Laguna Beach or Telluride?

Laguna Beach is made of beaches: Main Beach in the village, the coves at Crescent Bay and Shaw's Cove, and the wider sand at Aliso, with clear water good for snorkelling over the reefs. Just remember the cool Pacific, and many coves are reached by steep stairs.

Telluride has no beach life at all. The closest swim is a chilly reservoir about an hour away near Ridgway, so in summer water there means rafting, paddling or fishing.

The two eat at a similar level, and both are short on range. Laguna's strengths are fish tacos, poke and seafood dining rooms on the cliffs where the sunset does half the work. For more variety you drive inland to Orange County's Vietnamese, Mexican and Korean restaurants.

Telluride cooks mountain food, with elk, Colorado lamb and trout on Colorado Avenue and in Mountain Village, washed down with craft beer. With no city nearby to escape to, a week there means returning to the same few tables.

Neither is a sightseeing destination, but Laguna gives you slightly more to do. Its art colony past lives on in the Laguna Art Museum and the galleries along Coast Highway and Forest Avenue, and Mission San Juan Capistrano is a short drive inland.

In Telluride the heritage is the townscape itself: a National Historic Landmark grid of false-fronted mining-era buildings, a museum set in the old miners' hospital, and mill ruins high on the canyon walls. It makes an hour or two of good wandering rather than a full day.

Both towns are quiet after dark, so neither is worth choosing for nightlife. In Laguna that means a dive bar or an ocean-terrace lounge after dinner, and a real night out means driving to Newport Beach or Costa Mesa. Telluride has après-ski and old Victorian saloons on Colorado Avenue, and it does stay up late on peak ski weeks and festival weekends, which the beach town rarely does.

Laguna's outdoors is gentle and mostly at sea level, while Telluride's is high mountain country on a far grander scale. On the coast, the protected waters suit tide pooling, kayaking and shore diving over kelp, and the chaparral canyons of Aliso and Wood and the Laguna Coast Wilderness make good hiking and mountain-biking country, with grey whales passing offshore in winter.

Telluride is in another league. Bridal Veil Falls, wildflower basins, a via ferrata, old mining roads over the passes and the ski area all start at the end of the main street, and in autumn the aspen forests turn gold.

Laguna sits in the middle of Southern California, which is a big advantage. Dana Point, Newport and Huntington Beach are close, a ferry runs to Catalina, and San Diego, Los Angeles and the Temecula vineyards are each a drive of about one to two hours.

Telluride is remote. Ridgway, Ouray and Silverton are atmospheric old towns on mountain roads, but Mesa Verde, the one major site nearby, is on the very edge of a day out, and winter passes can close the way.

Laguna suits more families. Lifeguarded beaches, tide pools and easy snorkelling fill the days, and Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm are about forty minutes away, although steep beach stairs and costly family rooms are a nuisance.

Telluride is best for active families: the free gondola, a good ski school and easy waterfall walks. There is nothing indoors for bad weather, and the altitude can disturb young children's sleep for the first nights.

The two are opposites. Laguna's village and its free coastal trolley cover a small area, but everything else needs a car in a long, hilly town where summer parking fills early.

Telluride is awkward to reach but easy once you are there. You can cross the compact grid on foot, and the free gondola and buses link it to Mountain Village, so many visitors leave the car parked until it is time to go home.

Laguna is the better place to shop. It has dozens of galleries selling plein air paintings and glass, boutiques on Forest Avenue and craft sales at the summer art festivals, and the big luxury malls of Newport Beach and Costa Mesa are half an hour away. Telluride has a few blocks of galleries, Western clothing, bookshops and ski gear, and there is no larger shopping centre within easy reach.

Both are among the most expensive places of their kind in America, so neither is a budget choice. Laguna has the edge thanks to its free beaches, trails and trolley, and you can stay cheaply inland and come in for the day. In Telluride, lift tickets, ski hire and scarce rooms push costs up further, and staying in Ridgway to save money means a daily mountain drive.

Laguna keeps a stage lit all year, while Telluride's calendar is mostly built around summer festivals. The Laguna Playhouse puts on plays and musicals in every season, and in summer the Pageant of the Masters recreates famous artworks as live tableaux in a canyon amphitheatre. For opera and symphony, Costa Mesa is half an hour away.

Telluride's high points are the long-running Bluegrass Festival in Town Park, the jazz and chamber music festivals and the Labor Day film festival, with the Sheridan Opera House filling the gaps. Come outside those weekends and there is little on.

Both are calm places with resort spas, and the difference is in the setting. Laguna's version is a clifftop morning walk, yoga in the village and a long Pacific sunset. Telluride has something the coast does not: hot springs pools in Ouray and near Ridgway, about an hour away, for a soak with mountain views. Bear in mind that the altitude can make the first nights restless.