Laguna Beach or Taos?

Laguna Beach is built around its shoreline: Main Beach in the village, small coves such as Crescent Bay and Shaw's Cove to the north, and Victoria Beach, Thousand Steps and the wide sand at Aliso to the south. The water is clear enough for snorkelling over the reefs, although it stays cool outside late summer and conditions change from one cove to the next.

Taos has nothing to compare. It lies hundreds of kilometres inland at around 2,100m, the Rio Grande is a river for rafting rather than swimming, and the mountain lakes are cold even in summer.

Neither town is a destination for food, but they eat very differently. Laguna Beach offers what a wealthy coastal town does: seafood dining rooms on the cliffs, fish tacos and poke, and a sunset that does much of the work. It has no cooking of its own, though, and for variety people drive inland to Orange County's Vietnamese, Mexican and Korean restaurants.

Taos has a narrower range but a clear identity. Northern New Mexican cooking with red or green chile, posole, carne adovada and horno bread from the Pueblo are served with conviction in old family places, so a meal there tells you where you are in a way Laguna's menus rarely do.

Both towns grew as art colonies in the early twentieth century, but Taos has far more on top of that. Taos Pueblo is a World Heritage site where a Tiwa-speaking community still lives in multi-storey adobe houses, and the buttressed church at Ranchos de Taos, painted by O'Keeffe, adds a second landmark. Small museums such as the Harwood, Millicent Rogers and Fechin House fill two or three slow days.

In Laguna Beach the heritage comes down to the Laguna Art Museum, the galleries and a few craftsman cottages. A morning is enough, and the mission at San Juan Capistrano is outside town.

Both are early-to-bed places with no clubs, but Laguna Beach has a little more going on. Old beach bars, wine bars and ocean-terrace lounges fill up on summer weekends, and Newport Beach and Costa Mesa are a short drive away for a bigger night.

Evenings in Taos are a margarita in an adobe hotel bar, a brewery taproom or a saloon with a band, plus the après-ski crowd up at the ski valley in winter. There is nowhere nearby to go on to.

Taos has the wilder and grander setting. Wheeler Peak rises to 4,013m above the ski valley, known for steep terrain, and the Rio Grande gorge offers whitewater in the Taos Box, rim walks and mountain biking. The Enchanted Circle drive and the autumn aspens complete a landscape on a scale the coast cannot match, though the altitude asks for a gentle first day or two.

Laguna Beach's strength is where land meets sea. Its whole coast is a marine protected area for tide pooling, snorkelling and kayaking, with dolphins offshore and grey whales passing in winter, while the chaparral canyons of Laguna Coast Wilderness and Aliso and Wood Canyons offer good, but more modest, hiking.

Laguna Beach has more within easy reach. Mission San Juan Capistrano is about twenty minutes inland, a ferry crosses to Catalina Island, and San Diego, Los Angeles and the Temecula vineyards are all possible in a day.

From Taos the outings are fewer and longer, but they are memorable. The High Road to Santa Fe passes Truchas, Las Trampas and the sanctuary at Chimayó, and Abiquiu and Ghost Ranch lead into O'Keeffe country. Bandelier's cliff dwellings take up a full day.

Laguna Beach works much better with children. Lifeguarded beaches, tide pools full of anemones and crabs, easy snorkelling and the free trolley keep a stay simple, and Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm are about forty minutes away. The drawbacks are steep beach stairways and expensive family rooms.

Taos suits only families who already love the outdoors, with a good ski school in winter and gentle river floats and horse riding in summer. There is no zoo, aquarium or theme park, and the thin air can wear out young children for the first few days.

You need a car in both, but Laguna Beach is the easier of the two. The village is walkable, a free trolley runs along Coast Highway between the beaches, and airports and attractions are freeway drives away, although summer parking takes effort.

Taos is more spread out. The Pueblo, Ranchos de Taos, the gorge bridge and the ski valley are scattered across a wide valley, the bus is basic, and most visitors start with a drive of about two and a half hours from Albuquerque.

Both towns sell art first, and Laguna Beach comes out slightly ahead. Its galleries of plein air and ocean painting, its boutiques on Forest Avenue and its summer craft festivals are backed by the large luxury malls of Newport Beach and Costa Mesa about half an hour away.

Taos offers less variety but more that you cannot find elsewhere: turquoise and silver jewellery, micaceous pottery, Rio Grande weaving and carved santos. You can buy pottery or bread straight from the makers at the Pueblo.

Taos is clearly the cheaper stay. Simple motels and New Mexican diners are fairly priced, and although historic inns and ski-valley lodging charge resort rates in season, spring and late autumn are easy on the budget. The hire car is the cost you cannot avoid.

Laguna Beach is among the most expensive beach towns in California, from clifftop resorts down to plain motels and parking. The free beaches, trails and trolley help, but many budget travellers sleep inland and come for the day.

Laguna Beach has more to see on stage. The Pageant of the Masters, a summer tradition since the 1930s, recreates famous artworks as live tableaux in a canyon amphitheatre, the Laguna Playhouse runs all year, and Costa Mesa's large arts centre for opera and symphony is half an hour away.

Taos has less, but what it has is unusual. On feast days such as San Gerónimo, the Pueblo's traditional dances may be watched quietly and without cameras, and a summer chamber music festival brings serious classical concerts to the valley.

Taos offers more for a restorative stay. Ojo Caliente, about fifty minutes away, has outdoor pools of different mineral waters under the cliffs, and primitive hot springs sit beside the Rio Grande at the bottom of the gorge. Retreat centres and the silence of the plateau add to the calm.

Laguna Beach relaxes you differently, through clifftop walks, long sunsets and full spas in the bluff-top resorts. It has no springs or bathing culture, and most of the pampering comes at resort prices.