Huntington Beach or San Jose?

This is Huntington Beach's strongest point. Roughly 14km of flat, wide sand runs through the town, with volleyball nets, a beachfront path and bonfire rings, and the surf is consistent. The waves and rip currents mean swimming near a lifeguard. The water warms enough for a proper swim only in late summer.

San Jose is inland, so a beach day means driving at least 45 minutes over the Santa Cruz Mountains to Santa Cruz or Capitola. Those coves are sunny and sheltered, but the water stays cold, so most visitors paddle or wear a wetsuit. It works as a day out, not as the core of a trip.

Both have large Vietnamese communities, but San Jose has the deeper food scene overall. Its pho, banh mi and broken-rice plates are found across the east side within the city itself. Taquerias, Indian and Korean restaurants run towards Santa Clara and Sunnyvale, and there are old family places in Japantown. The catch is that the best of it is scattered through suburban plazas.

In Huntington Beach itself, eating is mostly casual: fish tacos near the pier, surfers' breakfasts and brewpubs with sea views, with plenty of chains. Its best food is in Little Saigon in neighbouring Westminster, and for fine dining you drive to Newport Beach.

San Jose has more to see, though neither city is a cultural destination. Its sights are distinctive: the maze-like Winchester Mystery House, the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum's antiquities, Mission Santa Clara, and the Computer History Museum nearby in Mountain View. Together they fill a couple of days.

Huntington Beach's sightseeing centres on surfing: the pier, the International Surfing Museum and the Surfers' Hall of Fame handprints at the foot of Main Street. That takes an afternoon. For real museums, people drive to Los Angeles.

The two are about level, but the nights feel different. Huntington Beach has one strip, Main Street near the pier, with sports bars, rooftop beach bars and a few dance spots. On summer weekends it gets loud with a young local crowd.

San Jose's going-out is split between two downtown areas. San Pedro Square has beer halls and a food market busy on arena game nights, and SoFA has cocktail bars, dive bars and a few clubs. It winds down early, and for a big night people take the train to San Francisco.

San Jose has the better outdoors. The valley is ringed by hills: redwood groves at Henry Cowell and Big Basin, oak foothills at Alum Rock, the road up Mount Hamilton to the Lick Observatory, and, further out, the headlands of Point Lobos and the rock spires of Pinnacles.

Huntington Beach's outdoors is mostly about the water: surfing, paddleboarding in the harbour channels and cycling the beach path. The Bolsa Chica wetland is excellent for birds, but the land around the town is flat suburb, and the nearest canyon trails are half an hour away at Crystal Cove.

San Jose is the better base for day trips, mainly because San Francisco is an hour away by Caltrain, with no driving. Monterey, Carmel, Santa Cruz's old boardwalk and the Santa Cruz Mountains wineries are close, and Napa is possible on a long day.

Huntington Beach has good options too, though nearly all of them mean driving the freeways. Laguna Beach and Mission San Juan Capistrano are to the south, Los Angeles is about an hour north, and ferries run to Catalina Island. San Diego is a full day out.

Huntington Beach is the stronger family choice because the big theme parks are so close. Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm are about half an hour inland, the Aquarium of the Pacific is an easy morning, and Legoland is reachable. Back in town there is the beach, though the waves suit boogie boards better than toddlers.

San Jose has smaller attractions: Great America in Santa Clara, the small Happy Hollow zoo and two hands-on museums downtown. Its best outing for children is the Monterey Bay Aquarium, but that is over an hour's drive.

You need a car in both, but San Jose has more public transport. Light rail runs north to south through the compact downtown, and Caltrain is a reliable link to Palo Alto and San Francisco. Away from those lines, distances across the valley are long.

Huntington Beach has no rail. Beyond the walkable area around the pier and Main Street, the flat beach path is best covered by bike, and almost every other trip means driving.

The two are fairly close, with San Jose slightly ahead on choice within its own area. Its west side has a very large mall next to an open-air street of brand boutiques, and Japantown, Willow Glen and the Asian supermarkets add some variety.

Huntington Beach is more specialised: surf shops, local board makers and swimwear along Main Street. Surfboards and surf clothing are the most characteristic things to take home, and for luxury brands South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa is about twenty minutes away.

Both are expensive, and Huntington Beach is the slightly easier on a budget. The beach costs nothing, motels on the inland boulevards are cheaper than those on the coast, and Mexican and Vietnamese food nearby is good value. Summer weekends are the dearest time.

San Jose's hotels are priced for business travel, so the pattern is reversed: weekends are often cheaper than midweek. Car hire, fuel and parking add to the bill, though the suburban plazas offer cheap meals and the parks and trails are free.

Neither city has much of a stage scene, but they differ in where the shows happen. San Jose has its own downtown programme: Opera San José in the restored 1920s California Theatre, the symphony and touring Broadway at the Center for the Performing Arts, and a long-running summer jazz festival.

In Huntington Beach itself there is little beyond cover bands and summer concerts in the park. The serious programme is a short drive away in Costa Mesa, where the Segerstrom Center hosts the Pacific Symphony, ballet and opera, and South Coast Repertory runs its theatre season.

Neither is a spa destination, but Huntington Beach is a little easier for unwinding, mostly because of its pace: yoga on the sand, sunset walks on the pier and evenings around a fire. Beyond that, spa options are resort hotel spas and ordinary day spas.

San Jose is built around the working week, but it has things the beach town lacks. Korean-style bathhouses with saunas and soaking pools are in nearby towns, and the Japanese gardens at Hakone and Kelley Park are quiet places for an hour. The leafy streets of Los Gatos and Saratoga are the calmest corners.