Palm Springs or South Lake Tahoe?

Palm Springs has no beach. The ocean is two hours west over the mountains, so swimming means the hotel pool, which is better for lounging than for a proper swim.

South Lake Tahoe has real sand on its doorstep, from Pope and Baldwin beaches under the pines to Zephyr Cove just over the Nevada line, with clear turquoise shallows. The catch is that the water is cold at this altitude, so swimming is really only for July and August.

Neither town is worth a trip for the food, but Palm Springs gives you more to enjoy: long brunches on shaded patios, cocktails by the pool, date shakes from the groves around Indio and simple taquerias further east in the valley. South Lake Tahoe eats like a ski resort, with casino steakhouses, brewpubs and pizza along Highway 50. Local craft beer is its highlight, and a cabin kitchen is often the safer bet.

Palm Springs has a real subject in its mid-century modern architecture. You can tour the Frey and Neutra houses and the Alexander homes of Twin Palms and Vista Las Palmas by bike or car, then visit the art museum and the Agua Caliente Cultural Museum on Cahuilla history.

South Lake Tahoe fills a morning at most: the lakeside estates of the Tallac Historic Site and the steep walk down to Vikingsholm at Emerald Bay, where the view matters as much as the house.

Both are small scenes, but the evenings feel different. Palm Springs has a sociable centre in the LGBTQ bars and drag nights of Arenas Road, with retro cocktail lounges on Palm Canyon Drive, though it winds down early and empties in summer.

South Lake Tahoe splits at the state line. The California side has brewpubs and early nights, while the casino bars and gaming floors a short walk into Nevada stay open all night. You can stay out later there, but there is less choice and no street life after dark.

Both are serious outdoor bases, but South Lake Tahoe is the stronger one. It has the lake itself, Emerald Bay, the granite basins of the Desolation Wilderness a few minutes from town and the Tahoe Rim Trail. Winter brings skiing at Heavenly, and summer brings paddling and mountain biking.

Palm Springs answers with desert scenery: the tramway up San Jacinto to pine forest, palm oases in the Indian Canyons and Joshua Tree an hour away. It is a landscape for the cooler months, though, because summer heat limits hiking to dawn or the upper mountain.

South Lake Tahoe has the better range of outings, many of them about Gold Rush and silver-boom history: the boardwalks of Virginia City, Genoa and Carson City, Coloma and the Amador wine country, plus an easy loop round the lake through Truckee. From Palm Springs the trips are fewer and stranger: Idyllwild in the pines, the old film set of Pioneertown and the abandoned towns on the Salton Sea, while Los Angeles and San Diego are too far for a day.

South Lake Tahoe gives children more to do outdoors in every season. Summer brings shallow sandy beaches and bike paths, winter brings ski schools, sledding hills and snow play, and cabins with kitchens make family stays easy. Its weak spot is a stormy day, with no zoo or aquarium to fall back on.

Palm Springs has the Living Desert zoo and the Air Museum, but the town is built for adults. Many boutique hotels do not take children, and from late spring the heat rules out the middle of the day.

You will want a car in both. South Lake Tahoe is a little easier without one, with free shuttles along the highway and up to the ski areas in winter, though weekend traffic round Emerald Bay is very slow and winter storms bring chain controls on the passes.

Palm Springs has a flat, walkable downtown and an airport on the edge of town. The buses are slow and infrequent, though, so the canyons, the tramway and Joshua Tree all mean driving, and in summer it is too hot to walk at midday.

Palm Springs has a real speciality in mid-century furniture, lighting and vintage clothing, found in the Uptown Design District, and El Paseo and the Cabazon outlets are close by. South Lake Tahoe's shops are practical: ski gear, rental stores and souvenirs round the gondola base. They are useful, but there is nothing to plan a day around.

Both are expensive at the times most people want to go, so the difference lies in when the bargains come. Palm Springs gets cheap in the summer heat, when room rates fall sharply. In South Lake Tahoe the savings come midweek and in spring and autumn, when the casino hotels on the Nevada side cut their rates.

Tahoe adds lift tickets to the bill but makes up for it with free beaches and trails. In Palm Springs, the hire car is the cost you cannot avoid.

Palm Springs has the bigger events: Coachella and Stagecoach at Indio each April, touring shows at the McCallum Theatre and, in town, drag cabaret and piano bars. South Lake Tahoe relies on casino showrooms for touring bands and comedians, with Shakespeare on the beach at Sand Harbor and concerts at the Tallac estates adding to the programme in summer.

Wellness is Palm Springs' strongest suit. The town grew up around the Agua Caliente spring, which still has a bathhouse downtown, and Desert Hot Springs has spa motels filled with mineral water. Days by the pool in the sun are made for doing nothing.

In South Lake Tahoe the spas are mostly in casino hotels and lodges, and they mainly serve tired skiers. Its calm comes from mornings by the lake and cabins in the pines, and for a proper soak you drive to Grover Hot Springs or the hot spring resorts of the Carson Valley.