Santa Monica or South Lake Tahoe?

Both places have pale sand and cool water, but Santa Monica's beach is bigger and easier to use. A very wide, lifeguarded strip runs right through town, and the Malibu coves at Zuma, El Matador and Point Dume are there when you want something wilder. The Pacific is chilly for much of the year, but it stays swimmable for longer in late summer than the lake does.

South Lake Tahoe's beaches are prettier, with turquoise shallows under Jeffrey pines at Pope and Baldwin and the boulder coves of Sand Harbor. At about 1,900m, though, the water only warms in July and August, and afternoon wind often makes it choppy.

Santa Monica eats much better. Its kitchens buy from the downtown farmers market, and Main Street, Montana Avenue and neighbouring Venice offer a good spread of seafood, brunch, Italian and Japanese cooking. The cheap immigrant food Los Angeles is famous for, though, is a long drive east.

In South Lake Tahoe, meals are mostly fuel: casino steakhouses and buffets, plus brewpubs, pizza and taquerias along Highway 50. Local craft beer is the highlight, and many visitors end up cooking in their cabin.

Neither is a sightseeing destination, but Santa Monica has more to fill an afternoon. There is the pier with its carousel and the end of Route 66, and the galleries of Bergamot Station. Above all, both Getty museums are a short drive away: European art on a hilltop in Brentwood and Greek and Roman antiquities in Pacific Palisades.

South Lake Tahoe's sights are the lakeside estates at the Tallac Historic Site and Vikingsholm at the head of Emerald Bay, both more about the setting than the collections. There is also a small museum on the Washoe people and logging.

Both are early-night towns, but in different ways. Santa Monica has more choice: wine bars and ocean-view rooftops around the Third Street Promenade, pubs along Main Street and a looser crowd in Venice. It all suits a sunset drink rather than dancing.

South Lake Tahoe has less variety but later hours, because the casino bars and lounges just over the Nevada line stay open all night. On the California side it is brewpubs and après-ski at the gondola base. For a big night out you drive to Hollywood from Santa Monica and to Reno from Tahoe.

This is where South Lake Tahoe pulls far ahead. The deep blue lake ringed by granite peaks, Emerald Bay, the Desolation Wilderness with its many lakes and the Tahoe Rim Trail make some of the finest mountain country in the American West. Add skiing at Heavenly, Kirkwood and Sierra-at-Tahoe in winter and golden aspens in autumn.

Santa Monica's outdoors are good on a smaller scale: chaparral canyon trails in Topanga and Temescal, the 35km beach path for cycling, surf lessons and whale-watching in winter. Its advantage is that the mild climate lets you get out almost every day of the year.

Santa Monica has the wider choice of outings, all by car and all at the mercy of traffic. Santa Barbara's mission and wine country lie to the north, Laguna Beach to the south and Catalina by ferry, and within Los Angeles there are the Huntington Library and Hollywood.

From South Lake Tahoe the choices are Gold Rush and silver-boom towns such as Virginia City, Genoa and Coloma, the Amador vineyards, and Reno for a bigger city. They make a pleasant day out, especially in bad weather, but are rarely a highlight.

Santa Monica is the easier choice with children. It has a wide lifeguarded beach, the pier's amusement park and carousel, a small aquarium under the pier and flat bike rides along the sand, all in mild weather. The downsides are visible homelessness downtown and long drives to the theme parks.

South Lake Tahoe works well for outdoor families, with shallow lake beaches in summer and ski schools and sledding in winter. But there is nothing indoors for a stormy day, and the casino strip is no place to linger with children.

Santa Monica is far easier without a car. The centre, the pier and Main Street are walkable, blue buses cover the town and the E Line light rail runs to downtown Los Angeles. You will still need ride-hailing or a rental car for the Getty, Malibu and Hollywood.

In South Lake Tahoe only the core around Stateline is walkable. Free shuttles help in the ski season, but trailheads, beaches and Emerald Bay are spread out, summer weekend traffic crawls, and winter storms bring chain controls on the roads in.

By comparison, Santa Monica is a real shopping destination. There are chains and flagships on the Third Street Promenade, boutiques on Montana Avenue, surf shops on Main Street and design-led stores on Abbot Kinney in Venice, and Rodeo Drive is a short drive away.

South Lake Tahoe's shops are for the outdoors: ski and gear rental stores, a supermarket for the cabin and souvenirs at the gondola base, plus a few galleries selling lake photography.

Both are expensive, but South Lake Tahoe gives you more room to save. The casino hotels on the Nevada side offer midweek and shoulder-season discounts, and a cabin with a kitchen cuts the food bill. Peak ski weeks, high summer and lift tickets push costs right back up.

Santa Monica stays costly all year, as oceanfront hotels, restaurant bills and parking add up. The free beach, pier and trails help, and so does staying inland.

Santa Monica has more for an evening out: chamber music, dance and theatre at the Broad Stage, small playhouses, a long-standing folk scene and free summer concerts on the pier. The Hollywood Bowl and Walt Disney Concert Hall are across the city.

South Lake Tahoe relies on casino showrooms with touring rock and country acts and comedians. In summer there is also Shakespeare on the beach at Sand Harbor and concerts at the Tallac estates.

Santa Monica unwinds in company. Yoga classes on the sand, juice bars, a morning run along the ocean and polished spas in the beachfront hotels make relaxing there an active, social routine, finished off with sunset over the bay.

South Lake Tahoe offers a quieter kind of rest: still mornings by the lake, a cabin in the pines and a slow pace once you leave the casino corner. It also has something Santa Monica lacks, natural hot springs within easy reach, at Grover Hot Springs in an alpine meadow and at the resorts in the Carson Valley around Genoa.