Alta, Utah or Portland?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Portland at least has water to play in. In summer locals swim from small sandy river beaches on the Willamette and on Sauvie Island, and the Oregon coast is reachable for a day of walking among sea stacks, even if the Pacific is too cold for most swimmers.

Alta has nothing of the kind. High in a canyon, its only bathing is a lodge pool or hot tub, and the Great Salt Lake below is not a place for swimming.

This is one of the widest gaps between the two. Alta's meals are lodge meals: half-board dinners at communal tables and slopeside cafeterias at lunch, filling but not a reason to come, and real choice means driving down to Salt Lake City.

Portland makes eating part of the trip. Food cart pods offer dozens of cuisines in one lot, neighbourhood restaurants cook with salmon, Dungeness crab and mushrooms, and the craft beer, coffee and Willamette Valley pinot noir give it one of the best drinking cultures in the country.

Alta's history as a silver-mining camp turned early ski area survives only in traces on the slopes, with no museums or historic buildings to visit. Portland is not a great sightseeing city either, but it has real things to see: the Japanese Garden and the Lan Su Chinese Garden, the art museum's Native American and Northwest collections, Old Town's cast-iron facades and the view from Pittock Mansion. Two or three days there will fill a cultural itinerary that Alta cannot offer at all.

Evenings in Alta end with an après-ski drink in a lodge bar and an early night, which is exactly what its regulars want. Anything livelier means the neighbouring resort or the drive to Salt Lake City.

Portland has a proper night out, though it is a bar city rather than a club city. Taprooms, dive bars with pinball, cocktail and wine bars line strips like Alberta, Division and Hawthorne, and a long evening of drinking and talk is easy to find.

Both are outstanding for the outdoors, but Alta has the edge in what it does best. At around 2,600m in the Wasatch, it gets some of the deepest, driest powder in North America, with steep skiing and serious backcountry, and in summer Albion Basin's wildflower meadows lead to Cecret Lake and higher peaks, with moose and mountain goats on the trails.

Portland's strength is range rather than depth. Forest Park's trails begin in the city, the Columbia River Gorge with Multnomah Falls is half an hour away, and Hood River and Mount Hood add windsurfing, alpine hiking and skiing. It offers rivers and variety that Alta lacks, though its long wet winters keep the best season short.

From Alta the choices come down to Salt Lake City, Park City's mining-town Main Street and Ogden further north, and in winter all of them depend on a canyon road that can close after storms. Utah's national parks are many hours south.

Portland has a better spread of outings. The Willamette Valley's wineries are under an hour away, Astoria offers Victorian streets and a maritime museum at the mouth of the Columbia, and the coast and Hood River each make a full day, though nearly all of them need a car.

Alta works only for families who ski: there is a ski school, gentle terrain near the base and lodges close to the lifts, but no attractions for children, high altitude and storm days spent indoors. Gentle summer walks among the wildflowers are the one non-skiing option.

Portland is a much easier city for children. The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, the zoo and playground in Washington Park and the Oaks Amusement Park in Sellwood fill several days, and trams and light rail cope well with pushchairs, though wet winters and visible homelessness downtown may put some families off.

Inside Alta there is barely any getting around to do, since the lodges sit by the lifts and a shuttle links them in winter. The problem is reaching it: one canyon road from Salt Lake City, about 50km away, that jams on powder days, closes for avalanche control and often needs chains.

Portland is simple to manage without a car in town, with light rail from the airport, a streetcar, short downtown blocks and good cycling across the bridges. The east-side neighbourhoods are spread out and served by bus, and the Gorge, the mountain and the coast still call for hire.

Alta sells ski rentals, tuning and a little outdoor gear, and that is all. Portland is a real shopping city in its independent way, with Powell's City of Books filling a block in the Pearl District, vintage and record shops on Mississippi, Alberta and Hawthorne, the Saturday Market's crafts and no sales tax. Luxury fashion is the thing it does not do.

Neither is cheap, but Alta is the costlier stay. Its few beds are in ski lodges that charge high rates in season, usually with dinner included because there is nowhere else to eat, and budget travellers end up sleeping in the Salt Lake valley and commuting up.

Portland's hotels cost what most large American cities charge, but it is easy to spend less: food carts are some of the best eating in town, transit is inexpensive and Forest Park and the waterfront are free. Car hire for trips out is the main extra.

Alta has no theatre or music venue at all, and evenings are spent in the lodges. Portland has a full season of symphony at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, opera, ballet and resident theatre, and its east-side clubs and the historic Crystal Ballroom keep an indie, folk and jazz scene going most nights.

Alta's version of wellness is outdoor hot tubs in the snow, saunas and modest lodge spas after a hard day, plus a deep quiet that skiers find restorative. There is no thermal water and little for someone after a proper spa trip.

Portland comes out a little ahead through variety rather than luxury. Soaking houses with saunas and cold plunges, slow café mornings and garden walks make it easy to unwind, and the Cascade hot springs are within a long drive.