Monterey or San Jose?

Neither city is for swimming, and the water off both is cold even at the end of summer. The difference is how you reach the sand. In Monterey it is on your doorstep: Del Monte Beach is in town, and the white sand of Carmel Beach and the Asilomar dunes are a short drive away. They are good for walks and picnics, but there are rip currents on many stretches.

From San Jose you drive over the Santa Cruz Mountains, which takes under an hour and longer on summer weekends. The reward is the sunnier, sheltered coves of Santa Cruz and Capitola, which have more of a proper beach-town feel than Monterey's shore.

San Jose has the wider choice. One of the country's largest Vietnamese communities fills the east-side strip malls and Little Saigon with pho and banh mi, and there are serious taquerias and Korean and Indian kitchens on the roads towards Santa Clara and Sunnyvale. The catch is that you drive between suburban plazas rather than stroll along a street of restaurants.

Monterey has less range but a clear local character: squid, Dungeness crab and sand dabs from the bay, artichokes from the Salinas Valley, and Pinot Noir from the Carmel Valley and the Santa Lucia Highlands. Skip the bread-bowl chowder on the wharf and eat in Old Monterey, Pacific Grove or Carmel instead.

Both have a few days of modest sights rather than major museums, but the sights are very different. Monterey's tell one connected story from its years as capital of Alta California: the Custom House, Colton Hall and the other adobes of the state historic park, the Royal Presidio Chapel, and the Carmel Mission ten minutes away. Steinbeck's Cannery Row adds a later chapter.

San Jose has curiosities instead: the staircases to nowhere in the Winchester Mystery House, the antiquities of the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum, and the Computer History Museum's account of Silicon Valley. They are spread across a mostly postwar city, so you need transport to see them all.

San Jose gives you more of an evening. San Pedro Square's beer halls and covered market fill up before and after events at the arena, and the SoFA strip on South First Street adds cocktail bars, late dive bars and a few dance clubs at weekends.

In Monterey a night out means dinner, then a drink on Alvarado Street or in a hotel bar on Cannery Row. There are no clubs, and most of the town is quiet before midnight. Neither city goes on into the small hours, and both send serious night owls elsewhere.

Monterey comes out ahead because the wildlife comes right up to the shore. Sea otters float in the kelp beside the recreation trail, whales feed over the submarine canyon just offshore, and kayaking, kelp-forest diving, Point Lobos and the cliffs of Big Sur are all close by.

San Jose's strength is the hills. There are redwoods at Henry Cowell and Big Basin, ridge trails at Castle Rock, easy foothill walks in Alum Rock Park and the road up Mount Hamilton. It is good country for hiking and road cycling, but the sea life that makes Monterey special is about an hour and a half's drive away.

San Jose is the much better base for day trips. Caltrain gets you to San Francisco in about an hour, and Stanford and Palo Alto are even closer. Santa Cruz, Monterey, Carmel, Los Gatos and the wineries of Livermore and the Santa Cruz Mountains are all easy outings, and Napa and Sonoma make a long day.

Monterey's day trips are lovely but stay close to home: Carmel-by-the-Sea, Pacific Grove, the Carmel Valley wineries, Steinbeck's Salinas and the old plaza at San Juan Bautista. San Francisco is two hours each way, which is a lot for one day.

Families do about equally well, but around different main attractions. Monterey's is the aquarium, with its kelp forest, otters and jellyfish. Around it are tide pools at Pacific Grove, whale-watching boats and Dennis the Menace Park, all in a small, safe town where much of the day can be spent on the waterfront path.

San Jose leans towards rides and play: Great America in neighbouring Santa Clara, the small zoo at Happy Hollow, a children's discovery museum, and hotel pools that help on hot summer days. Expect more time in the car and in traffic, though the Monterey aquarium is still reachable for a day.

Monterey is easier on foot. The flat coastal trail links the wharf, downtown, Cannery Row, the aquarium and Pacific Grove, so walking or a hired bike covers most of a stay. Big Sur, Point Lobos and the 17-Mile Drive still need a car.

San Jose has more public transport on paper, with light rail and the Caltrain line to San Francisco. Beyond its compact downtown, though, the sights are spread across a valley of freeways, so most visitors hire a car or use ride-hailing and plan around rush hour.

San Jose is the better place to shop. Its large west-side mall and the open-air street of boutiques beside it bring international and luxury brands together in one place, and Japantown, Willow Glen and the Asian supermarkets add some browsing. Monterey's own shops are mostly taffy and sea-otter souvenirs, so the better afternoon is among the galleries and boutiques of Carmel-by-the-Sea or the antique shops of Pacific Grove.

Both are expensive, but the costs fall differently. Monterey is priced for Californians on weekend breaks, so summer weekends and the Pebble Beach classic-car week in August are the dearest times. Staying midweek or in winter, in Seaside or Marina, is the way to save.

San Jose's hotels follow the business week and are cheaper at weekends, and its casual Vietnamese and Mexican eateries are better value than anything on Cannery Row. Car hire, fuel and parking add more to the bill there, whereas in Monterey you can walk the waterfront and only need a car for trips further afield.

San Jose has the steadier year-round programme: Opera San José in the restored California Theatre, the symphony and touring Broadway shows at the Center for the Performing Arts, big concerts at the arena, and a summer jazz festival that takes over downtown streets.

Monterey's music comes down to a few famous dates. The Monterey Jazz Festival, held every September since 1958 on the fairgrounds of the 1967 Pop Festival, and the summer Carmel Bach Festival are worth planning a trip around. Outside those, there is little on.

Monterey is the more restful choice, mostly because of its pace: fog lifting off the bay, evening walks along the Pacific Grove shore, and resort spas in the sunnier Carmel Valley and at Pebble Beach. San Jose revolves around the working week, so unwinding there means a hotel spa, one of the Korean-style bathhouses in the valley towns, or an hour in the Japanese gardens at Hakone or Kelley Park. Neither city has a tradition of public thermal baths.