Palm Springs or Tucson?

Neither city is a beach destination, and in both of them swimming means a pool. Palm Springs is a little closer to the coast, two hours over the mountains, and the pool is more central to its whole way of life. Tucson's nearest sea is across the Mexican border, a weekend away, and Sabino Canyon's creek pools come and go with the rains.

Tucson is the better city for eating because it has a cuisine of its own. Sonoran Mexican cooking, mesquite-grilled meat, cheese crisps and bacon-wrapped hot dogs fill the family kitchens of South 12th Avenue and the old barrios, and desert ingredients such as tepary beans and cholla buds give it local depth.

Palm Springs offers pleasant patio brunches and poolside cocktails, but not much more. Its most memorable tastes are a drive away: date shakes from the Indio groves and taquerias in the farming towns further east.

There is little to choose between them overall, but the sights are of different kinds. Palm Springs is about modern design: Frey and Neutra houses and the Alexander tract roofs, best toured by bike or car, with the art museum and the Cahuilla story as extras.

Tucson's heritage is older and Spanish. The gilded interior of Mission San Xavier del Bac, the adobe rows of Barrio Viejo and the Native American collections of the Arizona State Museum give it historical weight, while its aviation museum adds something unusual.

Both are small, early-closing scenes, but they draw different crowds. Palm Springs centres on Arenas Road, a long-established LGBTQ strip of patios, drag nights and spring pool parties. Tucson's evenings are split between student dive bars on Fourth Avenue and cocktail bars and rooftops on Congress Street, and they are liveliest during university term.

For landscape the two are a match, and each has a mountain that rises from desert to pine forest. In Palm Springs the aerial tramway carries you up San Jacinto, palm oases fill the Indian and Tahquitz canyons, and Joshua Tree's boulders and night skies are an hour away.

Tucson has the saguaro forests of the national park on both sides of the city, a drive up Mount Lemmon with climbing and a small ski area, and sky island ranges that attract birdwatchers. Serious road cyclists tend to favour Tucson.

Tucson has the better range of excursions. Bisbee's Victorian streets and mine tours, Tombstone's Wild West, the Tubac artists' village with the Tumacácori mission ruins, the Sonoita wineries and Biosphere 2 can fill several varied days.

From Palm Springs the trips are fewer and stranger: Idyllwild in the pines, the lived-in film set of Pioneertown, and the abandoned shores and Salvation Mountain at the Salton Sea. Both cities need a car for all of these.

Tucson is the easier choice with children. The Desert Museum's mountain lions and hummingbirds, the zoo, the children's museum, the planetarium and an old western film set with stunt shows give enough for a week, though it all needs a car.

Palm Springs works for families as a pool vacation with a few outings, such as the Living Desert, the tramway and the Air Museum. Its many adults-only hotels and cocktail culture point families towards the bigger resorts down the valley.

Both are car towns, and in both a hire car is effectively required for anything beyond the centre. Palm Springs has a flat, compact downtown and an airport on the edge of town. Tucson adds a single streetcar line linking downtown, Fourth Avenue and the university, which is handy for evenings out but no help in reaching the trailheads or the mission.

These two are about even, but they sell different things. Palm Springs is the place for mid-century furniture, lighting and vintage clothes in the Uptown Design District, with El Paseo's luxury shops and the Cabazon outlets close by. Tucson's strengths are regional: Native American jewellery, Tohono O'odham baskets and Mexican folk art, plus the winter gem and mineral show, which brings in collectors from far and wide.

Tucson is the gentler place on the wallet. Mid-range hotels cost less there, and taquerias and hot dog stands make cheap eating easy, though the car and the resort spas still add up.

Palm Springs is resort-priced from winter into spring, and festival weekends push it higher. Both cities get much cheaper in the summer heat, so the gap narrows for anyone willing to visit then.

Neither is a reason to travel for the stage, and the difference is mainly in kind. Palm Springs offers drag cabaret and piano bars in town, the McCallum Theatre and casino concerts down the valley, and the Coachella and Stagecoach festivals each April. Tucson has a more conventional season, with a symphony, opera productions and touring shows at Centennial Hall, along with a deep mariachi tradition that the desert resort town lacks.

Palm Springs is the stronger retreat. The town grew up around the Agua Caliente spring, its bathhouse still lets visitors soak in the mineral water, and the spa motels of Desert Hot Springs draw on hot water straight from the ground. Add the slow poolside days and it is built for switching off.

Tucson's appeal is the structured destination spa: long-established foothills resorts with fitness classes, desert walks and meditation. It has no public baths, though, so the rest comes at resort prices rather than as part of daily life.