Santa Barbara or Sonoma?

Here the two hardly compete. Santa Barbara has a shoreline in town, with East and West Beach either side of Stearns Wharf, Butterfly Beach below Montecito and the shallow state beach at Carpinteria for small children. The water is cool, so many swims are short or taken in a wetsuit, but beach time can be part of every day.

Sonoma has no beach to speak of. The Bodega Bay coast is for looking at headlands rather than swimming, and summer dips mean a hotel pool or the gravel shores of the Russian River.

Both towns eat well, and both are tied to wine, but the emphasis differs. Santa Barbara works from the sea and the town: spot prawns and urchin off the harbour boats, superb farmers' markets, tasting rooms you can walk between in the Funk Zone, and long-established taquerias on Milpas Street for a cheaper meal.

In Sonoma the wine is the trip itself. Old-vine Zinfandel and cool Carneros Pinot Noir are a short drive from the plaza, and the cooking is seasonal and made to go with the bottle. There are fewer restaurants, mostly around the plaza and in Glen Ellen, and it is best suited to long, unhurried lunches.

Each town has a mission, but Santa Barbara has more around it. Its whole centre was rebuilt after 1925 in white stucco and red tile, the County Courthouse and its clock tower are well worth a visit, and the Old Mission, the Presidio and two good museums fill two or three days.

Sonoma's history fits into half a day. You can see the large plaza where the Bear Flag Revolt began, Mission San Francisco Solano, the last of the Franciscan chain, the adobe barracks and General Vallejo's house. Jack London's ruined Wolf House in Glen Ellen adds an outing.

Neither suits a big night out, but Santa Barbara at least has an evening. Funk Zone breweries and wine bars fill up early, and the lower blocks of State Street have pubs and a few small dance floors full of students at weekends. In Sonoma, a few wine bars and saloons on the plaza keep going after dinner, then the town goes quiet, and anyone wanting more drives to Santa Rosa.

Santa Barbara has the more varied outdoors. Trails such as Rattlesnake Canyon and Seven Falls start from suburban streets and climb to ridges overlooking the channel. Boats leave the harbour for whale watching, Rincon is there for surfers, and the Channel Islands offer sea caves and kayaking.

Sonoma's landscape is gentler and more pastoral. It has vineyards between two ranges, the Sonoma Overlook just above the plaza, and redwoods and Bald Mountain views at Sugarloaf Ridge. Back roads are good for cycling and balloons rise on calm mornings, but there is no sea to explore from town.

Sonoma is better placed. San Francisco is close enough for a full day of sightseeing, Napa, Yountville and St Helena are just over the hills, and Healdsburg, Petaluma and Sausalito are all within reach. Many outings lead to another wine town, but having a major city an hour away makes a big difference.

Santa Barbara's best day out is over the mountains to the Santa Ynez Valley and Danish-built Solvang, with Ojai and La Purisima mission after that. Los Angeles is too far for a comfortable return trip.

Santa Barbara is the far easier choice with children. The hillside zoo, the touch tanks on the wharf, the MOXI science museum and the whale skeleton and planetarium at the Natural History museum are all close together, and there is a flat bike path along the beach.

Sonoma is safe and calm, but it is built for adults tasting wine. Beyond the plaza playground, the miniature railway and the African wildlife park near Santa Rosa, children have little to do, which is why many families visit for a day from San Francisco.

You can manage longer without a car in Santa Barbara. The coastal train stops near the beach, State Street runs flat from the Mission district to the sea, and a shoreline path and downtown shuttle link the wharf, harbour and East Beach. A car is still needed for wine country and trailheads.

In Sonoma, only the plaza and the tasting rooms nearby are walkable. Wineries, parks and the coast are spread out, buses are of little use, and most visitors hire a car or book a driver, which also means nobody has to drive after the tastings.

Santa Barbara offers more browsing. State Street has the chains, galleries and boutiques around the fountain courtyards of paseos such as La Arcada, upmarket fashion in Montecito, and design shops in the Funk Zone.

Sonoma's shopping is a slow loop around the plaza arcades, with kitchenware, olive oil, cheese and wine bought straight from the producers. It is good for edible gifts but has little clothing.

Both are expensive, and neither has a cheap way in. Santa Barbara's beachfront and Montecito rooms are among the dearest on the coast, but its free beaches and hikes, taquerias and Goleta or Ventura as cheaper bases help keep costs down.

Sonoma adds costs of its own: tasting fees that soon mount up and the near-certain need for a car or driver. Staying in Santa Rosa or Petaluma and picnicking among the vines are the usual ways to save.

Santa Barbara has far more on stage. The restored Granada hosts the symphony, opera and ballet, the historic Lobero has chamber music and jazz, the Santa Barbara Bowl brings touring bands to a canyon above town, and the Music Academy of the West fills the summer with concerts.

Sonoma's season is mostly summer and mostly outdoors, with shows among the oaks at Jack London park and concerts at wineries. For serious classical music you go to the Green Music Center, half an hour away.

Both towns are restful, and the difference is in how. Santa Barbara's calm comes from mild sun and sea air: an early walk on the shoreline path, a class at one of the many yoga studios, a treatment at a resort spa in Montecito or on the beachfront. It has no bathing tradition of its own, and the nearest thing is a hike up to small hot pools in the hills above Montecito. For a proper retreat, people drive about an hour inland to the long-established spa resorts of the Ojai Valley.

Sonoma has the one thing Santa Barbara lacks, which is its own mineral springs. At Boyes Hot Springs, on the northern edge of town, warm water has drawn bathers for over a century, and the large old resort built around it lets day visitors use its pools. Calistoga, about an hour over the hills, adds mud baths and more springs. Together with slow afternoons on a shaded terrace and silent evenings, this makes Sonoma the better choice for a spa break, though nearly all bathing there comes at resort prices.