Flagstaff or Santa Barbara?

Flagstaff has no beach at all. Swimming there means the cold, slippery creek pools of Oak Creek Canyon, such as Slide Rock, which get crowded on hot weekends, or else a swimming pool.

Santa Barbara has a proper sheltered coastline, with East and West Beach in town, Arroyo Burro and Leadbetter nearby and Carpinteria's shallow water for small children. The Pacific stays cool, so swims are short and many people wear wetsuits, but you can still spend whole days on the sand.

Santa Barbara is the stronger place to eat. Spot prawns and sea urchin from the harbour boats, well-stocked farmers' markets, Santa Ynez Valley wine poured in the Funk Zone tasting rooms and long-established Eastside taquerias give it a real regional identity. The choice thins out late at night and beyond Mexican food.

Flagstaff eats like a mountain university town: diners, Mexican and New Mexican plates, with Navajo frybread and green chile here and there. Its best card is craft beer, with brewery patios across downtown and the Southside, and that is what a hungry hiker will remember.

Santa Barbara has more to see, and much of it is the town itself. The centre was rebuilt in Spanish Colonial Revival style after the 1925 earthquake. Add the County Courthouse with its clock tower, the Old Mission, the Presidio and two respectable museums, and it fills two or three easy days.

Flagstaff's list is shorter but distinctive. The highlights are Lowell Observatory, where Pluto was discovered, and the Hopi, Navajo and Zuni collections at the Museum of Northern Arizona. The Riordan Mansion and the Route 66 downtown fill out a day or two.

Neither suits late nights, and both quieten early. Flagstaff's evenings are spent in brewery taprooms and old Route 66 saloons around downtown and the Southside, livelier in student term time but with almost no clubs. Santa Barbara leans towards wine, with Funk Zone tasting rooms busy in the early evening and a few bars and small dance floors on lower State Street, so it suits a long dinner and a nightcap more than a pub crawl.

Both have mountains on the doorstep, but Flagstaff's surroundings are on a far larger scale. The San Francisco Peaks, the vast ponderosa forest, the lava fields of Sunset Crater, the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, a ski area and some of the darkest night skies anywhere make it a base built for the outdoors.

Santa Barbara mixes mountain and sea instead. Trails climb straight from residential streets into the Santa Ynez Mountains, and on the water there is whale watching, kayaking, surfing at Rincon and boat trips to the Channel Islands. Summer fires sometimes close the trails.

Both have a wide ring of excursions, but they differ in character. From Flagstaff you drive out to landscapes and ancient sites: Sedona's red rock, hillside Jerome, the cliff dwellings at Montezuma Castle, the Sinagua ruins at Walnut Canyon and Wupatki, the Hopi mesas and the historic railway to the Grand Canyon.

Santa Barbara's outings are gentler and centre on wine and small towns. The Santa Ynez Valley comes first, along with Danish-founded Solvang and the restored mission at La Purisima. Ojai and Ventura make shorter trips, while Los Angeles is too far to do comfortably there and back in a day.

Both are relaxed bases for children, and the difference is in the kind of fun on offer. Flagstaff has telescope evenings at Lowell, dinosaurs at the Museum of Northern Arizona, rope courses in summer and sledding in winter, though the altitude, cold nights and long drives take some managing.

Santa Barbara keeps everything close and gentle. There is the hillside zoo, the touch tanks on Stearns Wharf, hands-on science at MOXI, calm water at Carpinteria and a shoreline bike path, all in mild weather year-round.

Santa Barbara is easier without a car. State Street runs straight and flat down to the waterfront, a level shoreline path links the wharf, harbour and beach, and the train stops near the sand. Wine country and the outlying beaches still need a car.

In Flagstaff only downtown and the Southside are really walkable. The motels are strung out along Route 66, and almost everything that brings people here, from the mountain to the Grand Canyon, lies beyond public transport, so a car is close to essential.

Navajo rugs, Hopi kachina carvings, pottery and silver and turquoise jewellery are what is worth buying in Flagstaff. They are sold in downtown galleries, the museum shop and trading posts on the roads out of town. Otherwise the shops are small and practical: outdoor gear, bookshops and Route 66 souvenirs.

In Santa Barbara, browsing fills a much longer afternoon. Galleries and small boutiques sit around the fountain courtyards of the paseos off State Street, Montecito's Coast Village Road sells upmarket fashion and homeware, and the Funk Zone adds design shops. The best things to take home are wine and produce from the farmers' markets.

Flagstaff costs noticeably less. Chain motels on Route 66 and brewery meals keep a stay reasonable, though rooms go up on summer weekends when the town fills with Grand Canyon visitors. A hire car and park fees also add to the bill.

Santa Barbara is one of the most expensive stops on the California coast, with beach and Montecito hotels and restaurants priced for a wealthy crowd. Taquerias, free hikes and staying in Goleta or Ventura soften the cost, but rarely bring it down to Flagstaff's level.

Santa Barbara has the more substantial stage life for a city of its size. The restored Granada hosts symphony, opera and ballet, and the Lobero has chamber music and jazz. The Santa Barbara Bowl brings major touring bands to its canyon amphitheatre, and the Music Academy of the West fills the summers with concerts.

Flagstaff has a modest calendar: the Flagstaff Symphony in the university concert hall, folk and indie acts at the Orpheum and summer concerts in the pines. It makes for a pleasant evening rather than a reason to go.

Flagstaff's restorative side is its setting rather than any treatment: cool evenings, pine-scented air and unusually bright stars, with only a handful of day spas in town. Anyone who wants a proper spa drives an hour down to Sedona, and the altitude can disturb sleep for the first night or two.

Santa Barbara offers far more ways to slow down without leaving town. The resorts in Montecito and on the beachfront have polished spas, yoga studios are easy to find, and a hike above Montecito leads to small natural hot pools. For a full retreat, the spa resorts of the Ojai Valley are an hour away.