Laguna Beach or Tucson?

On the beach the two could hardly be further apart. Laguna Beach is a string of small beaches and coves, from the volleyball nets at Main Beach to Shaw's Cove, Victoria Beach and the long sand at Aliso, with clear water for snorkelling over the reefs. The Pacific is cool outside late summer and some coves have strong rips, but this is a true beach town.

Tucson has no coast at all. The Gulf of California is a four-hour drive into Mexico, so swimming means the hotel pool. The pools that sometimes form in Sabino Canyon after rain are a curiosity, not something to plan around.

Tucson is the better place to eat. It has a cuisine of its own, Sonoran Mexican: mesquite-grilled carne asada, flour tortillas so thin you can nearly see through them and the bacon-wrapped Sonoran hot dog. These come from family kitchens along South 12th Avenue and in the barrios, and desert ingredients such as tepary beans and prickly pear turn up on menus too.

Laguna Beach relies on its setting. It has fish tacos, poke, clifftop dining rooms and California wine at sunset, but little range and no local tradition. Visitors who want variety drive inland to the Vietnamese and Korean restaurants of Orange County.

Neither is a major cultural destination, but Tucson has more to see. Mission San Xavier del Bac, with its gilded, painted interior, is one of the finest churches of its kind in the country. Add the adobe houses of Barrio Viejo, the Native American collections of the Arizona State Museum and the huge Pima Air & Space Museum, and you have two or three days of sightseeing.

Laguna's heritage is its art colony. The Laguna Art Museum and the galleries along Coast Highway and Forest Avenue take a morning, and the nearest major historic site, the mission at San Juan Capistrano, is outside town.

Tucson has a proper night out, while Laguna Beach mostly offers a nightcap. In Tucson, the dive bars and patios of Fourth Avenue and the cocktail bars and rooftops on Congress Street are a short walk apart. They are busy at weekends during term, and there are a few dance floors.

In Laguna, a few beach bars, wine bars and hotel lounges round off the evening, and the village is quiet well before midnight. Neither town has a club scene, and Tucson also calms down in summer when the students leave.

Both are excellent for the outdoors, and the real difference is sea against desert. Laguna's whole coast is a marine protected area, so days are spent tide pooling, snorkelling over kelp, kayaking and watching dolphins. Behind the town are chaparral trails in Laguna Coast Wilderness Park and Crystal Cove.

Tucson is ringed by mountains. It has the saguaro forests of the national park, the canyon trails at Sabino and the drive up Mount Lemmon from cactus to pine, along with serious road cycling and birdwatching. Its outdoor season runs from autumn to spring, while Laguna's lasts all year.

Laguna Beach has the stronger choice of day trips, as long as you have a car. Mission San Juan Capistrano is twenty minutes away, the Catalina ferry leaves from Dana Point or Newport, and San Diego and Los Angeles are each about an hour and a half's drive.

Tucson's outings are smaller and have a frontier feel: Tombstone, the copper-mining hill town of Bisbee, the artists' village of Tubac and the Biosphere 2 dome. They are varied and enjoyable, but none draws visitors the way San Diego does.

Laguna is somewhat better for children, mainly because of the shore. It has lifeguarded beaches and tide pools full of anemones and crabs, and Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm are about forty minutes away. The downsides are the steep stairways down to many beaches and the cost of family rooms.

Tucson has good attractions, led by the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, the giant aircraft at the Pima museum and an old western film set with stunt shows. They are spread across the city, though, and only comfortable for children from October to April.

Both towns expect you to have a car, but Laguna asks a little less of you. The village around Main Beach is easy to walk and a free trolley links the northern and southern beaches, though parking is hard in summer.

Tucson's single streetcar line covers only downtown, Fourth Avenue and the university. The places most visitors come for, from Saguaro National Park to Mount Lemmon, are on the edges of the city or further out. Parking and traffic, at least, are easy.

Laguna Beach has a slight edge, mostly because luxury shopping is close by. The big malls of Newport Beach and Costa Mesa are about half an hour's drive. In town, the galleries sell plein air paintings and glass, and there are boutiques along Forest Avenue.

Tucson's strength is regional craft: 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 shopping.

Tucson costs far less. Mid-range hotels are cheaper than in the bigger Southwest cities, cheap Mexican food is easy to find and summer brings real bargains, though a hire car and resort spas add up.

Laguna is one of the most expensive beach towns in California, from the clifftop resorts and motels to the ocean-view dinners, and paid parking adds more. The free beaches and trails help, but many budget travellers stay elsewhere and come for the day.

The two are evenly matched but quite different. Laguna's highlight is one summer show, the Pageant of the Masters, where performers recreate famous paintings as living tableaux in a canyon amphitheatre. The Laguna Playhouse runs all year, but for opera or a symphony you drive to Costa Mesa.

Tucson has its own symphony orchestra, Arizona Opera and the Arizona Theatre Company, touring shows at Centennial Hall and small rock and desert folk venues on Congress Street. Mariachi runs through the city's culture. Its season runs from autumn to spring, the opposite of Laguna's summer peak.

Tucson is the better choice for a restorative stay. It is one of the original homes of the American destination spa. Its long-established wellness resorts in the Catalina foothills build whole programmes of desert walks, fitness and meditation around clear winter skies.

Laguna relaxes you through its pace more than its facilities: clifftop walks, yoga studios and sunsets over the water, while the full spas are in expensive resorts on the bluffs. Neither has thermal baths or a public bathing tradition.