Alta, Utah or San Francisco?

Neither place gives you a beach vacation, but San Francisco at least has a shoreline worth visiting. Ocean Beach, Baker Beach with its view of the Golden Gate and the little cove at China Beach are lovely places for sunset walks and bonfires. The water is cold, though, and Ocean Beach has dangerous currents.

Alta has nothing comparable. The Great Salt Lake is no place for a swim, so in summer the water you can get into is a lodge pool or hot tub.

Here the gap is about as wide as it gets. In Alta you eat what the lodge serves, usually a set dinner at a communal table, and lunch comes from a slopeside cafeteria. Anyone who wants choice has to drive down the canyon.

San Francisco is a destination for food in its own right. There are Cantonese kitchens in Chinatown, Italian bakeries in North Beach, burritos in the Mission, the Ferry Building market and a deep tier of fine dining, all backed by Northern California produce and Napa and Sonoma wines.

Alta's only history is the faint trace of its silver-mining years on the slopes. There is nothing to tour, and the village leaves cultural sightseeing to Salt Lake City.

San Francisco gives you three or four full days of it. You can cross the Golden Gate Bridge, take the boat to Alcatraz and ride the cable cars up Nob Hill, then spend time in SFMOMA, the de Young and the Asian Art Museum. Its neighbourhoods also have character of their own, from the murals of the Mission to the history of the Castro.

Evenings in Alta end early by design, with a drink in the lodge bar and then bed before first lifts. That suits its regulars perfectly. San Francisco offers real nights out spread across several districts: mezcal and cocktail bars on Valencia Street, old saloons in North Beach, the Castro's gay bars and warehouse clubs in SoMa, though bars stop serving at 2am.

Both are excellent, but Alta's mountains are the reason it exists. It has powder measured in metres, steep in-bounds skiing, avalanche-country backcountry touring and, in summer, the wildflower meadows of Albion Basin with moose and mountain goats on the trails. For skiers nothing in the Bay Area comes close.

San Francisco makes up for it with variety. Lands End and the Presidio are inside the city, and Muir Woods' redwoods, Mount Tamalpais and the wild coast of Point Reyes lie across the bridge, along with sailing, whale watching and cycling. Fog and wind come with all of it.

From San Francisco the options keep going. Napa and Sonoma are about an hour north, ferries run to Sausalito, and Berkeley is a short train ride away. Down the coast are Santa Cruz's boardwalk and the aquarium and Cannery Row in Monterey.

Alta's list is short: Salt Lake City, Park City's old Main Street and Ogden. Every one of them depends on a single canyon road that closes after heavy snow.

San Francisco is the easier choice with children. It has hands-on science at the Exploratorium, an aquarium and planetarium under one roof in Golden Gate Park, playgrounds and paddle boats, and sea lions at the wharf. The steep hills and cold sea are its main drawbacks.

Alta works only if the family skis. It has a good ski school and gentle terrain near the base, but nothing else is made for children, and storm days can keep everyone indoors.

Once you are in Alta, the lodges sit at the lifts and a shuttle covers the rest. Getting there and away is the problem, because one avalanche-prone canyon road carries all the traffic and often requires chains.

San Francisco is compact and well connected, so you can leave the car behind. BART, Muni, streetcars, cable cars and ferries all run on one card. The steep hills are the only real obstacle to walking.

In Alta, shopping means ski rental, tuning and a rack of branded fleeces. San Francisco is no shopping capital either, but it is a pleasant place to browse. Union Square has the department stores, Hayes Valley the design boutiques, and Valencia Street and Haight-Ashbury the bookshops and vintage clothing.

Both are expensive, for different reasons. In Alta the few beds belong to a handful of ski lodges that charge high rates with dinner included, so careful spenders sleep in the Salt Lake valley and ride the bus up. Lift tickets are moderate by American resort standards.

In San Francisco the costs are spread across everything, from hotel rooms to taxes and tips on meals. The savings are more varied too: Mission taquerias, Chinatown dim sum, free parks and coastal trails, and museum free days.

Alta has no stage of any kind, so an evening of music means a drive to Salt Lake City. San Francisco is a real arts city, with the Opera and the country's oldest professional ballet company at the War Memorial Opera House, a full symphony season at Davies Hall, jazz at SFJAZZ, rock history at the Fillmore and free summer concerts in Stern Grove.

San Francisco offers slightly more in the way of treatments. It has a Japanese-style communal bathhouse in Japantown, plenty of day spas and yoga studios, and the mud baths and mineral pools of Calistoga within reach. The pace of the centre, though, is anything but calm.

Alta's wellness is plainer: a hot tub in the snow, a sauna and a massage after a long ski day. Its real offer is silence, with quiet evenings and snow-muffled storm days that send tired skiers to bed early.