Anaheim or Bend?

From Anaheim you can reach real Pacific beaches in about half an hour: the wide surf beach and pier at Huntington, the Balboa Peninsula at Newport and the rocky coves of Laguna. Most visitors treat them as a half-day break from the parks, and the water needs a wetsuit outside late summer.

Bend is more than three hours from the sea, so swimming means the Deschutes, tubing through the Old Mill District, or a cold, clear dip in Elk Lake or Sparks Lake in August. It is a pleasant summer extra, but nothing like a beach.

Anaheim offers more choice, as long as you leave the resort district's chains and park counters behind. The Lebanese, Palestinian and Yemeni bakeries and grills on Brookhurst Street, the pho and banh mi of nearby Little Saigon, and taquerias across the county give it an international range that Bend cannot match.

Bend's food is built around beer. A day can be spent walking or cycling between brewpubs, and evenings are spent at food-cart pods with fire pits. Some good farm-to-table cooking uses Pacific Northwest produce, but international food is thin on the ground.

Neither is a culture destination, and they fall short in different ways. Anaheim's main cultural landmark is Disneyland itself, the park Walt Disney saw finished. Its museums, such as the Bowers in Santa Ana and the Nixon Library, are a drive away.

Bend keeps everything close together. The High Desert Museum fills half a day with Indigenous heritage, pioneer history and live animals, and an afternoon downtown covers the brick blocks, the Tower Theatre and the old mill smokestacks.

Both are quiet at night, for different reasons. In Anaheim the evening usually ends with the park fireworks and a drink on the resort promenade. Game nights fill the bars near the stadiums, and anything livelier means driving to Long Beach or Los Angeles.

Bend's taprooms and food-cart courtyards are busy early, full of people still in their hiking gear, and empty early too, because the crowd wants to be on the trails at dawn. Neither has much in the way of clubs.

This is Bend's great strength. The town sits where the juniper high desert meets the volcanic Cascades. Mount Bachelor, the alpine lakes, the waterfalls on the Deschutes River Trail, Smith Rock's climbing walls and the lava flows and caves of Newberry are all within an hour, and some start at the edge of town.

Anaheim's countryside is gentler: chaparral trails in the Santa Ana Mountains and tide pools at Crystal Cove. It does have one thing Bend lacks, whale-watching boats from Newport and Dana Point, but the landscape around it is pleasant rather than striking.

Anaheim is in the middle of Southern California, so there is far more within a day's drive. Hollywood and the Getty are about an hour away, Long Beach has the Queen Mary, and boats cross to Catalina. Mission San Juan Capistrano, the Temecula wineries and San Diego are also within a day, if you can face the traffic.

From Bend, the outings are mostly into the landscape. Sisters and Sunriver make short trips, and the Warm Springs museum is worth the drive, but beyond them are ranching towns, and Crater Lake makes for a long day.

Anaheim is one of the world's great family destinations. Two Disney parks stand side by side, Knott's Berry Farm is ten minutes away, and the Discovery Cube and gentle beaches add variety for families who leave the resort. The main drawbacks are long queues and needing a car for anything further away.

Bend works for active families. Children will enjoy floating the river, exploring the Lava River Cave by lantern, meeting the otters at the High Desert Museum and having lessons at Mount Bachelor's ski school, but there is no amusement park, zoo or aquarium.

Both have a walkable core, and outside it you need a car. In Anaheim the compact resort district and its shuttles cover a parks-only trip, and trains from the station near the stadium reach Los Angeles and San Diego. Everything else in Orange County is a freeway drive.

Bend's downtown and the Old Mill District are joined by a riverside path, and cycling around town is easy. There is a seasonal ski shuttle, but the lakes, trailheads and Smith Rock all need a hire car.

Anaheim has more to offer, though nearly all of it is in malls. Disney merchandise draws families to the resort promenade, the luxury mall in Costa Mesa holds most of the big fashion houses, and outlet centres cover the middle of the market.

Bend is more practical. Its best shops sell ski, bike and climbing gear, with consignment stores for used equipment. Downtown has the independent boutiques and galleries that Orange County lacks, but there is nothing at the luxury end.

Neither is cheap, but Bend is a little easier on the wallet. Anaheim's bill is driven by multi-day park tickets, hotels near the gates that charge for their location, and food in the parks. Motels a short drive away and the Vietnamese and Middle Eastern districts help bring costs down.

In Bend the expense is accommodation in summer and on ski weekends. The trails, rivers and parks that people come for cost little or nothing, food carts keep meals cheaper, and midweek stays in spring or autumn cost noticeably less.

Anaheim's advantage is a concert hall that runs all year. The Segerstrom Center for the Arts, about twenty minutes away in Costa Mesa, is home to the Pacific Symphony and also hosts touring Broadway shows and ballet. The city's arena books major pop and rock tours, and inside the parks the parades and night-time water shows are polished, though they are still theme-park entertainment.

Bend's live music is mostly outdoors and mostly in summer. Touring rock, folk and country acts play the riverside amphitheatre in the Old Mill District, and there are free concerts in the parks. The rest of the year, the restored Tower Theatre carries the programme, with help from a community symphony and local bands in the brewpubs, but there is no professional orchestra.

Bend is the easier place to unwind, even though most visitors are busy. A hot tub after skiing, the resort spas around Sunriver, the simple hot springs at Paulina Lake reached on foot, and quiet mornings on the riverside lawns all give the trip a slower pace.

Long, crowded park days in Anaheim are rarely restful. Relaxation there means a hotel pool between park days, a Korean-style day spa in the suburbs, or a drive to the clifftop resorts at Laguna Beach and Dana Point.