Phoenix or Tijuana?

Neither is a beach destination, but only Tijuana has a coast at all. Playas de Tijuana has a sandy promenade running up to the border fence, and Rosarito, half an hour south, makes a proper beach day. The Pacific is cool, though, and the water near the city is often unfit for swimming.

Phoenix is hours from any sea, so swimming means resort pools with lazy rivers, desert reservoirs such as Saguaro Lake, or tubing on the Salt River in summer.

Tijuana has much the stronger table, and eating is its main reason to visit. There are adobada and birria tacos, seafood carts piled with sea urchin and clams, and the Baja Med restaurants of Zona Río and Chapultepec, with Valle de Guadalupe wine and local craft beer alongside.

Phoenix shares the border kitchen in its Sonoran form, with carne asada, machaca and paper-thin flour tortillas, and it bakes good wood-fired pizza. Its restaurants are reliable rather than memorable, though, and far enough apart that eating well means driving between them.

Both are young cities with little historic fabric, but Phoenix has the better museums. The Heard's Native American collection, the Musical Instrument Museum and Taliesin West, Frank Lloyd Wright's desert studio, add up to several good days, even if each one is a separate drive.

Tijuana's sights fit into a day or two. There is the domed Centro Cultural with the Museo de las Californias and the Moorish Jai Alai palace on Avenida Revolución. Above all there is the mural-painted border fence at Playas, where the line between two countries feels unusually real.

Tijuana is the better night out, and it runs later. Beyond the loud visitor bars of Avenida Revolución, the cantinas and dive bars of Calle Sexta draw a young local crowd, and the taprooms and cocktail bars of Zona Río fill out the evening. Some streets near the Zona Norte are best avoided.

Phoenix gives you a choice of crowd more than of atmosphere: clubs in Old Town Scottsdale, students on Mill Avenue in Tempe and craft beer around Roosevelt Row. Bars shut at 2am, and the districts are far enough apart that you commit to one.

Here Phoenix is clearly stronger. Desert mountains rise straight out of the suburbs: Camelback and Piestewa Peak to scramble up, South Mountain's huge park, and saguaro forest in the McDowell Sonoran Preserve, with Sedona's red rock two hours north. The limit is summer, when hiking after mid-morning becomes dangerous.

Tijuana sits in scrubby hills with little green space, and its outdoors lies along the coast. There is surf near Rosarito, the cliff road to Ensenada, whale watching in winter and gentle walks among the vineyards of the wine valleys.

Tijuana has the edge because it borders two countries. Rosarito and Puerto Nuevo are close, Ensenada and the wineries of Valle de Guadalupe are about an hour and a half away, and San Diego lies just over the border. The return crossing can take hours, though.

From Phoenix the list is shorter, and every outing means a longer drive. The choices are the hillside mining town of Jerome, Prescott's Western square, the cliff dwelling at Montezuma Castle on the way to Sedona, and Tucson with Mission San Xavier del Bac.

Phoenix is much the easier choice with children, as long as you come between autumn and spring. The zoo, the science centre, a children's museum, water parks and resorts with slides fill most days, and spring training baseball makes a relaxed outing. Expect plenty of time in the car.

Tijuana has the El Trompo science museum, the IMAX dome and Parque Morelos, but little else. Pavements are patchy and the main avenue is aimed at adult drinkers, although restaurants are warm towards children.

Neither city is easy without wheels, but Tijuana asks less of you. Downtown and Avenida Revolución are a walk from the San Ysidro crossing, and plentiful ride-hailing and taxis cover the rest of the sprawl cheaply, so a visitor can manage without driving.

Phoenix is built around the car. A single light rail line links the airport, downtown and Tempe, but Scottsdale and the trailheads lie far apart, and most visitors rent a car. Easy roads and parking help, while the summer heat makes even short walks hard.

Phoenix is the better place to shop for brands and for one craft in particular. Scottsdale's luxury mall and the open-air centre near the Biltmore carry the international labels. Navajo and Zuni silver, Hopi katsina carvings and rugs are best bought from museum shops and reputable galleries.

Tijuana's shopping is livelier but less polished. You bargain for leather, pottery and blankets near the border, buy chillies and Mexican vanilla at Mercado Hidalgo, and browse small studios in Pasaje Rodríguez. Fashion and luxury shopping are thin.

Tijuana is much the cheaper of the two. Street tacos, neighbourhood cantinas and ride-hailing cost little, and mid-range hotels in Zona Río are good value. Only the visitor bars of Avenida Revolución, the Baja Med dining rooms and wine tastings come close to international rates.

Phoenix charges ordinary American prices, rising in winter and spring when the resorts fill, and nearly every visit adds a rental car. Summer is the cheap season, and hiking costs nothing.

Phoenix has the fuller programme, running mostly from autumn to spring. There is a symphony, Arizona Opera and Ballet Arizona, touring Broadway shows at Wright's round ASU Gammage, and concerts at the Musical Instrument Museum.

Tijuana's formal stage centres on the concert hall of the Centro Cultural and a long-standing opera company. Its real character is in informal music: norteño bands in cantinas, mariachis at Plaza Santa Cecilia and the Calle Sexta bars where Nortec grew up.

This is one of the widest gaps between the two. Phoenix and Scottsdale are a classic resort retreat, with desert spas beneath Camelback Mountain, several pools at each resort and dry winter sunshine for long, quiet days. The best of it costs resort money.

Tijuana is loud and full of traffic, with hotel spas and fairly priced massage but no culture of rest, and its health trade is medical and dental. Visitors who want calm leave the city for quiet stays among the vineyards of the wine valleys.