Bend or San Francisco?

Neither city is a beach destination. What they offer instead is very different. In Bend you actually get into the water: on hot summer afternoons people tube down the Deschutes through town, and in August they swim in cold, clear lakes such as Elk Lake and Sparks Lake.

San Francisco has the more beautiful shoreline, with the long sweep of Ocean Beach and the view of the bridge from Baker Beach. But the Pacific is cold, Ocean Beach has strong rip currents, and the shore is for walks, bonfires and sunsets rather than swimming.

Eating in Bend centres on beer: brewpubs with big menus, food-cart pods around fire pits, and good coffee before a hike. Downtown and the Old Mill District have some solid Pacific Northwest cooking, but international food and fine dining are thin.

San Francisco is on another level. It has its own dishes, such as the Mission burrito, sourdough and Dungeness crab, plus Cantonese cooking in Chinatown and the Richmond, Italian bakeries in North Beach, the Ferry Building market and a deep fine-dining scene. Food alone can justify the trip.

In Bend, culture means the High Desert Museum's mix of natural history, Indigenous heritage and live animals, plus a few blocks of old brick buildings downtown and the mill smokestacks. An afternoon covers it.

San Francisco gives you famous landmarks, including the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, the cable cars and the Victorian houses around Alamo Square, as well as major museums such as SFMOMA and the Asian Art Museum. Its neighbourhoods add more: the murals of the Mission and the history of the Castro can fill several days on their own.

Bend's evenings are friendly and early: taprooms and food-cart courtyards full of people still in their hiking gear, a short run of downtown bars, and almost nothing for late dancing.

San Francisco gives you far more to do after dark. There are mezcal and cocktail bars along Valencia Street, old saloons in North Beach, the bars of the Castro, and warehouse clubs in SoMa. The night is spread across several districts and bars close at 2am, but there is plenty to explore.

Both have superb landscapes on their doorstep, but Bend's are bigger and more varied. Volcanic peaks, alpine lakes, lava caves, Smith Rock's climbing and a ski mountain half an hour away mean you can ski and mountain-bike on the same spring day, usually under reliable sun.

San Francisco's nature is coastal. Lands End and the Presidio are inside the city, the Marin Headlands, Muir Woods' redwoods and Mount Tamalpais are just across the bridge, and the bay has sailing and whale watching. It is dramatic, but often foggy and windy, and it has nothing like Bend's mountain sports.

From Bend, day trips mostly lead into more landscape. The western-style main street in Sisters and the nature centre at Sunriver are the main town outings, and Crater Lake makes a long day out.

San Francisco has far more within reach. Napa and Sonoma's wineries are about an hour north, ferries cross to Sausalito, and Berkeley is a short train ride away. Down the coast are Santa Cruz's boardwalk and the aquarium and Cannery Row in Monterey.

Both work well with children, in different ways. In Bend it is all outdoors: tubing the river, exploring the Lava River Cave with a lantern, the otters at the High Desert Museum, and a gentle ski school on Mount Bachelor. Almost every outing needs a car.

In San Francisco the days centre on indoor science and city parks: a full day at the Exploratorium, the aquarium and rainforest at the California Academy of Sciences, the zoo and the sea lions at the wharf. The trade-offs are steep hills with a pushchair and some downtown streets parents may want to avoid on foot.

In Bend, only the small core around downtown and the Old Mill District is walkable, though cycling is easy. The buses barely serve visitors, so the trailheads, lakes and Smith Rock all mean hiring a car.

San Francisco is compact and well connected, with Muni, BART to the airport, cable cars and ferries all on one Clipper card. A car is more of a burden than a help there, apart from trips to wine country. The real effort is the steep climbs between neighbourhoods.

What Bend does well is outdoor gear: ski, bike and climbing shops and secondhand equipment stores. Beyond that there are a few downtown boutiques and chain stores in the old mill buildings, helped a little by Oregon's lack of sales tax.

San Francisco has department stores and flagship brands around Union Square, design boutiques in Hayes Valley, vintage on Valencia Street and in Haight-Ashbury, and food from the Ferry Building to take home. It is a far better city for browsing.

Bend is the gentler bill of the two. Most of the money goes on a bed, and that cost jumps when summer visitors and skiers fill the town at the same time. Add a hire car for the whole stay, but once you are out on the trails and the river, the days themselves cost very little.

San Francisco is dearer almost everywhere you look. Hotels are expensive throughout the centre, and a sit-down dinner ends up well above the menu price once tax, service and a tip are added. The relief comes from cheap taquerias and dim sum, free days at several museums, and the parks, the bridge and the coastal walks, which cost nothing.

Bend's live music is mostly a summer affair: touring rock and country acts at the riverside amphitheatre and free concerts in the parks. For the rest of the year there is the Tower Theatre and the occasional band in a brewpub.

San Francisco has a full calendar all year. The opera, the country's oldest professional ballet company and the symphony perform at the Civic Center, and there is serious drama at the American Conservatory Theater. For music there is SFJAZZ, rock history at the Fillmore, and the free summer concerts at Stern Grove.

San Francisco has a little more to offer here. There is a long-established Japanese bathhouse in Japantown, and Calistoga's mud baths and mineral pools are a day trip away. The city's pace can feel hectic, but the Japanese Tea Garden is a calm escape.

Bend is more relaxed, but its offer is simpler: a hot tub after skiing, resort spas around Sunriver, and the rough hot springs at Paulina Lake, which you reach on foot.