Durango, Colorado or Santa Barbara?

No ocean reaches Durango, so cooling off means fresh water. That might be the swimming area at Lake Nighthorse, a patch of sand on the shore of Vallecito Lake, or drifting through town on an inner tube down the Animas. Even in July the water is bracing and the season is brief, so it refreshes you after a hike rather than filling a day.

Santa Barbara has proper sand within walking distance of downtown on both sides of the wharf, quieter coves to the west and below Montecito, and a gently shelving strand at Carpinteria where small children can paddle. The islands offshore break the Pacific swell, so the waves are softer than elsewhere in California. What it cannot promise is warm water. The sea stays cool, so swims are short and wetsuits are common.

Santa Barbara eats better and with more range. Spot prawns and sea urchin come off the harbour boats, the farmers' markets are superb, and Santa Ynez and Santa Rita Hills wine is poured in the Funk Zone tasting rooms. The taquerias on Milpas Street balance the polished farm-to-table cooking in Montecito.

Durango's table is simpler Western cooking: green-chile plates, steaks, Colorado lamb and trout, and hearty breakfasts before a hike. Its strength is beer rather than wine, with a remarkable number of breweries for a town of its size.

Santa Barbara gives you more to see. After the 1925 earthquake the town was rebuilt in Spanish Colonial Revival style, so a walk through the centre takes in white stucco, red tile roofs, the County Courthouse with its clock tower, the Old Mission on the slope above and the restored Presidio. The Museum of Art and the Museum of Natural History fill out two or three unhurried days.

Durango's story is the railway that founded it in 1880. Its sights are the steam depot and roundhouse museum, a few Victorian blocks from the mining boom and the college's Southwestern and Native American collection. All of that takes an hour or two. The town's great ancient sites lie in the country around it.

Neither town stays out late, but Santa Barbara gives you a little more to do after dark. The Funk Zone's wine bars and breweries fill up in the early evening, and the lower end of State Street has sports pubs and a few small dance floors that students pack at weekends.

Durango's evenings are a pint on a Main Avenue patio or a drink in an old saloon with a piano player. Most of its visitors have an early start on a trail, so the town is quiet well before midnight.

Durango has the bigger wilderness. The San Juans rise to jagged peaks above 4,000m in the Weminuche, mountain-bike singletrack starts from town, the Colorado Trail begins just north, and the Animas offers rafting and fly-fishing. The aspens turn gold in autumn, and in winter there is skiing.

Santa Barbara's outdoors are gentler and include the ocean. Steep trails such as Rattlesnake Canyon and Seven Falls climb the Santa Ynez Mountains behind the suburbs. Out at sea there are whale-watching trips, the Rincon point break and kayaking in the sea caves of Channel Islands National Park.

Durango's days out are the more remarkable. Mesa Verde's cliff dwellings are a drive to the west, and the narrow-gauge steam train climbs the canyon to the old mining town of Silverton. The pueblo ruins at Aztec and Chimney Rock, and the pools at Pagosa Springs, are also within reach. Almost all of it needs a car.

From Santa Barbara, the best outing is over the ridge to the Santa Ynez Valley for wineries, Danish-built Solvang and the restored La Purisima mission. Ojai and Ventura make easy extras, while Los Angeles is far enough away to need a stay of its own.

Santa Barbara is the easier place with children. It has a small hilltop zoo, touch tanks at the Sea Center on the wharf, the MOXI science museum and a whale skeleton at the natural history museum. Calm beaches and mild weather mean children can be outdoors in any month.

Durango works for active families. The steam train, tubing on the river, the alpine coaster and the ladders at Mesa Verde are all big hits. There is little to do indoors on a wet day, though, and the altitude and long drives can tire young children.

Santa Barbara is easier without a car. The coastal train stops near the beach, State Street runs straight from the Mission district to the water, and a level shoreline path links the wharf, harbour and East Beach. Buses and a downtown shuttle cover the rest of the centre. You will still want a car for the wine country.

In Durango you can walk the length of Main Avenue in about a quarter of an hour, and the river trail suits bikes. Trailheads, the ski area and Mesa Verde are spread along mountain highways, though, so a car is close to essential.

Santa Barbara has more variety. There are chains and independents on State Street, galleries and boutiques around fountain courtyards in the Spanish-style paseos, upmarket fashion on Coast Village Road in Montecito and design shops in the Funk Zone. Wine and market produce make the best things to take home.

Durango's Main Avenue is narrower but more distinctive in one way. It has Navajo and Pueblo silver, turquoise and rugs, Western boots and good shops for outdoor gear, which together make a worthwhile hour.

Durango is the cheaper of the two, though it is still a US mountain resort. Rooms are tight in summer and at the peak of the ski season, and you will likely need a hire car. Visiting in spring or late autumn lowers the cost.

Santa Barbara is expensive throughout. Rooms near the beach and in Montecito are among the dearest on the California coast, and meals and wine tastings are priced for a wealthy crowd. You can save by eating at taquerias and staying in Goleta or Ventura. In both places the hiking costs nothing.

Santa Barbara has a real stage life for its size. The restored Granada hosts the symphony, opera and ballet, the historic Lobero has chamber music and jazz, and major touring bands play the Santa Barbara Bowl in its canyon. The Music Academy of the West fills summer with concerts.

Durango's offering is smaller and mostly in summer. There is a chamber and orchestral festival, concerts at the college hall, a Victorian melodrama where the audience boos the villain and cowboy music with a chuckwagon supper. Outside summer there is often little on.

The two are about even for rest, but in different ways. Durango is the place to soak, in the mineral pools just north of town, the terraced pools at Pagosa Springs or the springs at Ouray. Santa Barbara has no public bathing, so relaxing there means the polished spas of the Montecito resorts, yoga studios and mild mornings by the sea, with the Ojai Valley's spa resorts an hour away.