Huntington Beach or Laguna Beach?

The beaches are about equally strong but very different. Huntington Beach has one continuous strip of flat sand about 14km long, with fire rings, volleyball and a path along the whole length, plus steady surf that makes it better for surfing than for a relaxed swim.

Laguna Beach is a string of small coves and pocket beaches below the cliffs, often reached by steep stairs, with clearer water and reefs worth snorkelling. Huntington gives you more space. Laguna gives you better scenery and more variety, though the popular coves get crowded on summer weekends.

Neither town is a dining destination, but Huntington Beach has a slight advantage. That is mostly thanks to where it sits: the Vietnamese restaurants of Little Saigon are only minutes inland, and the casual taco and brewpub scene by the pier offers good food at modest cost.

Laguna has better settings, with clifftop dining rooms and a few serious seafood kitchens, but less range, and you pay a lot for the ocean view. In both towns, varied eating means driving inland.

Laguna Beach has more to offer here, even though it is small. Its history as a plein air art colony lives on in the Laguna Art Museum, in rows of galleries and in the craftsman cottages, which together fill a pleasant morning.

Huntington's sights are almost all about surfing: the pier, the International Surfing Museum and the handprints at the foot of Main Street. Both towns send serious sightseers out of town, Huntington to Los Angeles and Laguna to the San Juan Capistrano mission.

Huntington Beach is the better choice for a night out. Main Street's sports bars, rooftop beach bars and a few dance spots draw a young local crowd that gets loud on summer weekends, though weeknights are quiet and everything stops at 2am.

Laguna has no clubs to speak of. You get a dive bar, a wine bar or a hotel lounge with a sea view, and the village is quiet well before midnight. Anyone staying in Laguna who wants more has to drive up to Newport or Costa Mesa.

Laguna Beach is much better for the outdoors. Protected hills surround the town, with Laguna Coast Wilderness and Aliso and Wood Canyons for hiking and mountain biking, and the coast below is a marine protected area for tide pooling, snorkelling and shore diving over kelp.

Huntington Beach's outdoor life is mainly the surf, plus birdwatching at the Bolsa Chica wetland. The land around it is flat suburb, so the trails Huntington visitors drive to, Crystal Cove and the Laguna hills, are right on Laguna's doorstep.

Both make good car bases, but Laguna has the edge for day trips because it is further south. The San Juan Capistrano mission is about twenty minutes away, Dana Point harbour is next door for whale watching and the Catalina ferry, and San Diego is a manageable drive.

Huntington Beach is the better start for the north: Los Angeles is about an hour off, Long Beach and the Queen Mary are close, and the ferry to Catalina leaves nearby. From either town, Temecula's vineyards make a full day out.

Huntington Beach works better for children. Knott's Berry Farm and Disneyland are closer, the Aquarium of the Pacific is an easy morning, and children can walk straight onto wide flat sand, see pelicans at Bolsa Chica or use the lakes and playgrounds of Central Park. The waves need a lifeguard's eye, though.

Laguna has the better rock pools and gentler snorkelling coves, but the long stairways down to the beaches, the scarce parking and expensive family rooms mean many families only visit for a day.

Both towns need a car. Laguna is a little easier without one, because a free trolley runs along Coast Highway between the northern and southern beaches, and the village around Main Beach is compact enough to walk.

Huntington's walkable area is limited to downtown and the pier. Its flat beachfront path makes a bike pleasant for getting along the coast, but every outing beyond that means the freeway. Laguna's hills and cove stairs make walking harder work.

The two are close for shopping, but they sell different things. Huntington Beach is the place for surfboards, wetsuits and surf brand clothing along Main Street. Laguna's speciality is art: plein air paintings and glass from its galleries, and handmade crafts at the summer art festivals.

Both towns send serious fashion shoppers to the luxury malls of Costa Mesa and Newport, which Huntington Beach reaches slightly faster.

Neither town is cheap, but Huntington Beach is easier on the budget. Motels along its inland boulevards and the inexpensive Vietnamese and Mexican food nearby give you real ways to save.

Laguna is one of the priciest beach towns on the coast. Even simple motels charge high rates, paid parking adds up, and budget travellers often stay elsewhere and visit for the day. Its free trails, tide pools and trolley soften the cost a little.

Laguna Beach has more on stage in town. The Pageant of the Masters, where performers recreate famous artworks as live tableaux each summer evening, is something you will not find anywhere else, and the long-running Laguna Playhouse puts on plays and musicals all year.

Huntington Beach has cover bands, summer concerts in the park and a small community theatre. Both towns are a short drive from the Segerstrom Center in Costa Mesa for symphony, ballet and touring Broadway shows.

Laguna is the more restful place to stay. The clifftop resorts have full spas with ocean views, there are yoga and meditation studios in the village, and the whole town moves at an unhurried pace.

Huntington's relaxation is simpler: yoga on the sand, a sunset walk on the pier and a fire on the beach, with ordinary day spas in the shopping centres. Neither town has thermal springs or bathhouses.