Moab or Monterey?

Neither is a beach destination, but only Monterey has a coast. Its beaches at Carmel, Asilomar and Del Monte are lovely for walks, picnics and paddling on warm autumn days, even if the cold water and rip currents rule out long swims.

In Moab, cooling off means Mill Creek's pools, Ken's Lake or a careful dip from a sandbar on the Colorado, and most visitors settle for the motel pool.

Monterey eats better, thanks to the bay and the farmland behind it: squid, Dungeness crab and sand dabs, artichokes from the Salinas Valley, and Pinot Noir from Carmel Valley and the Santa Lucia Highlands. The best cooking is away from the wharf, in Old Monterey, Pacific Grove and Carmel.

On Moab's Main Street, food is about refuelling after a hike: big portions of burgers, tacos and pizza with a brewery pint. There is no local dish to look out for, and Utah's alcohol rules make a glass of wine with dinner more of a formality.

Monterey has real history to walk through. As the former capital of Spanish and Mexican Alta California, it keeps the Custom House, Colton Hall and the Royal Presidio Chapel, and the Carmel Mission is ten minutes away. Steinbeck's Cannery Row adds a literary layer.

Moab's heritage lies outside town, in the Ancestral Puebloan and Fremont petroglyphs along Potash Road and Kane Creek and the dinosaur trackways nearby. They are striking, but together with the Museum of Moab they fill a morning rather than a stay.

Both towns go to bed early, but Monterey at least gives you an evening out. The pubs and wine bars on Alvarado Street and a few livelier places on Cannery Row make a drink after dinner easy.

In Moab the Main Street brewpubs fill with bikers and rafters swapping stories and then empty, because most people are up before dawn. The better show is the dark, star-filled sky.

Both are outstanding, but Moab comes out ahead on scale and range. Arches is minutes away and Canyonlands and Dead Horse Point less than an hour. Around them are the Slickrock Trail, the Whole Enchilada descent from the La Sal Mountains, rafting on the Colorado and climbing at Wall Street.

Monterey's strength is wildlife along a cold coast: whales over the submarine canyon, otters in the kelp and sea lions by the wharf, plus Point Lobos and the cliffs and redwoods of Big Sur. Here the outdoors means watching wildlife and walking the coast, rather than the long, hot, physical days Moab asks of you.

From Monterey there are places to go, while from Moab the day trips are mostly more landscape. Carmel-by-the-Sea and Pacific Grove are minutes from Monterey, Salinas and San Juan Bautista offer Steinbeck country and a mission plaza, and Santa Cruz is under an hour north.

The towns around Moab, such as Green River, Monticello and Bluff, are small and far apart. The worthwhile outing is south to the Ancestral Puebloan sites at Edge of the Cedars and Hovenweep, which takes a full day of driving.

Monterey is the easier family base. The aquarium alone fills a day, and tide pools, otters, whale-watching boats and Dennis the Menace Park cover all ages without much driving.

Moab suits a different kind of family: school-age children who love scrambling on rock, dinosaur tracks, Junior Ranger programmes and gentle river floats. Summer heat, unfenced drops and long car journeys make it hard going with toddlers.

Outside town you need a car in both places, but Monterey's waterfront is far easier on foot. The flat recreation trail links the wharf, downtown, Cannery Row and the aquarium and continues to Pacific Grove, and there are local buses, though they are slow.

In Moab, the walkable part is Main Street, plus a paved bike path to the Arches entrance. Beyond that come long desert roads and dirt tracks with no public transport. Visitors without a vehicle rely on outfitters' shuttles, and a high-clearance car opens up much more.

Moab's Main Street is for gear and keepsakes: bike, climbing and camping shops, rock shops selling geodes and fossils, and a few galleries with Navajo jewellery and weavings. It is where you pick up a spare inner tube, not where you spend an afternoon browsing.

Monterey offers the better afternoon out, though mostly next door. Its own wharf and Cannery Row run to taffy and sea-otter souvenirs, but Carmel's galleries, independent boutiques and tasting rooms and Pacific Grove's antique shops are an easy drive away.

Moab is the easier of the two on a budget, even though its motels charge resort prices in spring and autumn. Public campgrounds, free dispersed camping, a park pass that covers the week and free hikes keep costs down, and winter is much cheaper.

Monterey's rooms are priced for Californian weekenders, dinners in Carmel and on Cannery Row are expensive, and the aquarium is a real cost for a family. Saving money there means staying in a highway motel or inland in Seaside or Marina, coming midweek, and relying on the free coastal trail and tide pools.

In both places live performance centres on festivals, but Monterey has more of them and some music the rest of the year. The Monterey Jazz Festival has run every September since 1958, the Carmel Bach Festival fills the peninsula in summer, and the Golden State Theatre and the Monterey Symphony cover the rest of the year.

Moab's one highlight is the Moab Music Festival at the end of summer, with chamber concerts in canyon grottoes you reach by boat. Otherwise, expect a weekend band in a brewpub.

Monterey is the better place to slow down. Fog lifting off the bay, evening walks along the Pacific Grove shore and resort spas among the Carmel Valley vineyards and at Pebble Beach make for a restful stay, especially midweek.

A Moab trip is energetic by nature, with early starts and long, hot days, and its few massage studios mostly treat sore legs. The calm comes from desert evenings and red cliffs at sunset, and for real rest people book a ranch or a cabin in the La Sal Mountains.