Palm Springs or San Francisco?

Neither is a beach destination, but San Francisco at least has a real shoreline. Palm Springs is about two hours from the ocean, so swimming means the hotel pool, which is pleasant enough through the long hot season.

San Francisco's Ocean Beach and Baker Beach, with the Golden Gate Bridge in view, are good for long walks, bonfires and sunsets, even though the cold Pacific and rip currents keep nearly everyone out of the water. Go to San Francisco for the coastline and to Palm Springs for warm water in a pool.

This is one of the widest gaps between the two. Palm Springs does relaxed eating well: brunch on a shaded patio, a date shake from the groves near Indio, tacos in the farmworking towns further east. Fine dining is thin, though, and many kitchens cut back in summer.

San Francisco is worth the trip for its food alone. It has Mission burritos, sourdough, cioppino, Cantonese cooking in Chinatown and the Richmond, Italian bakeries in North Beach and a top tier of restaurants built on Northern California produce and wine. Anyone who cares about eating will eat far better here.

Palm Springs has one strong theme, its mid-century modern architecture. The best way to see it is a self-guided drive or bike ride past the Albert Frey and Richard Neutra houses and the folded roofs of the Alexander homes, with the Art Museum and the Agua Caliente Cultural Museum, which tells the Cahuilla story, to round out a day or two.

San Francisco has much more range: Alcatraz, the cable cars and the bridge, plus serious collections at SFMOMA, the de Young, the Legion of Honor and the Asian Art Museum, and neighbourhoods such as Chinatown and the Mission's mural alleys. Neither city has deep historic layers, but San Francisco fills three or four days where Palm Springs fills a day or two.

Both have a well-known gay quarter, Arenas Road in Palm Springs and the Castro in San Francisco, and both take cocktails seriously. The difference is scale. Palm Springs has patio bars, drag nights and weekend pool parties, but almost no clubs, early closing and a town that empties in summer.

San Francisco spreads its nights across several districts: dive and mezcal bars in the Mission, old saloons in North Beach and warehouse clubs in SoMa for dancing. Last orders come at 2am, but there is far more choice on any night of the week.

Both are first-rate for the outdoors, but the landscapes could hardly be more different. Palm Springs is desert and mountain: the aerial tramway climbs to pine forest on Mount San Jacinto, the Indian Canyons hide palm oases, and Joshua Tree's boulders and night skies are an hour away. In summer the heat limits hiking to dawn or the high mountain.

San Francisco is coastal and green, with the cliff trail at Lands End, the Presidio, the Marin Headlands, the redwoods of Muir Woods and the elephant seals of Point Reyes, plus sailing and whale watching on the water. Here the drawback is fog and wind rather than heat.

From Palm Springs the outings are small and quirky: the pine village of Idyllwild, the old Western film set at Pioneertown, the abandoned resort towns of the Salton Sea, and the wineries of Temecula. All of them need a car.

San Francisco has the better choice. Napa and Sonoma are about an hour north, ferries cross to Sausalito and Tiburon, Berkeley is a short train ride away, and the coast runs south to Santa Cruz, Monterey and Carmel. Several of these work without a car, which none of the Palm Springs trips do.

San Francisco gives children more to do. The Exploratorium and the California Academy of Sciences can each fill a day, and the sea lions at Fisherman's Wharf, the cable cars and the playgrounds of Golden Gate Park fill the gaps, though the hills are hard work with a pushchair.

Palm Springs works as a pool vacation with a few outings: the Living Desert, the tramway and the Air Museum. Many boutique hotels are adults-only and the midday heat rules out a lot from late spring, so families are better off in the big resorts further down the valley.

San Francisco is compact enough to manage entirely without a car. Muni, BART, the cable cars and the ferries all run on one card, though the hills can turn a short walk into a climb.

Palm Springs is the opposite. Downtown is flat and easy on foot, but the tramway, the canyons, Joshua Tree and the rest of the valley all need a hire car, and the buses are slow and infrequent. Its one real advantage is an airport right on the edge of town.

Palm Springs does one thing well. Its Uptown Design District is a treasure hunt for mid-century furniture, lamps and vintage clothing, sold in consignment shops and galleries that suit a town built in that style. For anything more ordinary you have to drive, either down the valley to the luxury shops of Palm Desert or out along the freeway to the outlet malls.

San Francisco has more range, spread across neighbourhoods a short ride apart. There are department stores and flagship stores around Union Square, small design boutiques in Hayes Valley, bookshops and independent labels on Valencia Street, smarter clothes on Fillmore Street and vintage in Haight-Ashbury. Collectors of modernist pieces will still find more in Palm Springs, but San Francisco is better for a general day of browsing.

Neither is cheap, but Palm Springs is easier on the budget. Its winter and spring high season brings resort prices and the hire car adds up, yet rooms fall sharply in summer and there are simple motels all year.

San Francisco is one of the most expensive cities in the country, with costly hotels and tax, service and tips added to every meal. Free parks and coastal walks, along with good-value taquerias and dim sum, soften the bill without changing the overall picture.

San Francisco has a full cultural calendar. San Francisco Opera and Ballet perform at the War Memorial Opera House and the Symphony at Davies Hall, with the American Conservatory Theater for serious drama, the SFJAZZ Center for jazz and the historic Fillmore for rock.

Palm Springs offers drag cabaret, piano bars and touring shows at the McCallum Theatre. Its big moment comes in April, when Coachella and Stagecoach fill the polo grounds in Indio. Outside festival time, and especially in summer, there is far less to see.

Palm Springs is built for unwinding. Downtown has a bathhouse over the Agua Caliente hot spring, the small spa motels of Desert Hot Springs fill their pools with mineral water straight from the ground, and the days drift slowly around the pool.

San Francisco moves at the pace of a working city. A Japanese-style bathhouse in Japantown, the Japanese Tea Garden and plenty of day spas offer some calm, but proper hot springs mean a two-hour drive to Calistoga.