Laguna Beach or Page, Arizona?

Laguna Beach wins for a classic beach trip. Main Beach and the coves at Crescent Bay, Shaw's Cove, Victoria Beach and Aliso offer real sand, clear water over reefs for snorkelling, and lifeguards at the busier spots. The drawback is the Pacific itself, which stays cool except in late summer.

Page swims differently. Lake Powell gets noticeably warmer in midsummer, and the best moments come from a boat, jumping off sandstone into deep water in a quiet cove. Lone Rock has open sand, but the shoreline shifts with the lake level, there are no lifeguards, and the water is too cold for half the year.

Neither town is a food destination, but Laguna gives you more to enjoy at the table. Fish tacos, poke, seafood kitchens with California wine and clifftop dining rooms at sunset make dinner part of the day, and Orange County's Vietnamese, Mexican and Korean restaurants are a short drive inland.

In Page you eat to refuel between outings: diners, barbecue, pizza and chains along the strip. The one thing worth tracking down is a Navajo taco on frybread, which you won't find on the coast.

Neither town is a place to go for sightseeing, but Laguna has more to offer someone with an interest in art. It has a real identity as a former colony of plein air painters, and that history is still on show in the Laguna Art Museum's collection of California work and in the galleries along Coast Highway. A morning covers it, and Mission San Juan Capistrano is close by if you want Spanish colonial history.

Page has nothing like that to draw on. It began as a dam workers' town in the 1950s, so its main man-made sight is the Glen Canyon Dam itself, with a visitor centre that tells the story of its construction. The cultural depth in this part of Arizona belongs to the surrounding Navajo Nation and shows in the land and its people more than in anything you can visit in town.

Both are early-to-bed places, and Laguna offers the little extra. Its old beach bars, wine bars and hotel lounges with ocean terraces fill up on summer weekends, and Newport Beach and Costa Mesa are close enough for a bigger night. In Page a brewpub and a few bars are about it. The real evening attraction is the very dark desert sky full of stars.

Page is in another league. Horseshoe Bend, the glowing slot canyons of Upper and Lower Antelope, Rainbow Bridge reached by boat across Lake Powell, river trips from Lees Ferry, and the Wave and Buckskin Gulch in the Vermilion Cliffs make up one of the great concentrations of desert scenery in the American West.

Laguna's nature is gentler and largely marine. The whole coast is a protected area for tide pooling, kayaking and shore diving over kelp, with dolphins offshore and grey whales passing in winter. Behind the town, the chaparral canyons of Laguna Coast Wilderness and Aliso and Wood Canyons offer good hiking and mountain biking, but nothing on Page's scale.

Laguna sits in a region full of places to visit. Mission San Juan Capistrano is twenty minutes away, Newport, Huntington Beach and Dana Point are along the coast, and the ferry to Catalina, the Temecula vineyards, San Diego and Los Angeles all make a good day out.

Page's surroundings are mostly empty land. Lees Ferry, the cliff dwellings at Navajo National Monument, small Kanab and Pipe Spring are worthwhile, but they are few and far apart. Monument Valley is impressive, but it is scenery rather than a place to explore on foot.

Laguna is much easier with children. Tide pools full of crabs, lifeguarded beaches, easy snorkelling and the free trolley fill the days, and Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm are close, with Legoland further south. The steep beach stairways and costly family rooms are the main drawbacks.

Page can thrill older, outdoorsy children with a lake day at Lone Rock or a short Antelope Canyon tour. Beyond that there is nothing built for them, the summer sun is harsh, and the unfenced drops at Horseshoe Bend need constant watching.

You will want a car in both, but Laguna asks less of you. The village around Main Beach and Forest Avenue is walkable, and the free trolley along Coast Highway links the northern and southern coves, though parking is scarce in summer.

Page has no public transport worth using, the sights are spread across open highway, and the nearest major airports are hours away. Most visitors arrive on a road trip and drive everywhere.

Laguna is the better place to shop. There are dozens of galleries selling plein air painting and glass, boutiques on Forest Avenue and makers' stalls at the summer art festivals, and the big luxury malls of Newport Beach and Costa Mesa are half an hour away.

Page has gift shops and supermarkets for stocking a houseboat. Its one real attraction is Navajo silver, turquoise, rugs and pottery, bought at trading posts, sometimes straight from the maker.

In Page the money goes on the sights. Antelope Canyon can only be seen on a paid guided tour, and boat hire, houseboats and lake tours are expensive. Day-to-day spending is easier, with meals and fuel priced like any small American town, and camping at Lone Rock or Wahweap or coming in winter keeps a trip within reach.

Laguna is costly before you have done anything at all. Clifftop resorts and even simple motels charge high rates, dinners are priced for the view and parking adds up through the day. The beaches, trails and trolley are free, but many visitors on a budget sleep inland and come to the coast for the day.

Laguna has a genuine tradition here. The Pageant of the Masters, where live performers recreate famous artworks in a canyon amphitheatre on summer evenings, is unlike anything else. The Laguna Playhouse runs all year, and opera and touring shows are a short drive away in Costa Mesa. Page has only occasional Navajo dance presentations and dinner shows put on for visitors, nothing to plan an evening around.

Laguna is made for slowing down. Its days follow clifftop walks and long sunsets, and there are resort spas on the bluffs, yoga studios and day spas in the village, though nowhere to bathe in hot springs or public baths.

A Page trip runs the other way, with pre-dawn canyon tours and long drives. Its calm comes from desert silence and night skies rather than massages and pools.