Palm Springs or Santa Barbara?

On beaches the two are not close. Palm Springs has no beach at all: the ocean is about two hours west over the mountains, and swimming means the hotel pool, which is fine for lounging but not much else.

Santa Barbara has a real shoreline. East Beach and West Beach lie either side of Stearns Wharf, Arroyo Burro and Leadbetter are just to the west, and Carpinteria has shallow water for small children. The sea is cool and many locals swim in wetsuits, but the islands keep the surf gentle and the beach is part of everyday life.

Santa Barbara is the better place to eat. Spot prawns and sea urchin come in on the harbour boats, the farmers' markets are well stocked, and wine comes from the Santa Ynez Valley and the Santa Rita Hills. In the Funk Zone you can walk between tasting rooms pouring pinot noir.

Palm Springs offers easy brunches on shaded patios, cocktails by the pool and mid-range American cooking along Palm Canyon Drive. Its most memorable extras are the date shakes and taquerias further down the valley. Both towns have good Mexican food, but only Santa Barbara has a food scene worth planning a trip around.

The two are close here, and in both the main sight is the buildings rather than the museums. Palm Springs is a mid-century modern showcase: Albert Frey's angular buildings, Neutra's Kaufmann House and the Alexander homes of Twin Palms, best seen on a driving or cycling tour.

Santa Barbara has a slight edge because there is more history behind its looks. Its Spanish Colonial Revival centre, the County Courthouse, the Old Mission of 1786 and the Presidio tell a longer story. Palm Springs answers with the Agua Caliente Cultural Museum and its account of the Cahuilla people.

Neither town is the place for a big night out, and both wind down early, so the difference is in the crowd. Palm Springs has the more distinctive scene, with the LGBTQ bars, drag nights and patios of Arenas Road, retro cocktail lounges and pool parties in spring.

In Santa Barbara, evenings mean wine bars and brewery taprooms in the Funk Zone, with student bars and a few small dance floors on lower State Street. It suits a long dinner and a last glass, while Palm Springs suits a more social night.

Both towns are excellent for the outdoors, with mountains rising straight behind them, but the settings could hardly be more different. Palm Springs is desert. The Aerial Tramway lifts you to pine forest on Mount San Jacinto, the Indian Canyons hide palm oases, and Joshua Tree's boulders are about an hour away. In summer, though, hiking shrinks to early mornings or the upper mountain.

Santa Barbara combines the Santa Ynez Mountains, with trails such as Rattlesnake Canyon and Seven Falls, with the sea. You can go whale watching from the harbour, kayak along the shore, surf at Rincon or take a boat to the Channel Islands. It works all year, although summer fires sometimes close trails.

Quirky desert curiosities against a full day in wine country is the choice here, and the wine country makes the better outing. Around Palm Springs the trips are small and odd: the pine village of Idyllwild, the lived-in Western film set at Pioneertown, and the abandoned resort towns and Salvation Mountain by the Salton Sea. They have real charm, but none of them is as rewarding a day as Santa Barbara's best trip.

That trip goes about 45 minutes over the mountains to the Santa Ynez Valley. Its wineries, the Danish-founded town of Solvang and the restored La Purisima mission fill a whole day, and Ojai and Ventura make shorter trips. Los Angeles is too far for a comfortable day trip from either town.

Santa Barbara is the easier choice with children. It has calm beaches at Carpinteria and East Beach, a zoo on a hill, touch tanks at the Sea Center, the MOXI science museum and a bike path along the shore. The mild weather means children can play outdoors all year.

Palm Springs leans towards adults, with many adults-only boutique hotels and a social life of cocktails and pool parties. The Living Desert, the tramway and the Air Museum are good outings, but from late spring the midday heat keeps children in the pool.

Both have a compact, flat downtown, but Santa Barbara lets you do much more without a car. You can arrive on the coastal train, use the downtown shuttle, and walk or cycle the shoreline path from the wharf to East Beach.

In Palm Springs the walkable stretch of Palm Canyon Drive is small, the valley buses are slow and infrequent, and the tramway, the canyons and Joshua Tree all need a car. Its one real advantage is an airport on the edge of town. Santa Barbara's wine country and outlying beaches need a car too, so expect to drive some of the time in either town.

For shopping the two are broadly level and neither is a great shopping town, but they sell very different things. Palm Springs specialises in mid-century furniture, lighting and vintage clothing in the Uptown Design District. Within a short drive are the outlets at Cabazon and the luxury shops of El Paseo in Palm Desert.

Shopping in Santa Barbara is more of a stroll: boutiques and galleries in the courtyards off State Street, upmarket shops in Montecito and design shops in the Funk Zone. The best things to take home are local wine and produce from the farmers' markets.

Both are expensive, but Palm Springs is easier on the wallet. Its high season from winter into spring is costly, yet in summer room rates fall dramatically for anyone who can bear the heat, and simple motels are there all year. The hire car is the one cost you cannot avoid.

Santa Barbara has no cheap season. Rooms by the beach and in Montecito are among the most expensive on the California coast, and meals and wine tastings are priced for wealthy visitors. Savings come from taquerias, free hikes and staying in Goleta or Ventura.

One big festival each April or a programme that runs for most of the year: that is the real difference, and on an ordinary visit the year-round programme gives you more. Palm Springs has the famous moment, when the Coachella and Stagecoach festivals fill the polo grounds in Indio, about half an hour east. Otherwise there are touring shows at the McCallum Theatre, concerts at the casinos, and drag cabaret or a piano bar in town, and in summer most of it stops.

Santa Barbara keeps its stages busy. The restored Granada Theatre is home to the local symphony, opera and ballet, the Lobero puts on chamber music and jazz, and the Bowl brings touring bands to an open-air theatre in a canyon. In summer the Music Academy of the West adds a season of concerts, although the opera and theatre seasons are short.

Palm Springs is the stronger place to unwind, because bathing is how the town began. You can soak in the mineral water of the Agua Caliente spring downtown or in the hot pools of the small spa motels in Desert Hot Springs. The dry sun and quiet streets make it easy to switch off.

Santa Barbara relaxes you through its mild climate and slow pace, with resort spas in Montecito and plenty of yoga studios. It has no bathing culture, though, apart from a hike up to small hot pools above Montecito, and visitors who want a proper spa retreat drive to Ojai.