Banff or Vancouver?

Neither is a beach destination, but Vancouver at least has proper sand. English Bay, Kitsilano and the long run of Jericho, Locarno and Spanish Banks fill with picnics and volleyball on summer days, and the sunsets over the bay are part of the city's routine. The heated saltwater pool at Kitsilano is the easiest way to get a real swim.

Banff has no shore to speak of. The glacier-fed lakes are for canoeing and photographs, and the only place for a summer dip is the shallow, small Johnson Lake, east of town.

This is where the two differ most. Banff's food is hearty fuel after a day outdoors: Alberta beef, bison and elk, fondue and pub plates along Banff Avenue, with the grand hotels providing the more ambitious meals. There is no market and little variety.

Vancouver is a real eating city. Cantonese dim sum and seafood in Richmond, ramen and cheap sushi, Pacific salmon, oysters and spot prawns all give you reasons to plan meals ahead. Granville Island's market is good for browsing, and Okanagan wines appear on the lists.

Banff's sights tell one story, how the national parks began, and that story fits into a day. You can see the cave spring at Cave and Basin, the baronial Banff Springs Hotel, the Whyte Museum's mountain art and the Luxton's look at the plains peoples.

Vancouver has more to see, though it is still modest. The Museum of Anthropology, with its hall of Northwest Coast totem poles and canoes, is worth the trip to the university on its own. Gastown's brick warehouses, the Dr Sun Yat-Sen Garden in Chinatown and Emily Carr at the Vancouver Art Gallery fill two or three days.

Banff's evenings belong to seasonal workers and skiers. Après-ski moves into a few pubs and dance bars on and just off Banff Avenue, all a short walk apart. It is cheerful but much the same every night, and it fades in spring and autumn.

Vancouver offers more choice, even if it goes to bed early for a city. You can drink cocktails and wine in Gastown, try brewery taprooms around Main Street, sit on summer patios in Yaletown, dance on the Granville Street strip at weekends, or head to the gay bars of Davie Village.

Both are outstanding, but the scenery is different. Banff puts you inside high alpine country. Cascade Mountain closes the view down the main street, the turquoise water of Moraine Lake and Lake Louise is close by, glaciers line the Icefields Parkway, and bears, bighorn sheep and mountain goats appear along the roads. In winter there are three full ski areas.

Vancouver combines mountains with sea and rainforest. The cedars of Stanley Park, the canyons at Lynn and Capilano, kayaking at Deep Cove and orca watching are all close to the city, and Grouse, Cypress and Seymour have lit ski runs less than half an hour from downtown.

From Banff, nearly every outing leads into the mountains rather than to other towns. Canmore, twenty minutes down the valley, and the railway hamlet of Field or the town of Golden across the Continental Divide make pleasant short stops rather than destinations. Calgary, about an hour and a half east, is the only big-city day out, with Heritage Park and the Stampede grounds.

Vancouver gives you the better list. Victoria, with its harbour and Parliament Buildings, is a long but rewarding day once the ferry crossing and the journeys to each terminal are counted, and Whistler's pedestrian village, about two hours up the coast, also takes a full day. For something shorter, the fishing village of Steveston and the old fur-trade fort at Fort Langley fit easily into an afternoon.

Both are safe and relaxed with children, but Vancouver has far more organised to do. Stanley Park alone holds the aquarium, a miniature train, playgrounds and a water park. Add Science World, the Granville Island children's market and the canyon suspension bridges, and wet days are covered.

Banff lets the landscape entertain the children: elk by the road, the Sulphur Mountain gondola, the Johnston Canyon boardwalk and tobogganing in winter. There is nothing built for children, and the long drives between viewpoints test young patience.

Vancouver is the easier place to manage without a car. The SkyTrain runs from the airport to downtown, the SeaBus crosses to the North Shore, one tap-on card covers both, and the seawall makes cycling a good way to get around. Buses fill the gaps to Kitsilano and the university.

Banff is small and flat enough to cross on foot, and Roam buses reach the gondola, Lake Minnewanka and Lake Louise. There is no train, though, and the Icefields Parkway, Yoho and the quieter trailheads really need a car or a tour.

In Banff, shopping is a rainy-afternoon pastime on Banff Avenue: outdoor outfitters, fudge, moose-and-maple souvenirs and a few galleries of Indigenous and landscape art.

Vancouver has much more range. Robson Street has the flagship stores, the luxury labels gather on Alberni Street, and the city's own athleisure brands began here. Granville Island's glassblowers, the vintage shops on Main Street, Richmond's Asian malls and Northwest Coast prints and carvings give you better things to take home.

Banff's costs come from its setting. Building is restricted inside the national park, so beds are scarce and dearest in summer and over Christmas and New Year, and resort-priced meals, lift passes, the gondola, guided tours and the park pass all add to the bill. The trails, lakes and viewpoints themselves are free once the pass is paid, and the usual way to stretch a budget is to sleep down the valley in Canmore or at a park campground with a camp stove.

Vancouver is dear for central rooms too, but a large city gives you more ways round it. Dim sum, noodle shops and casual sushi are among the cheapest meals in town and some of the best, where Banff has little between pub plates and hotel dining rooms. The seawall, Stanley Park and the beaches cost nothing, transit is fairly priced, and a stay outside the summer months takes much of the sting out of the hotel bill.

Vancouver has a full calendar. The symphony plays in the ornate Orpheum, opera and Ballet BC share the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, and in summer Bard on the Beach stages Shakespeare in tents, while the folk festival takes over Jericho Beach.

Banff's arts life revolves around one institution, the Banff Centre on Tunnel Mountain, which is busiest in summer. Its autumn Mountain Film and Book Festival is the one event that draws visitors from abroad. Otherwise, live music means bands in pubs.

The two are about level, but they help you unwind in different ways. Banff was founded as a spa town, and an evening soak in the Upper Hot Springs, looking across the valley as snow falls, is its signature. The grand hotels add mineral pools and treatments, and the small town is quiet after dark.

Vancouver has no hot springs, and its Nordic-style outdoor spas are near Whistler. Here you relax through yoga studios, foot massage in Richmond and slow walks on the seawall and in the forest.