Newport Beach or Tucson?

Newport Beach has the real thing: sand along the Balboa Peninsula, surf by the piers, calmer coves at Corona del Mar and tide pools at Crystal Cove. The Pacific stays cool, though, and wetsuits are common.

Tucson has nothing like it. Swimming there means a hotel pool, and the creek pools that form in Sabino Canyon after rain come and go. They are a curiosity, not a beach day.

Tucson has the cooking with a sense of place. Its Sonoran Mexican food includes carne asada grilled over mesquite, paper-thin flour tortillas and the bacon-wrapped hot dog of the south side, and desert ingredients such as tepary beans and prickly pear show up on menus. Beyond that the range thins out.

Newport eats comfortably but has no cuisine of its own. It offers harbour seafood rooms, Corona del Mar brunches and fish tacos by the sand, and it charges heavily for the view. Its most memorable eating is inland, in the Vietnamese kitchens of Little Saigon.

Tucson gives a visitor far more to see. Mission San Xavier del Bac, with its painted and gilded interior, is a sight of national standing. Barrio Viejo, the Native American collections of the Arizona State Museum and the hundreds of aircraft at Pima Air & Space fill two or three days.

Newport's sights fit into an afternoon: the 1905 Balboa Pavilion, Schindler's Lovell Beach House and Sherman Gardens. The area's serious art museum is next door in Costa Mesa.

Neither city is worth the trip for its nightlife, and the real difference is who is out. Newport splits between loud bars by the piers and dressier wine bars and hotel lounges around the harbour, all busiest on summer weekends.

Tucson's evenings belong to students and locals along Fourth Avenue and Congress Street, two walkable strips of patios, rooftops and a few dance floors. They are liveliest in term time, which is exactly when Newport is quiet.

Tucson is the stronger outdoor base. Saguaro National Park lies on both sides of the city, and Sabino Canyon and Catalina State Park have canyon trails. The road up Mount Lemmon climbs from cactus to pine forest. Hikers, climbers, road cyclists and birdwatchers all have plenty to do, but only from autumn to spring.

Newport's outdoors is gentler and centred on the water. You can watch birds and cycle around Upper Newport Bay, take a kayak or paddleboard out in the harbour, join a whale-watching boat in any season or walk the bluff paths at Crystal Cove.

Newport has better-known places within reach. Laguna Beach and Mission San Juan Capistrano are close, the ferry runs to Catalina, Los Angeles is an hour north and San Diego is further south. Freeway traffic can stretch every one of those trips.

Tucson's outings head into quieter frontier country: Tombstone, the copper town of Bisbee, Tubac and Tumacácori to the south, and Biosphere 2 to the north. They are varied and the roads are calmer, but none has the pull of Catalina or Los Angeles.

Newport is the easier family base. Shallow harbour water, the ferris wheel at the Fun Zone, the little car ferry, tide pools and Disneyland half an hour inland fill a summer week without much planning.

Tucson has good attractions of its own, including the Desert Museum's mountain lions, the giant planes at the air museum and a western film set with stunt shows. They are spread across the city, though, and the summer heat is hard on small children, so Tucson suits families mainly between October and April.

You need a hire car in both cities, because in neither do buses reach the places visitors come for. The difference lies in the small car-free areas and in what driving is like.

In Newport, the flat Balboa Peninsula and Balboa Island are good for walking and are linked by the ferry, but beach parking is hard on summer weekends and the freeways are slow. Tucson's Sun Link streetcar connects downtown, Fourth Avenue and the university, and once you are driving, traffic is mild and parking is easy.

Newport is the place for big names. It has an open-air centre above the harbour, and one of the country's largest luxury malls is ten minutes away in Costa Mesa. Boutiques in Corona del Mar and surf shops on the peninsula fill in around them.

Tucson's shopping is smaller and rooted in the region: Native American jewellery, Tohono O'odham baskets and Mexican folk art, plus vintage shops on Fourth Avenue. Its highlight is the winter gem and mineral show, which draws collectors from all over the world.

Tucson costs far less. Mid-range rooms are cheaper, Mexican food on the south side is easy on the wallet, and the summer heat brings real bargains. The gem show weeks and the desert resorts are the expensive exceptions.

Newport is expensive even for California. Hotels charge resort prices, restaurants charge for the view, and car costs come on top. Staying in Costa Mesa or Irvine only trims the bill.

Both have a modest but real programme, and the difference is in kind. Newport relies on the Segerstrom Center ten minutes away in Costa Mesa, with the Pacific Symphony, touring Broadway shows, ballet and the new plays of South Coast Repertory. For opera you go to Los Angeles.

Tucson keeps its own symphony, shares Arizona Opera with Phoenix and has a resident theatre company. The restored Fox Theatre, small rooms playing local desert rock and a deep mariachi tradition round it out, mostly from autumn to spring.

Tucson is the better place to rest. It was one of the original homes of the American destination spa, and resorts in the foothills build whole stays around desert walks, fitness, massage and meditation, with the mountains beyond the pool.

Newport relaxes through its pace: bluff walks, coffee by the harbour and sunsets over the Pacific, plus resort spas and yoga studios. Summer crowds on the peninsula work against the calm, and neither city has thermal baths.