Laguna Beach or Palm Springs?

There is no real contest here. Laguna has a chain of coves, from Crescent Bay and Shaw's Cove in the north to Victoria Beach and the wide sand at Aliso in the south, with clear water and reefs to snorkel. The Pacific only warms up in late summer, though.

Palm Springs is about two hours from the ocean, over the mountains, so swimming means the hotel pool. That pool is warm for much of the year, which is a pleasure of its own, but anyone who wants sand and waves belongs on the coast.

Neither town is worth travelling to for food, and both send hungry visitors elsewhere for variety. Laguna does seafood with a sunset view, from fish tacos to clifftop dining rooms and a few serious kitchens pouring California wine. Palm Springs is about long brunches on shaded patios and cocktails by the pool, with the valley's date shakes and Mexican taquerias further east, so meals there are more casual and less priced for the view.

Palm Springs makes the stronger case for sightseeing, because its mid-century modern buildings are an attraction in their own right. Albert Frey's angular houses, Richard Neutra's Kaufmann House and the folded roofs of the Alexander homes in Twin Palms and Vista Las Palmas make a good day of cycling or driving. The Agua Caliente Cultural Museum tells the story of the Cahuilla people.

Laguna's culture comes from its art-colony past. The Laguna Art Museum and the galleries along Coast Highway and Forest Avenue fill a morning, and the nearest major historic sight, the mission at San Juan Capistrano, is outside town.

Neither is a clubbing town, but Palm Springs at least has a scene. Arenas Road's LGBTQ bars, with drag nights and patio drinking, along with spring pool parties and the retro cocktail lounges on Palm Canyon Drive, give an evening some shape outside the summer lull.

In Laguna, a night out means a drink after dinner in an old beach bar or a hotel lounge, and the village goes quiet well before midnight. For anything livelier you drive up the coast to Newport Beach or Costa Mesa.

Both are excellent for the outdoors. The difference is ocean against desert mountain. Laguna's best nature is in and on the water: a marine protected area with tide pools, kayaking, snorkelling over kelp and dolphins offshore, plus chaparral trails in the Laguna Coast Wilderness and Crystal Cove behind town.

Palm Springs has the bigger landscape. The tramway climbs to pine forest on Mount San Jacinto, the Indian Canyons hide palm oases, and the boulders and night skies of Joshua Tree are about an hour away. The catch is summer, when the heat limits hiking to dawn or the upper mountain, while Laguna's hills simply turn brown.

Laguna sits in the middle of Southern California, so it has far more within reach. Mission San Juan Capistrano is twenty minutes inland, a ferry crosses from Dana Point to Catalina, and San Diego or Los Angeles makes a full day out.

From Palm Springs the outings are smaller and quirkier: the pine village of Idyllwild, the old Western film set at Pioneertown, and the abandoned resorts and Salvation Mountain by the Salton Sea. They are memorable, but the big cities are too far for comfort, and you need a car from either town.

Laguna is the easier place to bring children. It has lifeguarded beaches, tide pools full of crabs and anemones, and Disneyland about forty minutes away. The long, steep stairways down to many coves and expensive family rooms are the real drawbacks.

Palm Springs has some good single outings in the Living Desert, the tramway and the Air Museum. But many boutique hotels are adults-only, social life centres on cocktails and pool parties, and from late spring the heat keeps children indoors or in the pool at midday.

Both are car towns, but Laguna is a little easier without one. The village around Main Beach is walkable, and a free trolley runs along Coast Highway between the beaches. Its weak points are scarce summer parking and the stairways down to the coves.

Palm Springs has a compact, flat downtown and an airport on the edge of town. Beyond downtown, though, the canyons, the tramway and Joshua Tree all need a car, and summer heat rules out walking at midday.

The two are evenly matched, and each has its own specialism. Laguna sells art: plein air landscapes and glass in the galleries along Coast Highway, and handmade crafts at the summer festivals. Palm Springs sells design, with mid-century furniture, lighting and vintage clothing in the Uptown Design District.

For big brands, Laguna shoppers head to the malls of Newport Beach and Costa Mesa, and Palm Springs shoppers go to El Paseo or the Cabazon outlets.

Neither town is cheap, but Laguna costs more. Room rates are high all year, restaurants are priced for the view, and paid parking adds up, so many budget visitors sleep inland and come for the day.

Palm Springs is pricey from winter into spring, but in summer it becomes a bargain for anyone who can bear the heat. Simple motels and supermarket picnics keep costs down in any season.

The two offer about the same amount, in very different forms. Laguna's highlight is the Pageant of the Masters, summer evenings of staged tableaux in the Laguna Canyon amphitheatre. The Laguna Playhouse runs plays all year, and Costa Mesa's large performing arts centre is half an hour away.

Palm Springs leans towards pop and cabaret: Coachella and Stagecoach in Indio each April, touring acts at the McCallum Theatre and the casinos, and drag and piano bar nights in town. Its programme largely stops in summer, which is exactly when Laguna's peaks.

Palm Springs is the clear winner for switching off. The town grew up around the Agua Caliente hot spring, where a bathhouse lets you soak in its mineral water, and the spa motels of Desert Hot Springs fill their pools straight from the ground.

Laguna has resort spas on the bluffs, yoga studios and a calm clifftop rhythm. But it has no bathing culture, and outside the costly resorts there is little on offer. Its restful pleasure is the sunset walk rather than the soak.