Monterey or Phoenix?

Neither city is a beach destination, but only Monterey actually has a beach. Del Monte Beach, the white sand of Carmel and the dunes at Asilomar are lovely for walks, picnics and a paddle on a warm autumn day, even though the cold water and rip currents rule out long swims.

Phoenix lies hours from any coast. Its swimming takes place in resort pools with lazy rivers, at the desert reservoirs such as Saguaro Lake, or on a tube down the Salt River in summer.

Phoenix offers more to eat and more variety. Its Sonoran borderland cooking, from carne asada and paper-thin flour tortillas to bacon-wrapped hot dogs sold from evening carts, gives it a regional identity, and it adds wood-fired pizza, Southwestern dishes and resort dining in Scottsdale. The drawback is that eating well usually means driving across town.

Monterey's menu is narrower but tied closely to place: squid, Dungeness crab and sand dabs from the bay, produce from the Salinas Valley, and Pinot Noir from Carmel Valley and the Santa Lucia Highlands. To eat well, skip the chowder stalls on the wharf and head for Old Monterey's side streets or Carmel.

The two are roughly even, but offer different kinds of sights. Monterey's draw is walkable early history: the adobes of the State Historic Park, the Custom House, Colton Hall, the Royal Presidio Chapel and, just south, the Carmel Mission, with Steinbeck's Cannery Row as a literary footnote.

Phoenix has little old fabric but stronger museums. The Heard Museum's Native American collections, the Musical Instrument Museum and Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin West are the highlights, though each is a separate drive.

Phoenix is clearly the place for a night out. Old Town Scottsdale has clubs and rooftop bars, Tempe's Mill Avenue runs on students, and downtown and Roosevelt Row have cocktail and craft beer bars. The districts are far apart, so you pick one for the evening and take a ride-hail home.

Monterey is a dinner-and-a-drink town. A few pubs and wine bars on Alvarado Street and some hotel bars on Cannery Row make up most of it, and the streets go quiet well before midnight.

Both are outdoor destinations, but Monterey's coast is the richer one. The deep submarine canyon brings humpbacks, grey whales and orcas close to the harbour, otters and sea lions can be seen from town, and kelp diving, kayaking, Point Lobos and the redwood canyons of Big Sur are all close by.

Phoenix offers desert landscape on the edge of the suburbs: scrambles up Camelback Mountain, the trails of South Mountain and saguaro forest in the McDowell Sonoran Preserve, with Sedona's red rocks further out. It is superb from October to April, but in summer the heat makes hiking dangerous after mid-morning.

The two are roughly level, with the difference in distance. Monterey's outings are short and gentle: Carmel's cottages and galleries, Victorian Pacific Grove, Carmel Valley wineries, Steinbeck's Salinas and the surf town of Santa Cruz.

From Phoenix the drives are longer and the scenery more dramatic, taking in the hillside mining town of Jerome, the cliff dwelling at Montezuma Castle, red-rock Sedona and Tucson's Mission San Xavier del Bac, all within about two hours.

Monterey has a slight edge, mostly thanks to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and the wildlife that children can see for free from the waterfront path, plus tide pools at Pacific Grove and whale-watching boats. It is small and relaxed, though the water is too cold for swimming.

Phoenix has more to fill the days, including a zoo, a science centre, a children's museum and water parks with slides. Those are spread across a vast metro area, though, and from June to September the heat keeps young children indoors after the early morning.

Monterey is easier to get around. The flat coastal trail links the wharf, downtown, Cannery Row, the aquarium and Pacific Grove, so most of a stay can be done on foot or by hired bike, with a car needed for Big Sur and the 17-Mile Drive.

Phoenix is built around the car. The light rail only covers the airport, downtown and Tempe, and the main areas are tens of kilometres apart, so nearly every visitor rents a car.

Phoenix is the better place to shop. It has Scottsdale's luxury mall, the open-air centre near the Biltmore, Western wear in Old Town, and above all Navajo and Zuni silver, Hopi carvings and pottery from museum shops and reputable galleries.

In Monterey itself the shopping is mostly taffy and otter souvenirs. The real browsing is next door, in Carmel's galleries and boutiques and the antique shops of Pacific Grove.

Phoenix is the cheaper of the two. Chain hotels along the freeways are good value all year, resort rates fall sharply in summer and Sonoran food costs little, although a rental car is close to essential and Scottsdale is expensive from January to April.

Monterey is expensive throughout. Waterfront and Carmel hotels and resort-priced dinners are the norm, and saving money means staying inland in Seaside or Marina, coming midweek, and relying on the free trail and tide pools.

Phoenix has the steadier year-round offer, with its symphony, Arizona Opera, Ballet Arizona, touring Broadway shows at Wright's round ASU Gammage and an intimate hall at the Musical Instrument Museum, mostly from autumn to spring.

Monterey is best visited for its festivals: the Monterey Jazz Festival every September, held on the fairgrounds that hosted the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, and the Carmel Bach Festival in summer. Between them there is little on.

Phoenix is the classic resort retreat. Spas using desert sage, clay and agave, several pools and golf at the foot of Camelback Mountain make a winter week of rest easy, provided the budget runs to resort prices.

Monterey relaxes you through its pace rather than its facilities: morning fog on the bay, evening walks along the Pacific Grove shore and quiet days in Carmel. There are spas, but they are in the Carmel Valley and at Pebble Beach.