Huntington Beach or Scottsdale?

This is the starkest gap between the two. Huntington Beach is a beach town in the full sense, with around 14km of wide sand, fire rings, volleyball and steady surf, though the Pacific stays cool for much of the year and swimmers need to stay near the lifeguards.

Scottsdale is in the middle of the Sonoran Desert, so there is no sea at all. Swimming happens in the resort pool, or on outings to Saguaro and Canyon Lakes and tubing on the Salt River, which are good fun but no substitute for the coast.

Neither town is a food destination in itself, and in both the best eating lies just outside the city limits. In Huntington Beach the local table is casual and ocean-facing, fish tacos and brewpubs, and the real reward is the drive to Little Saigon for pho and banh mi.

Scottsdale is more polished, with steakhouses, sushi, patio grills and long brunches aimed at golfers and groups. Its local flavour is Sonoran Mexican, with carne asada and giant flour tortillas, and like Huntington Beach it sends the curious diner next door, in this case to Phoenix.

Scottsdale offers clearly more to see. Taliesin West, Frank Lloyd Wright's desert studio and part of a UNESCO listing, is a sight worth planning around, and the Museum of the West, a contemporary art museum and the galleries of Native American art add depth, with the Heard Museum and the Musical Instrument Museum close by.

Huntington Beach's sightseeing amounts to the pier, the International Surfing Museum and the Surfers' Hall of Fame. It is a fine hour for anyone interested in surf history, but heritage here means driving to Los Angeles or the missions.

Both towns pack their nights into one district and close at 2am, but Scottsdale's Old Town is bigger and more of an occasion. It has dance clubs, rooftop lounges, bottle service and dress codes, and it fills with groups in spring.

Huntington Beach's Main Street is smaller and more relaxed, sports bars and beach bars with a young local crowd, loud on summer weekends and quiet the rest of the week. A big night out from there means driving to Long Beach or Los Angeles.

Scottsdale has the edge for the outdoors, thanks to the McDowell Sonoran Preserve right on its north side, with trails among saguaros and granite boulders, plus Camelback Mountain, the Superstitions and balloon flights over the desert. The catch is summer, when hiking only works at dawn.

Huntington Beach's outdoors is the ocean: surfing, paddling in the harbour channels and cycling the beach path, with superb birding at Bolsa Chica. For hills, though, you drive half an hour to Crystal Cove or the Laguna coast, because the town itself is flat suburb.

Huntington Beach is the better base for outings. Los Angeles, Laguna Beach, Mission San Juan Capistrano, Long Beach and the ferry to Catalina Island are all within about an hour, and San Diego is a fair day out.

Scottsdale's best excursions take longer. Sedona's red rocks, Montezuma Castle and Jerome are around two hours north, Tucson is a similar distance south, and the Grand Canyon really needs a night away. Closer in there is little beyond the Apache Trail and the Goldfield ghost town.

Huntington Beach is the stronger family choice, with Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm close inland, the Aquarium of the Pacific nearby and wide sandy beaches on the doorstep. The waves suit boogie boards more than toddlers.

Scottsdale works well too, but more around the resort itself, with lazy rivers, water slides and kids' clubs, plus the railroad park, the OdySea Aquarium and spring training games. The summer heat pushes children indoors by midday, which is the bigger limitation of the two.

Both are car country with no rail in town, and in both a rental car or ride-hailing is the only practical way to reach most places. The difference is in the detail. Huntington Beach has a flat beachfront path that makes a bike the nicest way along the coast, but its freeways and summer beach parking can be a strain.

Scottsdale has a free trolley around Old Town and the shopping areas, and its simple grid, easy parking and light traffic make driving less stressful, as long as you avoid walking in the summer heat.

Scottsdale is the better shopping trip, because it combines a big luxury mall with something you cannot buy elsewhere: Navajo and Hopi silver, turquoise, Pueblo pottery and southwestern art from the Old Town gallery district, alongside cowboy boots and western hats.

Huntington Beach is narrower in town, mostly surf shops, board makers and swimwear along Main Street. Its trump card is South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, about twenty minutes away, for the major fashion houses, but locally the range is mostly beach style.

Neither is cheap, and both expect you to budget for a rental car and costly hotels. The difference is in timing. Huntington Beach is dearest in summer and at weekends, exactly when the beach is best, so savings come from inland motels and the Vietnamese and Mexican restaurants of the county.

Scottsdale's high season is winter and spring, and its resorts cut their rates sharply in the hot summer months, which suits travellers happy to spend the afternoons in the pool.

Scottsdale has slightly more on stage close at hand. Its own Old Town arts centre puts on jazz, chamber music and dance, the Musical Instrument Museum's theatre has a strong world-music programme, and Phoenix supplies opera, ballet and the symphony.

Huntington Beach itself offers little beyond bar bands and summer park concerts, but the Segerstrom Center and South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa are a short drive away, so a theatre or orchestra evening is still easy to arrange.

This is one of Scottsdale's main reasons to visit. It has a large number of resort spas with desert-inspired treatments, steam rooms and outdoor pools, many open to day guests, and yoga and retreats are easy to find in the dry, quiet setting.

Huntington Beach has nothing comparable, only resort hotel spas and ordinary day spas. Its version of relaxing is simpler: yoga on the sand, a sunset stroll on the pier and an evening by a beach fire.