Anaheim or Aspen?

Anaheim is inland, but the surf beach at Huntington, Newport's harbour and peninsula and the rocky coves of Laguna are all within about half an hour by car. The Pacific is cool, so a wetsuit helps outside late summer.

Aspen has nothing comparable. The nearest sea is days away, and in summer swimming means a cold mountain lake, a raft on the Roaring Fork or a hotel pool.

Anaheim comes out ahead, though not around the parks, where it is mostly counters and chains. The rewards are in the county's immigrant districts: Lebanese and Yemeni grills along Brookhurst Street, pho and banh mi in Little Saigon, and good taquerias almost everywhere.

Aspen is the opposite. It has polished downtown dining rooms, steakhouses and long wine lists for wealthy winter guests, along with the après-ski terraces and the June Food & Wine Classic. However, there is little that is cheap or rooted in a local cuisine, and many kitchens close in the shoulder seasons.

Neither city is a culture destination, and the two are broadly level. Anaheim's real landmark is Disneyland itself, the first Disney park and a genuine part of American cultural history. Its proper museums, such as the Bowers in Santa Ana and the Nixon Library, are a drive away.

Aspen offers a walkable silver-mining townscape instead: red-brick Victorian blocks, the Wheeler Opera House, the miners' cottages of the West End, the contemporary art museum and Herbert Bayer's modernist Aspen Institute campus. It makes a pleasant afternoon's walk rather than a reason to come.

Aspen offers more of a night out, at least in ski season, when après-ski moves from the slopeside decks into downtown lounges and a few clubs stay busy late on peak weeks. Summer is quieter, and spring and autumn are very quiet.

In Anaheim, most evenings end with the park fireworks and a drink on the resort promenade or at a brewpub near the stadiums. For a proper night out, you have to drive to Long Beach or Los Angeles.

This is Aspen's main strength. It sits at about 2,400m among the Elk Mountains, with skiing ranging from Buttermilk's gentle slopes to Highlands' expert terrain, backcountry huts, and the Maroon Bells and Independence Pass in summer. Most of it starts at the edge of town.

Anaheim's surroundings are more varied than you might expect, with chaparral trails in the Santa Ana Mountains, tide pools at Crystal Cove and whale-watching boats from Dana Point. They are pleasant rather than dramatic, and all of them need a car.

Anaheim's position in the middle of Southern California gives it far more day trips: Hollywood and the Getty in Los Angeles, the Queen Mary in Long Beach, ferries to Catalina, Mission San Juan Capistrano, the Temecula wineries and even San Diego.

From Aspen, the options are small mountain towns: Glenwood Springs, Carbondale, the quarry village of Marble and, in summer, Leadville over Independence Pass. With the pass closed in winter, the list gets noticeably shorter.

Few places anywhere match Anaheim for children. There are two Disney parks within walking distance of family hotels, Knott's Berry Farm is ten minutes away, and the Discovery Cube and calm Newport beaches add variety. The trade-off is long queues at busy times.

Aspen works mainly as a ski vacation with children, with good ski schools at Buttermilk and Snowmass and alpine coasters in summer. Beyond that, there is little aimed at children, and the altitude can leave the youngest tired for the first day or two.

Aspen is much easier without a car. The downtown grid takes minutes to cross on foot, the gondola leaves from its edge, and free buses run to all four ski mountains and, in summer, to the Maroon Bells. Getting in and out is the hard part, because mountain passes and winter storms can close the roads.

Anaheim is easy only within the resort district, where hotels and shuttles serve the parks. Anywhere else in Orange County means freeways, slow buses and a hire car, although trains from the stadium station do reach Los Angeles and San Diego.

The two are level, but they shop in very different settings. Anaheim's shopping is in malls reached by car: Disney merchandise in the resort, a huge luxury mall in Costa Mesa and outlet centres for the mid-range.

Aspen packs its designer boutiques, ski-wear shops, jewellers and art galleries into a few walkable pedestrian blocks, which makes window-shopping part of an evening out. Neither offers much in the way of markets or local crafts.

Neither is cheap, but Anaheim is the more manageable of the two. Park tickets and hotels by the gates are expensive, but chain motels a short drive away and the Vietnamese and Middle Eastern eateries in the suburbs bring costs down. Car hire adds to the bill.

Aspen is among the most expensive vacation spots anywhere, especially in ski season. Even staying down the valley in Glenwood Springs only softens the cost.

Aspen has the edge thanks to its summer. The Aspen Music Festival fills about eight weeks with orchestral, chamber and opera performances, many of them heard free from the lawn outside the Benedict Music Tent. The Wheeler Opera House keeps up a programme of concerts, comedy and film for the rest of the year.

Anaheim's evenings revolve around the theme-park shows and big arena tours. For more serious performances, the Pacific Symphony and touring Broadway shows play at the Segerstrom Center in Costa Mesa, about 20 minutes away.

Aspen is far more restful, at least outside peak ski weeks, with clear air, riverside paths, yoga in the parks and hotel spas offering altitude-recovery programmes. The mineral pools and cave vapour baths of Glenwood Springs are an hour away, and wilderness hot springs reward a long hike.

A trip to Anaheim is built around early starts and crowds, so rest usually means a day by the hotel pool or a visit to a Korean-style day spa. For real calm, people drive to the clifftop resorts around Laguna Beach.