Palm Desert or Tijuana?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Tijuana at least has the sea. At Playas de Tijuana you can walk the sandy promenade up to the border fence, and Rosarito, half an hour south, has a proper beach scene. Poor water quality near the city, a cold sea and strong currents all make swimming a judgement call.

Palm Desert has no coast at all. The Pacific is two hours' drive over the mountains, and nobody swims in the Salton Sea. Here, water means the resort pool, often heated in winter, which is pleasant but no substitute for the ocean.

Food is where Tijuana pulls far ahead. Many people cross the border for its street cooking alone: adobada carved off the spit, beef birria, Ensenada-style fish tacos and carts selling ceviche and sea urchin. Zona Río and Chapultepec add serious Baja Med restaurants, craft beer taprooms and Valle de Guadalupe wines.

Palm Desert's resort dining along El Paseo means steakhouses and Californian bistros. They are reliable and pleasant on a warm patio but rarely memorable. Its best local flavours are a short drive east: Mexican taquerias in Indio and date shakes from the groves. They give a small taste of what Tijuana offers on every corner.

Neither city has much history, but Tijuana gives a curious visitor more to look at. The Museo de las Californias, inside the domed Centro Cultural, tells the story of the peninsula. Avenida Revolución keeps its Prohibition-era character and the Moorish-style Jai Alai palace, and the mural-covered border fence at Playas is a sight that stays with you.

Palm Desert is a post-war resort town. It has the sculpture garden at the Palm Springs Art Museum's branch and a few galleries on El Paseo, but most of the valley's culture, including the mid-century modern houses, is twenty minutes west in Palm Springs.

Tijuana has lived off its nightlife since Prohibition. Revolución has loud, cheap bars for visitors from the north. A block away, the cantinas on Calle Sexta and the taprooms and cocktail bars of Zona Río and Colonia Cacho draw a local crowd until late at weekends. The seedier streets around the Zona Norte are best avoided.

Palm Desert winds down early. Its wine bars and patio happy hours suit golfers and retirees, and anyone after a late night drives to the tribal casinos or to Palm Springs.

Palm Desert sits right under the Santa Rosa Mountains, with steep trails starting at the edge of town. The Indian Canyons hide palm oases, the tramway climbs to pine forest, and Joshua Tree's boulders and night skies are about an hour away. The catch is summer, when the heat leaves only the hours around dawn for being outdoors.

Tijuana itself is dry hills with few parks. Its outdoors lies down the coast and inland: surf breaks near Rosarito, the cliffs along the Ensenada road, whale-watching in winter and easy walks in the wine valleys. They make good outings, but nothing like a base for desert hiking.

With a border on its doorstep, Tijuana has the wider choice. Rosarito and the lobster village of Puerto Nuevo are close by. Ensenada and the Valle de Guadalupe wineries are each about an hour and a half away. San Diego's Balboa Park and La Jolla are easy to reach, as long as you plan for the return crossing, which can take hours.

From Palm Desert the obvious outing is Palm Springs. Further out are Temecula's tasting rooms, cool Idyllwild, Pioneertown and Salvation Mountain. They make good days out, but not with the variety of two countries.

Palm Desert is the easier family base. The Living Desert, a zoo and botanical garden in town with giraffes and cheetahs, fills a morning. The tramway is a hit with older children, and resort pools and lawns cover the rest. The town is safe and spacious, though midday outdoors in summer is unwise for small children.

Tijuana has El Trompo's hands-on science museum, the IMAX dome and Parque Morelos. But patchy pavements, a Revolución aimed at adult drinkers and the border queues to reach bigger attractions make it harder going with children, however welcoming its restaurants are to them.

Both cities are built around the car, but Tijuana is easier without one. Downtown is a walk from the San Ysidro pedestrian crossing and can be explored on foot. Cheap ride-hailing and plentiful yellow taxis cover the rest, though traffic near the border is heavy.

In Palm Desert a hire car is close to essential. Apart from a few blocks of El Paseo, nothing is built for walking and the buses are slow, though the roads are clear and parking is easy.

For stylish browsing, Palm Desert has the edge. El Paseo's palm-lined boutiques, jewellers and galleries make shopping a social outing. A large designer outlet centre is half an hour west, and Palm Springs adds mid-century furniture.

Tijuana offers a different kind of shopping. You haggle for leather, silver and pottery near the border, buy chillies and tamarind sweets at Mercado Hidalgo, and find independent studios in Pasaje Rodríguez. It is colourful but short on fashion.

Tijuana is much the cheaper place to stay. Street tacos, hotels in Zona Río and ride-hailing all cost little. Only the tourist bars on Revolución, Baja Med dining and wine-country tastings come close to international prices.

Palm Desert has American resort costs: expensive winter rooms, restaurant bills plus tips and a hire car every day, with golf and spa treatments stretching budgets further. Its bargains come in the summer heat, when resort rates drop sharply.

Palm Desert has the more polished stage. The McCallum Theatre brings touring Broadway shows, ballet, orchestras and well-known singers through the winter, and the casinos and an arena add big concerts. Coachella and Stagecoach fill the Indio polo grounds for a few spring weekends.

Tijuana's offer is smaller but more local. The Baja California orchestra plays at the Centro Cultural, and the city has a long-standing opera company. There are mariachis around Plaza Santa Cecilia and gigs in the Calle Sexta bars where the Nortec sound began.

This is Palm Desert's home ground. Resort spas, afternoons by the pool and early nights set the pace. In Desert Hot Springs, half an hour north, small spa hotels fill their pools straight from natural mineral springs.

Tijuana has hotel spas and fairly priced massages, but the city is loud and full of traffic, and its health trade is medical and dental. For real calm, visitors spend a night among the Valle de Guadalupe vineyards.