Aspen or San Diego?

Aspen has no beach in any real sense. It sits in the Rockies, a long way from any sea, and swimming there means a cold alpine lake, a raft on the Roaring Fork or a hotel pool.

In San Diego, the coast is the reason many people come. There is the wide sand at Coronado, the boardwalk at Mission Beach and Pacific Beach, gentle surf at La Jolla Shores and quieter coves further north. The water is cool for much of the year, but in late summer it is warm enough for a proper swim.

Aspen wins on a special-occasion dinner. For a town this small, its chef-led dining rooms, steak and sushi counters and serious wine lists are unusually polished, and après-ski on the slopeside terraces is a ritual of its own. But the range is narrow and pitched at the top end, and in spring and autumn many kitchens close.

San Diego eats better day to day. Baja fish tacos and late-night taco shops are part of every neighbourhood, and the craft breweries of North Park and Miramar are a draw in themselves. Convoy Street adds a long run of Asian kitchens. There is far more variety and far more good food that costs little.

San Diego has much more to see. Balboa Park alone holds the art, natural history and air and space museums in ornate exposition buildings. There is also the USS Midway on the waterfront, the adobe buildings of Old Town and the first of California's missions.

Aspen's culture fills an afternoon: the red-brick Victorian blocks around the Wheeler Opera House, the miners' cottages of the West End, the Aspen Art Museum and Herbert Bayer's modernist Aspen Institute campus. For more history, take a short drive to the ghost town of Ashcroft.

San Diego is the more dependable night out, because it has several scenes running all year. The Gaslamp Quarter has rooftop bars and dance clubs, Pacific Beach has a rowdy student strip, and Hillcrest and North Park have cocktail bars, taprooms and the city's gay nightlife.

Aspen's nightlife is glossier and depends on the season. In ski season, après-ski moves from the slopes to hotel bars and a few small clubs, busiest at Christmas, New Year and the X Games. Summer evenings are drinks on patios, and in spring and autumn the town goes quiet.

This is where Aspen is strongest. It sits at about 2,400m among the Elk Mountains, with four ski areas in winter. In summer, trails leave from town, and wilderness routes climb past the Maroon Bells to summits above 4,000m. Add Independence Pass, mountain biking, rafting and fly-fishing on the Roaring Fork.

San Diego's outdoors is gentler and centred on the sea. You can walk the bluffs at Torrey Pines, watch sea lions at La Jolla Cove, explore tide pools at Cabrillo and surf all along the coast. The Laguna Mountains and the Anza-Borrego desert lie inland. It is varied and open all year, but it can't match the drama of the Rockies.

San Diego has more day trips, and more varied ones. Tijuana is a trolley ride and a short walk away, and the Valle de Guadalupe wine region is about two hours south. Closer to home, there is Temecula's wine country, apple pie in Julian, beach towns reached by coastal train and Los Angeles itself.

Aspen's outings are mostly small mountain towns. Glenwood Springs is an hour down the valley, and Carbondale, Redstone and Marble are pleasant stops. Leadville's Victorian main street is over Independence Pass, but the pass closes in winter, which leaves even fewer options.

San Diego is one of the easiest cities anywhere to visit with children. The zoo, the Safari Park, SeaWorld and Legoland would each fill a day, and the Birch Aquarium and science centre cover the cooler ones. The city's casual style means nobody minds a noisy table.

Aspen works well for a ski week with children, thanks to Buttermilk's gentle slopes, good ski schools and free buses. In summer there are alpine coasters and ropes courses. Beyond that, little is built for children, and the altitude can leave them tired for the first day or two.

You don't need a car in Aspen. The downtown grid is flat and small enough to cross in minutes, the gondola leaves from its edge, and free buses run to all four ski areas and, in summer, to the Maroon Bells. Leaving the valley is the hard part, because of long mountain drives and roads that winter storms can close.

San Diego is the reverse. Downtown, Little Italy and the waterfront are easy on foot, and the trolley reaches Old Town and the border. But La Jolla, the beaches and the big family parks are spread far apart, so most visitors end up hiring a car.

For designer labels, Aspen has the edge. A few pedestrian blocks hold international luxury boutiques, high-end ski wear, jewellers and art galleries, and browsing them is part of an evening out. Beyond luxury there is very little.

San Diego's shopping is more spread out and more ordinary. Fashion Valley's open-air mall has the big brands, there is an outlet centre by the border, and North Park and Little Italy have vintage and design shops. Old Town sells Mexican crafts. There is a wider mix but no street worth a special trip.

Neither city is cheap, but Aspen is in a different league. Ski-season rooms, lift tickets, ski school and restaurant meals are priced for very wealthy visitors, and even staying down the valley in Glenwood Springs saves only so much.

San Diego is expensive too, especially beach hotels in summer and admission to the big theme parks. Still, free beaches, Balboa Park's gardens, taco shops and brewery taprooms let you keep a day's spending under control.

The two are close, and they differ in kind. Aspen's strength is one superb summer: the Aspen Music Festival brings orchestral, chamber and opera performances to the Benedict Music Tent for about eight weeks, with free listening on the lawn. The rest of the year depends largely on the Wheeler Opera House.

San Diego's strength is theatre, and it runs all year. The Old Globe in Balboa Park and the La Jolla Playhouse both produce serious work. The symphony's open-air summer stage on the bay and a short opera season round it out, which gives San Diego the slight edge overall.

Both are good places to slow down, in different ways. In Aspen it is mountain calm: clear air, riverside paths, resort spas and the big mineral pools and cave vapour baths of Glenwood Springs an hour away. Conundrum Hot Springs rewards a long hike, but peak ski season is anything but restful.

San Diego relaxes at the speed of a beach town, with sunset walks, resort spas in La Jolla and Coronado, and the long-standing yoga culture of Encinitas. It has no hot springs to match Aspen's, and downtown and Pacific Beach are noisy.