Moab or Newport Beach?

There is no contest here. In Moab, swimming means Mill Creek's shallow pools, Ken's Lake and sandbars on a fast, cold and silty Colorado River. These are places to cool off for an hour, not to spend a day on the sand.

Newport has ten kilometres of beach along the Balboa Peninsula, surf by the piers, calmer coves at Corona del Mar and sheltered harbour strips where toddlers can paddle. The Pacific here is cool, so it is a beach for surfing, boogie boards and long days on the sand more than for lazy warm-water swims.

Neither town has a cuisine of its own, but Newport eats noticeably better. Moab's Main Street is about refuelling: burgers, tacos, pizza, brewery pints, early coffee for hikers and a few Southwestern dinner rooms. Expect queues in the busy seasons, and Utah's alcohol rules make a glass of wine with dinner more formal than visitors expect.

Newport offers waterfront seafood with boat views around the harbour and Lido, brunch in Corona del Mar, fish tacos by the sand and frozen bananas on Balboa Island. Costa Mesa and the Vietnamese kitchens of Little Saigon widen the choice a great deal, though Newport's own restaurants charge a lot for what arrives.

Both are thin for sightseeing, and Newport has slightly more to look at. Moab's real interest lies outside town: the Ancestral Puebloan and Fremont petroglyphs along Potash Road and Kane Creek, and the dinosaur trackways. In town, the small Museum of Moab fills an hour.

Newport has old seaside charm in the 1905 Balboa Pavilion and the island ferry. Schindler's Lovell Beach House draws lovers of early modernism, Sherman Library & Gardens makes a quiet stop, and a proper art museum sits next door in Costa Mesa.

Moab goes to bed early. A couple of brewpubs fill with bikers and rafters, a few Main Street bars stay open, and by eleven the main attraction is the star-filled desert sky.

Newport gives more choice without becoming a party town. Beach bars and dive bars near the Newport and Balboa piers pack out on summer weekends, while harbour wine bars and hotel lounges suit a dressier evening that ends before midnight. For clubs you still drive to Costa Mesa or Los Angeles.

This is where Moab is strongest. Arches starts minutes from town, Island in the Sky and Dead Horse Point look over the canyons of the Colorado and Green rivers, and the Slickrock Trail, the Whole Enchilada descent, river rafting and climbing at Wall Street make the outdoors a reason to come in itself.

Newport's nature is gentler and tied to the sea. There is birdwatching on the Upper Newport Bay estuary, bluff and canyon trails at Crystal Cove, kayaking in the harbour and whale-watching boats in every season. Its nearest real mountains, the Santa Anas, are an hour inland, while Moab's La Sal peaks rise right above town.

Day trips from Moab are about scenery rather than other places. The nearby towns, Green River, Monticello and Bluff, are small, and the Ancestral Puebloan sites at Edge of the Cedars and Hovenweep sit at the far end of a long drive.

From Newport, all of Southern California is within reach. Laguna Beach is twenty minutes down the coast, Mission San Juan Capistrano is close by, and a ferry runs to Avalon on Catalina Island. Los Angeles and San Diego make bigger outings. Freeway traffic is the price of that variety.

Newport is the easier family base. Shallow harbour beaches, the ferris wheel at the Fun Zone, the Balboa Island ferry, tide pools and whale-watching fill the days, and Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm are about half an hour inland.

Moab rewards school-age children who love scrambling on rock. There are short walks to Sand Dune Arch, dinosaur tracks, gentle river floats and Junior Ranger programmes. Summer heat, unfenced cliff edges and hours in the car make it hard going with toddlers.

Both need a car, and Moab needs one more. Its walkable Main Street and the bike path to the Arches entrance are the only easy stretches. The parks lie along long desert roads, many trailheads are reached by dirt track, and a high-clearance vehicle opens up more of the backcountry.

Newport is also built around the freeway, with slow buses and scarce beach parking in summer. Still, the flat Balboa Peninsula, its boardwalk and the little ferry to Balboa Island let you spend a good part of a beach day on foot or by bike.

Moab's shops serve the trail: bike, climbing and camping stores, rock shops with geodes and fossils, and a few galleries selling Navajo jewellery and weavings. It is where you replace a tyre, not where you shop for fun.

Newport is a serious stop for luxury shopping. An open-air centre of department stores sits above the harbour, and one of the country's largest luxury malls is ten minutes away in Costa Mesa. Corona del Mar has boutiques and the peninsula has surf shops.

Neither is cheap, but Moab is easier on the budget. Its motels charge resort rates in spring and autumn, and guided rafting or jeep tours add up. Against that, one park entry covers a week, the best hikes are free, camping on public land costs little and winter is far cheaper.

Newport is expensive even by Californian standards. Harbour hotels, restaurants that charge for the view, parking and car hire all add up, and staying inland in Costa Mesa or Irvine saves only a little.

Moab has one real occasion, the Moab Music Festival at the end of summer, with chamber concerts in town and in canyon grottoes reached by boat. For the rest of the year there is little more than a weekend band in a brewpub.

Newport relies on Costa Mesa's Segerstrom Center ten minutes away, with touring musicals, ballet and the Pacific Symphony, and on South Coast Repertory's new American plays. That makes a proper night at the theatre or a concert possible at any time of year.

Newport is the place to unwind, though neither town has hot springs or a bathing tradition. It has resort spas on the hills, day spas and yoga studios around Corona del Mar and Fashion Island, morning walks on the bluffs and sunsets over the water.

Moab is built for exertion, with early starts and long, hot days, and its few massage rooms mostly treat sore legs. Its rest comes from silence, dark skies and red cliffs at dusk, best found at a remote ranch or a cabin in the La Sals.