Monterey or Santa Barbara?

Monterey's beaches are for looking at rather than swimming in. Del Monte Beach, Carmel's white sand and the Asilomar dunes are lovely to walk, but the bay stays cold all year and rip currents are common, so the water belongs to wetsuited kayakers and divers.

Santa Barbara is far better for a day by the sea. Its coast faces south behind the Channel Islands, which keeps the surf gentle, East and West Beach are right in town, and Carpinteria is shallow enough for toddlers. Swims are still short, but in late summer they are a real pleasure rather than a dare.

Monterey has superb raw materials and too few kitchens that do them justice. Dungeness crab, squid and sand dabs come off the boats and artichokes come in from the Salinas Valley, yet the wharf and Cannery Row lean on bread-bowl chowder for day visitors. Good cooking means seeking out Old Monterey's side streets, Pacific Grove or Carmel.

Santa Barbara eats better and with less effort. Spot prawns and sea urchin land at the harbour, the farmers' markets are among California's best, and Funk Zone tasting rooms pouring Santa Rita Hills pinot sit a short walk from one another. The long-established taquerias and Mexican bakeries of the Eastside add a cheap, everyday side that Monterey lacks.

Monterey's history matters more on paper, but Santa Barbara's is more enjoyable to walk through. As the capital of Spanish and Mexican Alta California, Monterey keeps the Custom House and Colton Hall among a compact cluster of adobes, with the Carmel Mission ten minutes south and Steinbeck's old canneries on Cannery Row. A day covers most of it.

In Santa Barbara the whole centre is the sight. Rebuilt after the 1925 earthquake in white stucco and red tile, it is crowned by the County Courthouse tower, with the Old Mission on the slope above. The art and natural history museums fill the afternoons, so the town is worth two or three unhurried days.

Neither is a place for clubbing, but Santa Barbara has more going on after dinner. Funk Zone breweries and wine bars fill up early in the evening, and lower State Street has student bars and a few small dance floors at weekends.

Monterey usually winds down well before midnight. A drink on Alvarado Street or in a Cannery Row hotel bar is about the extent of it, and anyone wanting more would drive to Santa Cruz.

Both are superb outdoor bases, but they look in different directions. Monterey looks out to sea. The submarine canyon brings whales and orcas close, otters float beside the recreation trail, Point Lobos has some of California's best coastal walking, and Big Sur's redwood canyons and cliff trails begin just beyond it.

Santa Barbara looks up to the mountains. Trails such as Rattlesnake Canyon and Seven Falls start at the ends of suburban streets and climb to ridges above the channel, Los Padres National Forest lies beyond, and Rincon's point break and the Channel Islands add surfing and island kayaking. Monterey suits wildlife and coastal scenery, and Santa Barbara suits hiking.

Both have a short list of good outings and a long drive to the nearest big city. Monterey's best trips are very close: Carmel-by-the-Sea in fifteen minutes, Pacific Grove next door, Steinbeck's Salinas, and Santa Cruz's boardwalk within the hour.

Santa Barbara's standout day goes over the mountains to the Santa Ynez Valley wineries and Danish-built Solvang, with La Purisima Mission and Ojai's arts town as runners-up. Each town has San Francisco or Los Angeles about two hours away, and both cities are better saved for a separate stay.

Monterey has one outstanding attraction for children, and it is enough to plan a trip around. The aquarium's kelp forest, otters and jellyfish galleries anchor the visit. Tide pools at Pacific Grove, whale-watching boats and Dennis the Menace Park fill the rest, though the cold sea keeps beach days to sandcastles.

Santa Barbara spreads its appeal across smaller places: the hilltop zoo, the touch tanks at the Sea Center on Stearns Wharf, the MOXI science museum and a planetarium. Its gentler, shallower beaches give it the edge for toddlers who want to paddle, and the downtown sights sit close enough together for short legs.

Santa Barbara is the easier town to manage without a car. The coastal train stops near the beach, and a downtown shuttle and local buses cover the core. Flat State Street then runs straight from the Mission district to the waterfront.

Monterey's waterfront trail is a joy on foot or by bike, linking the wharf, Cannery Row, the aquarium and Pacific Grove, but buses are sparse and most visitors arrive by road. In both towns the wine country and the best of the outdoors need a car.

Santa Barbara offers more browsing on its own streets. Chains and independents line State Street, galleries and boutiques hide in tiled paseos such as La Arcada, Montecito has upmarket fashion and the Funk Zone has design shops.

In Monterey itself it is mostly taffy and sea-otter souvenirs. The worthwhile shopping is a short drive away, in Carmel's galleries and boutiques and Pacific Grove's antique shops.

Neither town is kind to a tight budget. Both price their rooms and restaurants for well-off Californian weekenders, with Montecito and the Carmel waterfront the dearest corners and Monterey's rates jumping during the Pebble Beach classic-car week in August.

The ways to save are similar but not identical. In Monterey, the chain motels along the highway and in Seaside or Marina cut costs, and the free wildlife on the shore fills the days. In Santa Barbara, taquerias and farmers' markets keep meals cheap, and Goleta or Ventura are cheaper places to sleep.

Santa Barbara has a year-round stage life that Monterey cannot match. The restored Granada hosts symphony, opera and ballet, the historic Lobero has chamber music and jazz, and the Santa Barbara Bowl draws major touring bands into its canyon from spring to autumn.

Monterey's fame rests on its festivals: the long-running September Jazz Festival on the fairgrounds where the 1967 Pop Festival was held, and Carmel's summer Bach Festival. Outside those weeks there is little beyond the symphony and the Golden State Theatre, so time your trip around them.

Monterey's calm is foggy and coastal: mist lifting off the bay in the morning, evening walks along the Pacific Grove shore, quiet days in Carmel. Its spas lie out of town, at the Pebble Beach golf resorts and among the oaks and vineyards of Carmel Valley, and summer weekends bring traffic to the waterfront.

Santa Barbara makes pampering easier, with polished spas at the Montecito and beachfront resorts and plenty of yoga studios and day spas in town. For a deeper retreat, the Ojai Valley's long tradition of spa resorts is an hour's drive away. Neither town has public baths, so in both the slow pace does most of the work.