Huntington Beach or San Francisco?

Huntington Beach is a beach you swim from, and San Francisco's is not. In Huntington Beach the sand is broad, flat and warm enough to spend the whole day on, and by late summer the Pacific is mild enough for a proper swim. The surf is steady and rip currents are real, so you stay close to the lifeguard towers, but a day of bodysurfing, volleyball and an evening bonfire is the whole point of the place.

San Francisco's shore is colder, foggier and meant for looking at. Baker Beach frames the Golden Gate Bridge, and Ocean Beach has the same kind of open surf, but there it is unguarded and too dangerous to enter. The only real swimming is a wetsuit dip at Aquatic Park inside the bay. Come for windswept walks and sunsets, not for a day on a towel.

San Francisco is one of the great places to eat in America. It has sourdough, Mission burritos, Dungeness crab, dim sum in the Richmond and Italian bakeries in North Beach, with fine dining on top. The farmers' market at the Ferry Building makes a good morning out.

Huntington Beach eats casually: fish tacos near the pier, brewpubs and seafood with ocean views, with plenty of chains in between. Its best food is inland in Little Saigon, where the pho and banh mi are worth a special drive.

San Francisco has three or four full days of sights. There are Alcatraz, the cable cars on Nob Hill and the painted Victorians of Alamo Square, and museums from SFMOMA to the Asian Art Museum. Chinatown and the Castro have their own history.

Huntington Beach's sights fit into an afternoon: the pier, the International Surfing Museum and the handprints of the Surfers' Hall of Fame at the foot of Main Street. For anything more you have to drive to Los Angeles.

In Huntington Beach, going out means one strip: Main Street near the pier. Its sports bars and rooftop beach bars fill with a young local crowd on summer weekends and go quiet midweek. San Francisco spreads its nights across several districts, with cocktail and mezcal bars in the Mission, old saloons in North Beach, gay bars in the Castro and warehouse clubs in SoMa. Bars in both close at 2am, but the city gives you far more choice on any night.

San Francisco has the wilder setting. Lands End's cliff trail, the Presidio and Golden Gate Park are all inside the city. Across the bridge, the Marin Headlands, the redwoods of Muir Woods and Mount Tamalpais are close, and Point Reyes makes a long day out.

Huntington Beach's outdoor life is the ocean: surfing either side of the pier, paddling in the harbour channels and cycling the beach path. Bolsa Chica is a superb wetland for birdwatching, but the land around is flat suburb, and the nearest real hills are half an hour away.

Both are good bases, but San Francisco has the edge. Napa and Sonoma are about an hour north, ferries cross to Sausalito and Tiburon, trains reach Berkeley, and Monterey and Carmel make a fine longer day on the coast.

From Huntington Beach you can reach Los Angeles, Laguna Beach on its dramatic stretch of coast, Mission San Juan Capistrano and the ferry to Catalina. Nearly all of these mean a car and freeways that jam at rush hour.

Huntington Beach is the easier family base. Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm are close, and the aquarium in Long Beach makes an easy morning. In town there is wide sand, the pelicans at Bolsa Chica and Huntington Central Park. The downsides are the constant driving and waves too strong for toddlers.

San Francisco works for children through the Exploratorium, the California Academy of Sciences and the sea lions at Fisherman's Wharf. But it has no theme parks, the sea is too cold for paddling, and the steep hills are hard going with a pushchair.

Here the two are opposites. San Francisco is compact, about 11km across. Muni, BART, the streetcars, the cable cars and the ferries all take one card, so a car is more trouble than it's worth, and the hills are the only real effort.

In Huntington Beach you can walk Main Street and cycle the beachfront path. Everything further, from the theme parks to Little Saigon, means a car or ride-hailing, because buses are slow and there is no rail.

San Francisco has more to browse: department stores and flagships around Union Square, design boutiques in Hayes Valley, vintage shops and bookshops on Valencia Street and in Haight-Ashbury, and tea and ceramics in Chinatown. In Huntington Beach, Main Street is lined with surf shops, board makers and swimwear, the place to buy a locally made board. Its real draw for shoppers is South Coast Plaza, a large luxury mall about twenty minutes away.

Neither is cheap, but Huntington Beach is easier on a budget. The motels on the inland boulevards and the Vietnamese and Mexican kitchens across the county keep costs down, and the beach is free. A rental car and parking still add up.

San Francisco is one of the most expensive American cities to visit. Hotel rates are steep and climb further during conferences, and sit-down meals cost a lot. Free parks and trails, cheap taquerias and reasonably priced public transport help, but a tight budget will feel the strain.

San Francisco has a full season of its own. The War Memorial Opera House is home to the opera and to the country's oldest professional ballet company, the symphony plays at Davies Hall, SFJAZZ is in Hayes Valley and the Fillmore carries the city's rock history. Huntington Beach has cover bands and summer concerts in the park, and for an orchestra or a touring Broadway show you drive to the Segerstrom Center in Costa Mesa.

Neither city has a bathing tradition, so the difference is more in kind than in amount. San Francisco offers slightly more: a long-established Japanese bathhouse in Japantown, plenty of yoga studios and the mud baths of Calistoga two hours north, though the centre itself can feel hectic. Huntington Beach is for unwinding by doing very little, with yoga on the sand, walks on the pier at sunset and evenings around a beach fire.