a whole day, and the tide pools at Point Lobos come close behind. The cold sea and grown-up restaurants make it harder with little ones.

Carmel is easier on foot. The village is a compact grid you can cover without a car, although the hill down to the beach is steep and the lanes are unlit at night. Point Lobos, Big Sur and the aquarium still need a car.

Tucson is spread out and built around driving. Its single streetcar line serves only downtown and the university, and the national park, the mission and Mount Lemmon all need a hire car. On the plus side, traffic is light and parking is easy.

Neither is a major shopping destination, but they sell very different things. Carmel is about polished browsing: plein-air galleries, cashmere and jewellery boutiques tucked into courtyards, all small and expensive.

Tucson's buys come from the region: Native American silver, Tohono O'odham baskets, Mexican folk art and vintage shops on Fourth Avenue. The winter gem and mineral show is something Carmel has no equivalent for.

Tucson is much the cheaper stay. Mid-range hotels are fairly priced, taquerías and hot dog stands keep meals cheap, and summer brings real bargains. Budget for the hire car and the higher winter rates, though.

Carmel charges luxury prices for nearly everything, from cottage inns to wine tasting. The free pleasures are the beach and the coastal walks, and many visitors sleep in Monterey or Seaside to keep costs down.

Carmel's stage is mostly a summer one. The Bach Festival has filled its summers since 1935, the open-air Forest Theater puts on plays among the pines, and the Monterey Jazz Festival is close by each September. Outside those seasons there is little on.

Tucson has the broader season. There is a symphony orchestra, Arizona Opera, a professional theatre company and touring Broadway shows at Centennial Hall, plus concerts at the restored Fox Theatre and a deep mariachi tradition. Most of it runs from autumn to spring, which is also when the weather is at its best.

Tucson is more of a dedicated wellness destination. It is one of the birthplaces of the American destination spa, and its foothills resorts run full programmes of fitness, desert walks and meditation under reliable winter sun.

Carmel offers a gentler version: a spa day at a Pebble Beach or Carmel Valley lodge, a fireside room and misty walks along the coast, which suits a quiet couple's weekend. Neither city has thermal springs or a public bathing tradition.