San Jose or Scottsdale?

San Jose at least has the ocean within reach. Over the Santa Cruz Mountains, Santa Cruz, Capitola and the sheltered coves of Monterey Bay offer real beach towns with sand, surf and sunshine, although the cold Pacific means wetsuits or paddling rather than proper swimming.

Scottsdale has no coast at all. Water time means the resort pool, a trip out to Saguaro Lake or Canyon Lake, or floating down the Salt River on a tube in summer. These make nice outings, but neither city is the place for a beach vacation.

San Jose has the more interesting food, as long as you are willing to drive. Its large Vietnamese community fills east-side strip malls and Little Saigon with pho and banh mi, and there are taquerias, Indian and Korean kitchens, and old family places in Japantown.

In Scottsdale the eating is polished but more predictable: steakhouses, patio grills and big brunches aimed at golfers and groups. Its most local food is Sonoran Mexican, with huge flour tortillas and green chile, and the best of that is often in Phoenix rather than in town.

Both cities are low on culture, but in different ways. San Jose's sights are odd one-offs: the staircases to nowhere at the Winchester Mystery House, the Egyptian antiquities at the Rosicrucian museum, and Silicon Valley's own story at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View.

Scottsdale is about architecture and the American West. Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin West is a UNESCO-listed highlight, and it is backed by a frontier art museum, Old Town's galleries and two first-rate museums nearby, the Heard and the Musical Instrument Museum.

Scottsdale offers the bigger night out. Old Town's few blocks of rooftop lounges, dance clubs and patio bars get loud and glossy at weekends, with bottle service and dress codes, and they are even busier in spring when baseball fans and bachelor and bachelorette parties arrive.

San Jose's scene is smaller and more relaxed: beer halls and a food market around San Pedro Square, and dive bars and a few clubs along South First Street. It quietens down early, and anyone wanting a late night usually heads up to San Francisco.

Both cities are good for the outdoors, but the landscapes could hardly be more different. Around San Jose you walk among tall redwoods at Big Basin and Henry Cowell, cycle quiet mountain roads, and kayak with sea otters on Monterey Bay, and you can do it in most months.

Scottsdale's setting is the Sonoran Desert. There are saguaro trails in the McDowell Sonoran Preserve, steep climbs up Camelback Mountain, and balloon flights over the desert. All of it depends on the season, because summer hiking is only possible at dawn.

San Jose has a much wider choice of day trips. San Francisco is an easy train ride away, Stanford and Berkeley are close, and Monterey, Carmel, Santa Cruz and the wine country all fit into a day.

Scottsdale's best outings mean longer drives north: the red rocks of Sedona, the cliff dwelling at Montezuma Castle and the old mining town of Jerome. Tucson is a similar distance to the south, and the Grand Canyon really needs an overnight stay.

San Jose spreads a family trip across the region, while Scottsdale tends to keep it at the resort. Around San Jose there is Great America, the gentle Happy Hollow zoo, the rides on the Santa Cruz Boardwalk and the superb Monterey Bay Aquarium, and the mild weather means children can spend the day outdoors in any month.

In Scottsdale, the lazy rivers, water slides and kids' clubs often make the pool the main event, and the miniature railway park and the OdySea Aquarium fill the gaps. In summer, though, the heat keeps children indoors or in the water from midday onwards.

San Jose is easier without a car. Light rail runs through the walkable downtown, and Caltrain gives a reliable link to Palo Alto and San Francisco, even if the parks and the coast still need wheels.

Scottsdale is not on the regional light rail, and apart from the free Old Town trolley nearly every trip means driving or ride-hailing. Driving there is easy, though, with a simple grid and light traffic, whereas San Jose's freeways jam at rush hour.

Scottsdale has the better shopping because it offers something you can only find there. Next to its luxury mall and open-air centres, the Old Town galleries along Main Street and Marshall Way sell southwestern painting and glass, and its dealers stock high-quality Native American silver, turquoise and pottery.

San Jose matches it on malls, with a big west-side centre and boutique street, but beyond that there is little: a few Japantown shops, Willow Glen and Los Gatos boutiques, and Asian supermarkets worth browsing.

Neither city is cheap, but Scottsdale leaves more room to save. Its resorts cut their rates sharply in the hot summer months, and the rest of the year its motels, business hotels and plentiful Mexican food keep a careful budget workable.

San Jose is expensive in every season. Hotels are priced for business travellers and restaurants and parking are dear. Getting around without a car is hard, so car hire and fuel add to the bill too. The best ways to save are weekend hotel stays, the casual plaza eateries and the free foothill trails.

The two cities are on a similar level here, and each relies on a bigger neighbour. San Jose has its own opera in the restored California Theatre, a symphony, touring Broadway shows and a large summer jazz festival, but a full programme means going to San Francisco.

Scottsdale's own arts centre and the Musical Instrument Museum's world-music concerts are best in the winter season, and Phoenix provides the opera, ballet and symphony.

This is where Scottsdale clearly wins. Relaxing is a main reason to visit: there are many large resort spas with desert treatments and outdoor pools, plenty of yoga and retreats, and a slow pace set by the dry air and mountain views.

San Jose offers mainly hotel and suburban day spas, but it does have something Scottsdale lacks: Korean-style bathhouses with saunas and soaking pools. Its quiet spots are the Japanese gardens at Hakone and Kelley Park and the leafy streets of Los Gatos.