Santa Fe or Santa Monica?

There is no contest here. Santa Fe is high desert far from any coast. Swimming there means a hotel pool, a reservoir such as Abiquiu Lake an hour north, or a float down the Rio Grande.

Santa Monica is built around its beach: a very wide strip of pale sand with the pier at its centre, lifeguard towers and the beach path behind. The more scenic coves of Malibu are just up the shore. Expect cool Pacific water and grey early-summer mornings, and swim a little way from the pier.

Both cities eat well, in very different ways. Santa Fe has a cuisine of its own. New Mexican cooking means red and green chile, blue corn, posole and sopaipillas, served in old adobe dining rooms around the Plaza. There is also an unusually strong fine-dining tier and the long-established farmers' market at the Railyard, but little variety beyond that.

Santa Monica has no dishes of its own. Its cooking is built on California produce: seasonal food, seafood, brunch and good Italian and Japanese restaurants, with the Wednesday farmers market supplying the kitchens. The range is wider, though the cheap immigrant food Los Angeles is known for lies a long drive east.

Santa Fe gives a much fuller cultural stay. It was founded as a Spanish colonial capital in 1610 and keeps its adobe Plaza, the Palace of the Governors and the old chapels. Its museums on Museum Hill and downtown are better than the city's size suggests, and the galleries of Canyon Road are within walking distance.

Santa Monica's own sights are the pier, the sign marking the end of Route 66 and the galleries of Bergamot Station. Its best culture, the Getty Center and the Getty Villa, lies just outside town and needs a car.

Neither city is a place for clubbing, but Santa Monica stays out later. The rooftop and wine bars around the Third Street Promenade, the pubs on Main Street and the looser crowd in Venice make for a decent evening. Hollywood is a long taxi ride away for anything bigger.

Santa Fe is quieter still. An evening there means a long dinner, a margarita while the sun sets behind the Jemez Mountains, perhaps a brewery near the Railyard, and empty streets well before midnight.

Both cities have mountains at the edge of town, but Santa Fe's are bigger and wilder. The Sangre de Cristo range climbs from piñon foothills to aspen forest and the Pecos Wilderness, with skiing in winter. Desert mesas, Valles Caldera and the Rio Grande Gorge lie further out. The altitude and summer heat mean early starts.

Santa Monica has the chaparral canyons of Topanga and Temescal behind it, and the sea, which Santa Fe lacks. It offers the 35km beach path, surf lessons, dolphins seen from the shore and whale-watching in winter and spring.

Santa Fe has the deeper list of day trips, with history running through most of it. The High Road leads through Chimayo and Truchas to Taos Pueblo, and there are the cliff dwellings of Bandelier, the ruins at Pecos, O'Keeffe country around Abiquiu and the Turquoise Trail. Nearly all of them need a car.

Santa Monica's trips have more variety but less history. There are Santa Barbara's mission and wine country, Ojai, Laguna Beach, Catalina by ferry and the Huntington in Pasadena. Traffic, more than distance, decides how far you get.

Santa Monica is the easier choice with children. The lifeguarded sand, the Ferris wheel, roller coaster and carousel on the pier, the small aquarium and the flat bike path fill the days without much planning, and the weather rarely gets in the way. Theme parks are a long drive.

Santa Fe is safe and calm, but its galleries and long dinners are made for adults. The children's museum, the toys in the folk art collection and the ladders at Bandelier help. It suits older children who like hiking best, since the altitude tires small ones for the first day or two.

Santa Fe works on foot only within its historic core. The Plaza, Canyon Road and the Railyard sit close together, though uphill stretches feel harder at altitude. Beyond them, buses are infrequent, so Museum Hill, the trailheads and the pueblos mean a hire car. The Rail Runner to Albuquerque is the one useful train.

Santa Monica gives you more ways to get about without a car. Blue buses cover the town, the beach path suits bikes, and the E Line light rail reaches downtown Los Angeles in about an hour. Only Malibu, the Getty and Hollywood push you into ride-hailing or a rental car, on freeways that jam for much of the day.

Santa Fe's shopping is narrow but distinctive. You can buy silver, turquoise and pottery directly from Native American artists under the Palace portal, browse the Canyon Road galleries, and find rugs and Western boots downtown. The big summer markets draw collectors from far away, but there is little fashion.

Santa Monica's shopping is more ordinary and more varied. There are chains on the Promenade, boutiques on Montana Avenue, surf shops on Main Street and design-led stores along Abbot Kinney in Venice.

Neither city is cheap, but Santa Fe costs less. Rooms near the Plaza go up in summer and at Christmas, and the hire car adds to the bill. Cheaper places to stay along Cerrillos Road and free hiking help.

Santa Monica is more expensive. Oceanfront hotels, tax and tip on restaurant bills, and parking all push costs up. The free beach, pier and bike path, cheap buses and cheaper rooms a little inland help a little.

Santa Fe has the stronger stage, at least in summer. The open-sided Santa Fe Opera, where performances start as the sun sets over the desert, is joined by a chamber music festival and a long flamenco tradition. In winter the programme shrinks to the Lensic and concerts in the churches.

Santa Monica offers the Broad Stage, a few small playhouses, folk music in small rooms and free summer concerts on the pier. The big names, from the Hollywood Bowl to Walt Disney Concert Hall, are across Los Angeles.

Santa Fe is the better place to soak and slow down. There are outdoor tubs among the pines on the road to the ski area, the long-established mineral springs at Ojo Caliente an hour north, and plenty of spas and healers for a small city.

Santa Monica's version is active rather than restful: yoga on the sand, morning runs by the ocean, juice bars and hotel spas, with no springs or baths. Watching the sunset over the bay is the daily pause.