Bend or Mammoth Lakes?

Neither is a swimming destination, but Bend gives you more time in the water. Floating the Deschutes on an inner tube through the Old Mill District is a real summer pastime. Families paddle by the riverside lawns, and the Cascade Lakes such as Elk Lake give you a clear, cold swim in August.

Mammoth Lakes has only a short window for a dip in Horseshoe Lake or the slightly warmer Crowley Lake. Most people there paddle or fish rather than swim, and Hot Creek is off limits for bathing.

Bend eats noticeably better. Brewing defines the town, and you can spend a day walking or cycling between brewpubs, then spend the evening in a food-cart courtyard round a fire pit. Downtown and the Old Mill District add some sound farm-to-table cooking built on Pacific Northwest produce.

Mammoth Lakes feeds skiers well enough with big breakfasts, burgers, tacos and steakhouses, plus a few more serious kitchens around the Village. It is fuel rather than an attraction, and some places scale back in the quiet months.

Neither town is visited for its sights, but Bend has more to fill a spare afternoon. The High Desert Museum combines natural history, Indigenous heritage and live animals. The old brick downtown, the Tower Theatre and the sawmill smokestacks of the Old Mill District give the town some visible history.

In Mammoth Lakes, a log-cabin history museum is almost the whole list, among modern lodges and condominiums. The region's real heritage sites are an hour or more away.

Bend has the livelier evenings, though both towns go to bed early. Its taprooms and food-cart courtyards fill early, often with people still in their hiking gear, and a few downtown bars stay busy on summer weekends. In Mammoth Lakes going out means après-ski in the Village, and outside long weekends in the ski season the town is quiet well before midnight.

Both are outstanding outdoor bases, and what differs is the kind of landscape. Bend sits where juniper high desert meets the volcanic Cascades. Mountain-bike singletrack starts at the edge of town, Smith Rock offers some of the country's best sport climbing, and the lava caves and obsidian fields of Newberry are close by. Mount Bachelor is about half an hour away, and in the shoulder seasons you can ski and bike on the same day.

Mammoth Lakes is higher and wilder. The town itself sits at about 2,400m, so the air is thin, the sun is strong and the snow often lasts on the mountain into early summer. Once it melts, the lifts carry bikes, and above town are the granite-ringed Lakes Basin, the basalt columns of Devils Postpile and the tufa towers of Mono Lake, with Tuolumne Meadows within reach once Tioga Pass opens.

Mammoth Lakes has the stronger outings, even though they are spread out along the highway. Bodie is a memorable gold-rush ghost town, Manzanar tells the story of the wartime internment of Japanese Americans with real care, and Mono Lake and June Lake make easy half-days.

From Bend, the best town outing is the western main street of Sisters. After that come the Sunriver nature centre and the tribal museum at Warm Springs. Crater Lake and the Painted Hills are long days out to see scenery rather than places.

Both suit active families, in slightly different ways. Bend has more for the in-between days: tubing on the Deschutes, lantern walks through the Lava River Cave, the otters at the High Desert Museum and lawns in Drake Park.

Mammoth Lakes is more of a pure ski-and-lakes vacation. It has a large ski school, a tubing hill, rowing boats in the Lakes Basin and condominiums with kitchens. There is little to do on a snowbound day, though, and the altitude can tire young children at first.

Mammoth Lakes is easier to manage without your own car, at least for skiing. Free winter shuttles and the gondola link the lodgings to the lifts, and in summer a trolley serves the Lakes Basin and a shuttle runs into Reds Meadow.

Bend's centre is more pleasant on foot or by bike, thanks to the riverside path between downtown and the Old Mill District. Its buses are of little use to visitors, though, and the lakes, trailheads and Smith Rock all need a car.

Bend gives you more to browse. It has chain stores in the converted mill buildings, a few downtown streets of independent boutiques and galleries, strong outdoor-gear and consignment shops, and no sales tax. Mammoth Lakes is limited to ski, climbing and fly-fishing shops, rental outlets, landscape-photography galleries and Village souvenirs.

Neither is cheap, but Bend is clearly easier on the wallet. Free trails and river access, food-cart meals and the absence of sales tax help, and midweek stays in spring and autumn soften the bill further.

Mammoth Lakes is at its most expensive in winter, when lift tickets, ski rental and peak-week lodging all carry big-resort prices. A summer trip built on hiking and the lakes costs far less, and self-catering in a condominium is the usual way to save.

Bend has the busier stage. In summer its riverside amphitheatre in the Old Mill District hosts touring rock, folk and country acts, with free concerts in the parks as well. Through the rest of the year the restored Tower Theatre puts on comedy, film and visiting musicians.

Mammoth Lakes has a small community theatre on the college campus, a long-running summer jazz festival and chamber concerts in a meadow. These make pleasant evenings, but they are too small to plan a trip around.

Mammoth Lakes is the better place to unwind, mainly because of its volcanic ground. Soaking in an undeveloped hot spring out in the sagebrush, with the Sierra across the valley, is the town's favourite ritual. Lodge spas and slow lakeside mornings round it out.

Bend's equivalent is mostly a hot tub after a ski or bike day, plus resort spas around Sunriver. The Paulina Lake hot springs are a hike away inside the Newberry caldera.