Huntington Beach or Tucson?

This is the widest gap between the two. Huntington Beach is built along about 14km of flat sand with volleyball nets, fire rings and a long beachfront path. The Pacific is cool for much of the year, though, and rip currents keep swimmers near the lifeguard towers.

Tucson, deep in the Sonoran Desert, has no beach to speak of. The nearest sea is at Puerto Peñasco in Mexico, about four hours' drive away. Swimming means the hotel pool, or the creek pools in Sabino Canyon that form after rain and then disappear.

Tucson has the more distinctive food. Its Sonoran Mexican cooking is a regional cuisine in its own right, from carne asada grilled over mesquite to paper-thin flour tortillas and the bacon-wrapped Sonoran hot dog. It is best found in the family kitchens along South 12th Avenue and in the old barrios, where desert ingredients such as tepary beans and prickly pear also turn up.

Huntington Beach eats casually: fish tacos by the pier, surfers' breakfasts and brewpubs with ocean views, with plenty of chains in between. Its best meals are a drive inland in Little Saigon, where the pho and banh mi are worth the trip.

Tucson has far more to see. Mission San Xavier del Bac, with its painted and gilded interior, is one of the finest churches of its kind in the country. The adobe streets of Barrio Viejo, the Native American collections of the Arizona State Museum and the aircraft at the Pima Air & Space Museum add two or three days of sightseeing.

In Huntington Beach, sightseeing means surf culture and little else: the pier, the International Surfing Museum and the handprints of the Surfers' Hall of Fame on Main Street. For museums and heritage, visitors drive to Los Angeles.

Neither offers a big night out, and in both the evening centres on a short, walkable stretch. Huntington Beach has one strip, Main Street, where sports bars and beach bars with rooftop decks fill with a young local crowd on summer weekends and go quiet midweek.

Tucson splits its evenings between the cheap dive bars and patios of Fourth Avenue, fed by the university crowd, and the cocktail bars and rooftops of Congress Street. Its nightlife is busiest during the university term and calms down in summer, the reverse of the beach town's rhythm.

Tucson is the outdoor city of the two. Saguaro National Park lies on both sides of town, Sabino Canyon and Catalina State Park lead into rocky canyons, and the road up Mount Lemmon climbs from cactus to pine forest. There is also rock climbing and serious road cycling, though summer heat pushes outings to dawn.

In Huntington Beach the outdoors means the ocean: surf breaks, paddling in the harbour channels and birding at the Bolsa Chica wetlands. Beyond that the land is flat suburb, and for hills you drive about half an hour to Crystal Cove or Laguna.

Both make good bases with a car, but the outings differ in character. From Huntington Beach the trips are to big names: Los Angeles about an hour away, the dramatic coast at Laguna Beach, Mission San Juan Capistrano, the ferry to Catalina Island and, further south, San Diego.

Tucson's excursions are smaller and have more period feel. There is Wild West Tombstone, the Victorian copper-mining town of Bisbee, and the artists' village of Tubac with the Tumacácori mission ruins beyond it. The grassland wineries of Sonoita and the Biosphere 2 dome round out the list.

Huntington Beach is the easier family base. Disneyland, California Adventure and Knott's Berry Farm are all within about half an hour, and the Aquarium of the Pacific makes an easy morning. In town there is sand, pelicans at Bolsa Chica and the lakes of Central Park, though the waves suit boogie boarding more than toddlers.

Tucson has good outings in the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, the giant aircraft and an old western film set with stunt shows. Its attractions are spread out, though, and summer heat makes them hard going for small children, so it works best from October to April.

In both places a car is close to essential. Huntington Beach's walkable core is the pier and Main Street, and a bike on the flat beachfront path is the pleasantest way to travel along the coast. Anything further means busy freeways, and beach parking fills on summer weekends.

Tucson has a single streetcar line linking downtown, Fourth Avenue and the university, and its traffic is lighter and parking easier. Its main sights, though, lie on the city's edges or well outside it.

Neither is a shopping destination, but they sell very different things. Huntington Beach is all surf style, with board makers, surf brands and swimwear along Main Street. South Coast Plaza, one of the country's largest luxury malls, is about twenty minutes away.

Tucson's shopping is about the region: Native American jewellery, Tohono O'odham baskets and Mexican folk art, plus vintage shops on Fourth Avenue. Its winter gem and mineral show draws collectors from around the world, but the city has no luxury streets.

Tucson is noticeably easier on the budget. Mid-range hotels cost less, taquerías and hot dog stands make cheap eating simple, and the summer heat brings real bargains. Winter, and above all the gem show, pushes rates up.

Huntington Beach is an expensive stretch of coast. Hotel rates are high in summer and at weekends, and a rental car and parking come on top. The savings are in the motels along the inland boulevards and the Vietnamese and Mexican places around the county.

Tucson has a season of its own, modest as it is. The Tucson Symphony Orchestra, Arizona Opera and the Arizona Theatre Company all perform there, touring shows play Centennial Hall and concerts fill the restored Fox Theatre. Mariachi runs deep in the city, and most of the programme falls between autumn and spring.

In Huntington Beach itself, live performance means cover bands, summer concerts in the park and community theatre. For more serious fare you drive to Costa Mesa, home of the Segerstrom Center and South Coast Repertory.

Tucson is the place for a wellness break. It is one of the original homes of the American destination spa, and long-established resorts in the Catalina foothills and out towards Oracle run fitness, desert walks and meditation programmes. The quiet winter desert sets a slow pace.

Huntington Beach has resort spas and day spas, but relaxing there is informal: yoga on the sand, the pier at sunset and an evening round a beach fire. Neither city has a public bathing culture.