Santa Monica or Tucson?

There is no contest here. Santa Monica has a very wide band of pale sand with the pier at its centre and lifeguard towers along its length, and the more scenic coves of Zuma, El Matador and Point Dume are a short drive north. The cool Pacific means many people wade more than they swim, but the beach itself is the reason to stay.

Tucson is in the middle of the Sonoran Desert, with no coast within a day's reach. Swimming means a resort pool, plus the shallow pools that sometimes form in Sabino Canyon after rain.

You eat about equally well in both, but in very different ways. Santa Monica's cooking follows California produce from the Wednesday farmers market, with seasonal menus, seafood, polished brunches and good Italian and Japanese food on Main Street and Montana Avenue. What it lacks is a cuisine of its own, and the cheap immigrant food Los Angeles is known for is a long drive east.

Tucson has exactly that kind of food on its doorstep: Sonoran Mexican cooking, with carne asada grilled over mesquite, paper-thin flour tortillas and Sonoran hot dogs, found in the family kitchens of South 12th Avenue. Fine dining is thinner there, so choose Santa Monica for range and polish and Tucson for one regional tradition done properly.

Tucson has more to see inside its own city. Mission San Xavier del Bac, with its painted and gilded interior, is a first-rate colonial church. The adobe houses of Barrio Viejo, the Native American collections of the Arizona State Museum and the huge aircraft collection at Pima Air & Space fill two or three good days.

Santa Monica is not really a sightseeing town. It has its historic pier, the galleries of Bergamot Station and some Art Deco and Spanish Revival buildings. Its strongest cultural outings are the two Getty museums, which are just outside the city and need a car.

The two are evenly matched and both modest, though the crowds differ. Santa Monica is a place for a sunset cocktail: wine bars and hotel rooftops facing the ocean around the Promenade, pubs on Main Street, and a looser local crowd next door in Venice. For clubs, you need a long ride to Hollywood.

Tucson's evenings are younger and cheaper. Fourth Avenue has dive bars and patios full of students, and Congress Street adds cocktail bars and a few dance floors. Its weekends are livelier during term, and it goes noticeably quiet once the students leave for summer.

Both are strong outdoor bases, and Tucson has a slight edge for sheer drama. Saguaro National Park flanks the city on two sides. The road up Mount Lemmon climbs from cactus to pine forest in an hour, and the sky island ranges draw birdwatchers from around the world. The catch is summer, when heat pushes outings to dawn or up the mountain.

Santa Monica's advantage is the mix of mountains and sea, with no off-season. You can hike the chaparral canyons of Topanga and Temescal in the morning, then cycle the 35km beach path or watch for whales and dolphins in the afternoon.

Both offer a good spread of outings, all by car, but in different directions. From Santa Monica you follow the coast: Malibu close by, Santa Barbara's mission and wine country to the north, Laguna Beach and the ferry to Catalina to the south. Freeway traffic decides how much you fit in.

From Tucson the trips run into frontier country. Tombstone trades on its Wild West past, Bisbee is a steep mining town, and Tubac and the Tumacácori ruins are closer in. The roads are emptier, though none of these places is in the first rank.

Santa Monica is the easier choice with children. Everything is in one compact strip: the lifeguarded sand, the pier's Ferris wheel, carousel and small aquarium, the beachfront playgrounds and a flat path for family bike rides. Theme parks take a long day by car, and the homelessness around downtown unsettles some parents.

Tucson has excellent things for children, above all the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum with its mountain lions and hummingbirds, and the giant planes at the air and space museum. They are spread across a wide city, though, and the summer heat limits family trips to the cooler months.

Santa Monica is far easier without a car. Downtown, the pier and Main Street are all walkable, blue buses cover the rest of town, and the E Line light rail reaches downtown Los Angeles. Trips to Malibu canyons or Hollywood still mean ride-hailing or a hire car on jammed freeways.

In Tucson, a car is not optional. The single streetcar line links downtown, Fourth Avenue and the university, but the national park, the mission and Mount Lemmon all lie on the edges or beyond. The consolation is light traffic and easy parking.

Santa Monica offers more, and more variety. There are chains on the Third Street Promenade, upmarket boutiques on Montana Avenue, surf shops on Main Street and design-led stores on Abbot Kinney in Venice, and Rodeo Drive is within reach for luxury labels.

Tucson is the place to buy what only the region makes: Native American silver jewellery, Tohono O'odham baskets and Mexican folk art. Its one real shopping event is the winter gem and mineral show, which collectors travel from around the world to attend.

Tucson is much the cheaper stay, and the two are dearest at opposite times of year. Santa Monica's rooms near the ocean cost most in summer, when the town is warm and dry, while Tucson's rates peak in winter, above all during the gem show, and drop sharply once the desert heat arrives. A summer trip costs least in Tucson, and a winter one narrows the gap.

The car works the other way round. In Santa Monica you can manage local days on cheap buses and the light rail and skip the cost of hire and parking, while in Tucson a hire car is close to essential, though at least parking is easy. Sit-down meals carry American prices and tipping in both, but Tucson's family Mexican kitchens make eating cheaply far easier than anywhere near the Santa Monica seafront.

Neither city is a reason to travel for the stage, and they come out about level. Santa Monica has the Broad Stage, intimate folk and acoustic rooms and free summer concerts on the pier. The Philharmonic and the Hollywood Bowl are within reach, but only by a long drive across Los Angeles.

Tucson has its own symphony and theatre company and a share of Arizona Opera, all running from autumn to spring. It also has a distinctive mariachi tradition and desert folk bands in the small rooms on Congress Street.

Tucson is the better place for a restorative stay. It is one of the original homes of the American destination spa, with resorts in the Catalina foothills built around massage, meditation and desert walks, and the clear winter light sets a slow pace.

Santa Monica's version is more active and more do-it-yourself: yoga on the sand, juice bars, a morning run by the ocean and hotel spas. Neither city has thermal springs or a public bathing culture.