Phoenix or San Francisco?

Neither city is a place for a beach vacation, but San Francisco at least has a real coastline. Ocean Beach, Baker Beach below the Golden Gate Bridge and the small cove at China Beach make fine walks at sunset. Water of around 13°C and strong rip currents keep almost everyone out of the sea.

Phoenix has no shore at all. Its open water is the desert reservoirs on the Salt River, such as Saguaro Lake and Canyon Lake, plus summer tubing down the river. In practice, swimming in both cities comes down to a hotel pool. Phoenix's resort pools, with their lazy rivers and slides, are built for spending whole days in the hot months.

San Francisco is the far stronger food city. It is built on Northern California produce and bay seafood, with Dungeness crab, sourdough and the Ferry Building market. Dim sum fills Chinatown and the Richmond, North Beach has its Italian bakeries and the Mission its burritos. On top of that sits one of the country's best fine-dining tiers, with Napa and Sonoma wines close at hand.

Phoenix has one thing worth seeking out: Sonoran borderland cooking, from carne asada and paper-thin flour tortillas to bacon-wrapped hot dogs from evening carts. It also has a good name for wood-fired pizza. Beyond that, the restaurants are dependable rather than memorable, and they are spread out enough that a good dinner usually means a drive.

San Francisco gives a visitor much more to see. The Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz and the cable cars on Nob Hill sit alongside SFMOMA, the de Young, the Legion of Honor and the Asian Art Museum. Neighbourhoods such as Chinatown and the Mission, with its mural-covered alleys, reward a walk.

Phoenix's sights are fewer and far apart, but two are outstanding: the Native American collections at the Heard Museum and Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin West. The Musical Instrument Museum is absorbing too. With no historic centre to wander, though, sightseeing here is a series of separate drives.

Nights out are livelier in San Francisco, and each district has its own character. The Mission has mezcal and cocktail bars, North Beach its old saloons, the Castro its gay bars, and SoMa its warehouse clubs. The cocktail-making is inventive and taken seriously.

Phoenix divides along different lines. Old Town Scottsdale has clubs and rooftop bars full of weekend groups, Tempe's Mill Avenue has students, and downtown has craft beer. In summer the drinking moves onto misted patios and resort pool parties. Bars close at 2am in both cities, but in Phoenix getting between districts means a ride-hail rather than a bus.

Both are excellent bases for the outdoors, but San Francisco's setting is more varied. Within the city you have Lands End above the surf, the Presidio and Golden Gate Park. Across the bridge are the Marin Headlands, the redwoods of Muir Woods and Mount Tamalpais, and Point Reyes has elk and elephant seals. Sailing, kayaking and whale watching add the water that Phoenix lacks.

Phoenix answers with desert. Camelback Mountain and Piestewa Peak are steep scrambles straight out of the suburbs, and there is the vast South Mountain park and the saguaro forest of the McDowell Sonoran Preserve. It is superb from October to April, but summer heat makes hiking after mid-morning dangerous, while San Francisco's only drawbacks are fog and wind.

San Francisco has the better spread of outings, led by the wineries and small towns of Napa and Sonoma about an hour north. Ferries reach Sausalito and Tiburon, trains reach Berkeley and Oakland, and the coast road leads to the Santa Cruz boardwalk, Monterey's Cannery Row and the mission at Carmel.

From Phoenix the distances are longer and every trip needs a car. The choices are Sedona and the Montezuma Castle cliff dwelling, the hillside mining town of Jerome, Prescott's Western square, and Tucson with Mission San Xavier del Bac. The Grand Canyon, which many visitors have in mind, is too far for a comfortable day.

San Francisco has a slight edge with children, mainly because the Exploratorium and the California Academy of Sciences can each fill a full day. The sea lions at Fisherman's Wharf and a cable car ride are easy treats. The trade-offs are steep hills with a pushchair and some downtown streets that parents may prefer to avoid on foot.

Phoenix suits families who want pools and space: water parks, resorts with slides and lazy rivers, the zoo, the science centre and relaxed spring training baseball in March. It only works in the cooler months, and it means long stretches in the car.

This is the sharpest practical difference between the two. San Francisco is compact, about 11km across. Between BART, Muni, the cable cars and the bay ferries, a car is more burden than help, and the only real effort is climbing the hills.

Phoenix is the reverse: a flat grid of wide roads, with Scottsdale, Tempe and the trailheads far apart. The light rail is useful only along the corridor linking the airport, downtown and Tempe, so most visitors rent a car. The roads and parking are at least easy.

San Francisco is the more rewarding city to browse, mostly because of its neighbourhoods. Hayes Valley has design boutiques, Valencia Street has bookshops and vintage, and Haight-Ashbury carries its countercultural history, while Union Square has the big names.

Phoenix shopping is mostly in malls, centred on Scottsdale, but it has one thing San Francisco cannot match. That is Native American work: Navajo and Zuni silver and turquoise, Hopi katsina carvings and woven rugs, best bought from museum shops and reputable galleries.

Phoenix is clearly the cheaper of the two. It is especially cheap in summer, when resort rooms drop sharply, and chain hotels along the freeways are reasonable all year. The cost to plan for is a rental car.

San Francisco is among the most expensive American cities to visit. Hotels are costly, and dining out adds tax, service charges and tips on top of high menu prices. Mission taquerias, dim sum, free parks and walking the bridge help, and you save on a car, but a tight budget will still struggle.

San Francisco is in a different league here. The War Memorial Opera House is home to San Francisco Opera and to the country's oldest professional ballet company, and the Symphony plays a full season at Davies Hall. The SFJAZZ Center, the Fillmore and the free summer concerts at Stern Grove add music across the year.

Phoenix keeps a respectable set of institutions: its symphony, Arizona Opera, Ballet Arizona and touring shows at ASU Gammage, a round hall designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. The Musical Instrument Museum also has an intimate concert hall. None of them is a reason to travel, and summer is quiet.

Phoenix is the better place for a restful week. The desert resorts below Camelback Mountain and through north Scottsdale combine full spas, several pools and golf, with treatments based on sage, clay and agave. In winter, the dry warmth does the rest.

San Francisco offers smaller pockets of calm: the Japanese-style communal bathhouse in Japantown, day spas, and the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park. For hot springs you have to go to Calistoga's mud baths, about two hours away. The city itself moves at a working pace and rarely feels like a retreat.