Los Angeles or Santa Fe?

Only Los Angeles offers a beach vacation at all. Its coast runs from the coves at Malibu past Santa Monica and Venice to the South Bay, with surf, volleyball and the bike path along the sand, though the cool Pacific means wetsuits more than long swims.

Santa Fe is on a high desert plateau far from the sea. A summer swim means a drive to Abiquiu Lake or a float on the Rio Grande, and otherwise the hotel pool.

Los Angeles has much more range. You can eat taco trucks on the Eastside, charcoal barbecue in Koreatown, regional Chinese in the San Gabriel Valley and Ethiopian, Thai and Armenian cooking in their own districts, with a serious chef-led scene above all of it. The price of that range is driving between neighbourhoods.

Santa Fe goes deep on one cuisine instead. New Mexican cooking with red and green chile, posole and blue corn is worth the trip for curious eaters, and the Railyard farmers' market is a good morning out, but there is little street food or international choice.

Both cities hold plenty to see, and the difference is age and scale. Los Angeles is modern and spread out: the Getty Center, LACMA, the Broad, the Huntington, Hollywood's movie palaces and Walt Disney Concert Hall, with long drives between them and almost no old town.

Santa Fe is the reverse. It is a Spanish colonial capital from 1610, with the Palace of the Governors, adobe chapels, Museum Hill's folk and Native American art collections and the O'Keeffe museum all close together. It is smaller, but you see far more of it per hour.

Los Angeles is far better for going out. Hollywood clubs, the gay bars of West Hollywood, downtown rooftop bars and dive bars in Silver Lake and Echo Park give real choice, even if last orders at 2am and the distances keep most nights in one district.

Santa Fe winds down after dinner. A sunset drink over the Jemez Mountains or a Railyard brewery is the typical night, the streets are quiet before midnight, and anyone wanting a club drives to Albuquerque.

Both put serious outdoor country within easy reach, but of very different kinds. Los Angeles mixes mountains and sea: Griffith Park and the Santa Monica Mountains for hikes, the San Gabriels behind, plus surfing, kayaking, winter whale watching and boats to the Channel Islands.

Santa Fe is all high country and desert. Trails start at the town's edge, aspen forest turns gold in autumn, the Pecos Wilderness and Valles Caldera are close, and there is rafting in the Rio Grande Gorge. You also skip the freeway traffic that slows every LA outing.

Santa Fe has the stronger list, and it is rich in history. The High Road to Taos passes Chimayo's pilgrimage church on the way to Taos Pueblo, inhabited for about a thousand years. Bandelier's cliff dwellings, Pecos, Los Alamos and O'Keeffe's Abiquiu are all within reach.

Los Angeles has good trips too, mainly Santa Barbara's mission and wine country, the ferry to Catalina and the galleries of Laguna Beach. The places are pleasant rather than ancient, and traffic can turn a two-hour drive into three.

Los Angeles is one of the easiest cities anywhere to fill with children's days. Disneyland, Universal, Knott's Berry Farm, the dinosaurs at the Natural History Museum, the Aquarium of the Pacific and the Santa Monica Pier sit alongside the beaches, although each outing means a drive.

Santa Fe is safe and calm, but it is built for adults. A children's museum, Bandelier's ladders and a small ski school help, but galleries, long dinners and the 2,100m altitude make it better for older children who like hiking.

Santa Fe is easier to get around. Its historic core, from the Plaza to Canyon Road and the Railyard, is walkable in about twenty minutes, and you only need a car for Museum Hill, trailheads and trips out of town.

In Los Angeles you depend on a car almost all the time. Metro lines to Hollywood, Pasadena, Long Beach and Santa Monica help, but the sights are spread across a vast basin with jammed freeways, so most visitors hire a car or take rides and plan one area per day.

Los Angeles has much broader shopping: luxury on Rodeo Drive, streetwear and vintage on Melrose, independent shops on Abbot Kinney, the Rose Bowl flea market and big open-air malls. Plan a car if you want to cover more than one area in a day.

Santa Fe is a specialist. It is for silver and turquoise bought from Native American artists under the Palace portal, the galleries of Canyon Road, Pueblo pottery and cowboy boots, with summer's Indian Market and Folk Art Market the high points. For fashion or department stores there is very little.

Neither is cheap, and the costs come from different places. In Los Angeles they come from hotels near the coast, tips and tax on meals, theme park tickets and a hire car with parking. Taco trucks, Koreatown and free sights such as the beaches and Griffith Observatory soften the bill.

Santa Fe is a small town with resort prices around the Plaza, especially in the opera and market season. Still, the walkable centre, free hiking and gallery browsing, and cheaper rooms along Cerrillos Road leave it slightly easier on a budget.

Los Angeles is the stronger choice for performance all year. The Philharmonic plays at Walt Disney Concert Hall and in summer at the Hollywood Bowl, LA Opera and Broadway tours fill the big stages, and rock rooms on the Sunset Strip, Hollywood's comedy clubs and Leimert Park jazz fill the nights.

Santa Fe has one outstanding draw, the summer opera in its open-sided hilltop theatre at sunset, along with chamber music and flamenco. Outside summer, the Lensic and church concerts make for a small-town programme.

The two are broadly level, with different ways to relax. Los Angeles has the Korean bathhouses of Koreatown, open late with pools, scrubs and steam, plus yoga and Beverly Hills spas, though the city itself is anything but restful.

Santa Fe offers calm in its pace. There are onsen-style tubs in the pines above town, the springs at Ojo Caliente an hour north, and quiet adobe courtyards and early evenings, but no everyday bathing culture.