Bend or Los Angeles?

Neither city is a place for warm-water swimming, but Los Angeles at least has a coast. More than 100km of shore runs from the Malibu coves past Santa Monica and Venice to the South Bay, with surf, volleyball and boardwalk afternoons. The Pacific is cool, though, so most people use a wetsuit.

In Bend, swimming means fresh water and a short season. You can float the Deschutes on a tube through the Old Mill District in July or take a bracing swim in Elk or Sparks Lake in August. Both are pleasant extras on a summer stay, but nobody goes to Bend for the beach.

Food and drink in Bend centre on beer. There are brewpubs with long menus, food-cart pods with fire pits and a few good farm-to-table kitchens downtown. It is a sociable way to end an active day, but the international choice is thin and there is little fine dining.

Los Angeles is a reason to travel in itself. There are tacos on Eastside street corners, Korean barbecue in Koreatown, regional Chinese cooking in the San Gabriel Valley, and Thai, Armenian and Ethiopian kitchens, alongside a serious chef-led scene. The catch is that reaching the best of it means driving.

You can see Bend's cultural sights in an afternoon. The High Desert Museum has live animals and covers Indigenous and pioneer history, the old stone schoolhouse tells the logging-town story, and the sawmill smokestacks still stand by the river.

Los Angeles offers days of it. The Getty Center and Getty Villa, LACMA, the Broad and the Huntington make a deep art circuit, and Hollywood, Griffith Observatory and the Disney Concert Hall add landmarks. Neither city has an old town to wander, and in Los Angeles the sights are long drives apart.

A night out in Bend means a taproom or a food-cart courtyard that fills early and empties early. Downtown has a short run of cocktail and dive bars that stay busy on summer weekends, but there is almost nowhere to dance.

Los Angeles has velvet-rope clubs in Hollywood, the gay strip on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood, rooftop bars downtown and the dive bars of Silver Lake and Echo Park. Bars stop serving at 2am and the districts are far apart, so most visitors stay in one neighbourhood each night.

This is where Bend comes out ahead. Mount Bachelor, the Three Sisters Wilderness, the Cascade Lakes, Smith Rock and the Newberry lava fields are all close by, and mountain-bike trails start at the edge of town. You can fit skiing and riding into one day without sitting in traffic.

For a city of its size, Los Angeles does remarkably well. It has Griffith Park, the Santa Monica Mountains and the San Gabriels behind the city, plus surfing, whale watching and boats to the Channel Islands, which Bend cannot match. Getting to any of it means fighting traffic, though, and summer heat and fire season make the inland trails hard going.

Day trips from Bend lead mostly into scenery rather than to towns. The options are the western-style main street of Sisters, the Sunriver nature centre and the museum at Warm Springs, with Crater Lake and the Painted Hills as long days out.

Los Angeles has a much better list of places to visit. Santa Barbara's mission and red-tile streets, the ferry to Catalina, Laguna Beach, Ojai and the Temecula vineyards each fill a day, with Palm Springs and San Diego at the outer limit. Leave early, because afternoon traffic can add an hour to any of them.

Bend works well for active families. Children can float the Deschutes, walk through the Lava River Cave with a lantern, see the otters and raptors at the High Desert Museum and join the beginner ski school on Mount Bachelor. The town is relaxed and safe, but it has no zoo, aquarium or theme park.

Los Angeles has all three and much more: Disneyland, Universal Studios, the space shuttle at the California Science Center, the La Brea Tar Pits and the Aquarium of the Pacific. The price is time in the car, so families do best sticking to one area a day.

You need a car in both cities, but for different reasons. Bend's small core of downtown and the Old Mill District is easy on foot or by bike along the river path. There the car is for getting out of town, to the lakes, the trailheads and Smith Rock.

In Los Angeles the car is for crossing the city itself, between Hollywood, downtown, Santa Monica and Pasadena, on freeways that are often jammed. The Metro rail lines help on those routes, which Bend's thin bus service cannot match, and neighbourhoods such as Venice and Old Pasadena are pleasant to walk.

Shopping in Bend is about equipment. There are good ski, bike, climbing and fishing shops and consignment stores for used gear. Beyond that you have chain stores in the old mill buildings and a few independent boutiques downtown.

Los Angeles covers every level. The luxury houses are on Rodeo Drive, with streetwear on Melrose, independent shops on Abbot Kinney, and design pieces and records in Silver Lake. The Rose Bowl flea market and the Fashion District reward bargain hunters, but you need a car to shop more than one area in a day.

Neither city is cheap, but Bend is easier on a budget. Oregon has no sales tax, the trails, rivers and parks cost little, and food carts keep meals cheap. Summer and ski weekends are when room prices climb, and midweek stays in spring and autumn cost noticeably less.

Los Angeles has expensive hotels in Santa Monica and Beverly Hills, adds sales tax and a tip to restaurant meals, and charges for parking and steep theme park tickets. Taco trucks, Koreatown and free sights such as the beaches, Griffith Observatory and the Getty help, but the bill still runs higher.

Bend's live music is mostly a summer affair. In the warm months, touring rock, folk and country acts play the big outdoor amphitheatre by the river in the Old Mill District, and the parks put on free concerts. For the rest of the year, there is the restored Tower Theatre, a community symphony and local bands in the brewpubs. Bend has no opera or professional orchestra.

Los Angeles has both, at the highest level, plus far more besides. The Philharmonic's season at Disney Hall, summer picnics before a concert at the Hollywood Bowl and LA Opera at the Music Center give it the classical depth that Bend lacks. Away from the big halls, there are rock rooms on the Sunset Strip, small clubs in Silver Lake and Echo Park, improv theatres in Hollywood and jazz in Leimert Park, so there is a show to see any night of the year, not just in summer.

Relaxing in Bend usually means a hot tub after skiing or biking, a resort spa around Sunriver or a hike to the primitive hot springs at Paulina Lake. The town moves at an easy pace, but it is built for activity rather than rest.

Los Angeles has a real bathing culture in the Korean bathhouses of Koreatown, with hot and cold pools, scrubs and heated floors, many open late. It also has the Beverly Hills spas and yoga studios everywhere. The city around them is far from restful, though, and people go to Ojai or Palm Springs for real calm.