Monterey or Palm Springs?

Neither is a beach destination, but only Monterey has a beach at all. You can walk Del Monte Beach, Carmel's white sand and the Asilomar dunes, and paddle briefly on a warm autumn day. The water is too cold for proper swimming, and some stretches have rip currents.

Palm Springs is two hours from the ocean, and swimming there means the hotel pool. In fairness, the pool season is long and hot, which Monterey's cold bay cannot match.

The two are evenly matched but taste completely different. In Monterey the food comes from the bay and the Salinas Valley: squid, Dungeness crab and sand dabs, artichokes, and Pinot Noir from the Carmel Valley and Santa Lucia Highlands. The best cooking is in Old Monterey's side streets and Carmel, not on the wharf.

Palm Springs is about shaded brunches, poolside cocktails, date shakes from the Indio groves and honest taquerias further down the valley. Both have a narrow range, but Monterey's local produce and wine give it more of a regional character.

There is about the same amount to see in each, from very different eras. Monterey's interest is Spanish and Mexican California: the adobes of the State Historic Park, the Custom House, Colton Hall and the Carmel Mission, plus Steinbeck's Cannery Row.

Palm Springs is a twentieth-century town to see by bike or car, through Frey and Neutra houses and the Alexander tract homes, with the Palm Springs Art Museum and the Cahuilla story at the Agua Caliente museum alongside. History lovers will lean to Monterey, and design fans to Palm Springs.

Palm Springs has the better evenings. Arenas Road is a long-established LGBTQ strip with patios and drag nights, there are spring pool parties at the hotels, and Palm Canyon Drive has retro cocktail lounges. It is a social scene, though not a late one.

In Monterey a night out means a pub or wine bar on Alvarado Street after dinner, and the town is quiet well before midnight.

Both are outstanding, and Monterey edges ahead because it is good all year. The submarine canyon brings whales close to shore, otters and sea lions can be seen from the town's own path, and Point Lobos and the redwood canyons of Big Sur are a short drive south.

Palm Springs answers with mountain and desert. The tramway climbs to pine forest on San Jacinto, there are palm oases in the Indian Canyons, and Joshua Tree is about an hour away. The catch is summer, when the heat limits hiking to dawn or the top of the mountain.

Monterey has more good outings nearby. Carmel, Pacific Grove and the Carmel Valley wineries are minutes away, Steinbeck's Salinas and the mission at San Juan Bautista make easy half-days, and Santa Cruz is under an hour north.

From Palm Springs the options are fewer and odder: Idyllwild in the pines, the lived-in film set of Pioneertown, and the abandoned shoreline of the Salton Sea with Salvation Mountain. Los Angeles and San Diego are too far for a comfortable day.

Monterey is much the easier place with children. The aquarium alone fills a day, and the tide pools, whale boats, waterfront otters and Dennis the Menace Park round out the stay without much driving.

Palm Springs has good moments, such as the Living Desert, snow at the top of the tramway and the Air Museum. But many hotels take adults only, the evenings revolve around cocktails, and from late spring children cannot be outdoors at midday.

Both need a car beyond the centre, but Monterey's centre covers more of what visitors come for. The flat recreation trail links the wharf, downtown, Cannery Row and the aquarium on foot or by bike, all the way to Pacific Grove.

In Palm Springs, the walkable downtown strip is pleasant, but the tramway, the canyons and Joshua Tree all mean driving, and summer heat rules out walking at midday. The airport on the edge of town is a real plus.

Palm Springs has the stronger shopping, thanks to a real specialism. The Uptown Design District is full of mid-century furniture, lighting and vintage clothing, El Paseo adds luxury, and the Cabazon outlets are twenty minutes away.

Monterey itself sells mostly taffy and otter souvenirs. The better browsing is in Carmel's galleries and boutiques and in Pacific Grove's antique shops.

Neither is cheap, but Palm Springs is easier on the budget, mainly because of summer. In the hottest months its room rates fall sharply, while Monterey is at its most expensive then, especially at weekends and during the Pebble Beach car week.

In Monterey, budget travellers stay in motels in Seaside or Marina, come midweek or in winter, and fill their days with the free trail and tide pools. In Palm Springs, simple motels and supermarket picnics keep costs down, though the hire car is hard to avoid.

Both towns depend on festivals, and Palm Springs has a little more going on in between. Coachella and Stagecoach fill the Indio polo grounds each April, the McCallum Theatre and the casinos book touring acts, and drag cabaret and piano bars give the town its own kind of entertainment.

Monterey has the deeper history in music, with the Jazz Festival every September and the memory of the 1967 Pop Festival, along with the Carmel Bach Festival in summer. Outside those dates there is little on.

This is where Palm Springs is far ahead. The town grew up around the Agua Caliente hot spring, Desert Hot Springs fills its spa-motel pools straight from the ground, and resort spas line the valley, all in dry winter sunshine.

Monterey relaxes you in a quieter way, with shoreline walks in Pacific Grove, slow days in Carmel and vineyard spas in the Carmel Valley. It has no public baths, and summer weekends bring crowds to the waterfront.