Bend or San Jose?

Neither city is a beach destination, but San Jose at least has a real coast within reach. Santa Cruz, Capitola and the sheltered coves of the Monterey Bay are about 45 minutes over the mountains, with sand, surf and a proper seaside town. The Pacific is cold, though, so it is a place for wetsuits and sunbathing more than swimming.

Bend's water is fresh and it is in town. You can float the Deschutes on an inner tube through the Old Mill District, or drive up to Elk Lake and Sparks Lake for a bracing swim in August. It is lovely in high summer but is something you add to a trip, not the reason for it.

San Jose has the better food, but you have to drive to find it. Pho, banh mi and broken-rice plates in Little Saigon and the east-side plazas, good taquerias, Korean and Indian restaurants along the Santa Clara corridors and old family places in Japantown give it a range Bend cannot match.

Bend's strength is beer. It has an unusual number of brewpubs, and evenings are often spent at food-cart pods with fire pits, plus some solid Pacific Northwest farm-to-table cooking downtown. International food and fine dining are thin on the ground.

San Jose has more to see, even though its historic core is slight. The Winchester Mystery House with its staircases to nowhere, the Egyptian antiquities at the Rosicrucian museum, Mission Santa Clara and the Computer History Museum fill a couple of days well.

Bend's cultural highlight is the High Desert Museum, with live animals, Indigenous heritage and pioneer life, which is worth half a day. Add the Deschutes Historical Museum and a stroll past the old mill smokestacks and the Tower Theatre, and the list is done in an afternoon.

Both cities wind down early, but San Jose has slightly more going on. San Pedro Square's beer halls and market draw crowds on arena nights, and the SoFA strip on South First Street adds cocktail bars, late dive bars and a few weekend dance clubs. Anyone who wants a big night out heads to San Francisco.

Bend is a taproom town. Evenings are friendly and start early, often with people still in their hiking boots, and the downtown bars get busy on summer weekends. There is almost nowhere to dance.

This is where Bend clearly comes out ahead. The volcanic Cascades start on the western edge of town, with Mount Bachelor's long ski season, the alpine Cascade Lakes, the Three Sisters Wilderness, the lava canyons of the Deschutes River Trail and the caves and obsidian fields of Newberry. Smith Rock, one of America's great climbing areas, is forty minutes away.

San Jose's outdoors are gentler but still varied, with redwood groves at Big Basin and Henry Cowell, foothill hikes at Alum Rock and Pinnacles National Park within range. Its real advantage is the sea. Kayaking among otters in the Monterey Bay and whale watching are things Bend's high desert cannot offer.

San Jose wins this easily. A full day in San Francisco is an hour away by Caltrain, Stanford and Palo Alto are closer still, and Monterey, Carmel and the Santa Cruz boardwalk are about an hour and a quarter away or less. Napa and Sonoma are possible too, if the traffic allows.

From Bend, you go out into landscape rather than to other towns. Sisters' western main street and the Warm Springs tribal museum make pleasant outings. Crater Lake and the Painted Hills are long drives to scenery, and the nearby ranching towns have little to see.

Both work well for children, in different ways. Bend suits active families: tubing on the river, exploring Lava River Cave by lantern, the otters and raptors at the High Desert Museum and a gentle beginner area on Mount Bachelor. It has no zoo, aquarium or theme park.

San Jose offers more conventional days out. There is the Great America theme park, the small zoo at Happy Hollow, a children's discovery museum, and a short drive away the Santa Cruz boardwalk rides and the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The trade-off is more time spent sitting in traffic.

Getting around is about equally hard in both, and you will want a car in each. Bend's small downtown and the Old Mill District are linked by a riverside path and are easy to cycle. Beyond them, buses are of little use apart from the winter ski shuttle.

San Jose has more transit on paper. Light rail runs north to south, and Caltrain is a reliable way up to San Francisco. The city is spread out across freeways, though, so reaching the mansion, the malls or the coast means driving and planning around rush hour.

San Jose is the better place to shop. On the west side, a huge regional mall and the open-air boutique street next to it carry most international and luxury brands, and Willow Glen, Los Gatos and the Asian supermarkets are good for browsing.

Bend is mostly useful for outdoor gear: its ski, bike, climbing and fishing shops are excellent, and its consignment stores sell used equipment. Oregon's lack of sales tax helps a little, but beyond the chain stores and a few downtown boutiques there is not much.

Neither is cheap, but San Jose costs more. It sits in one of the most expensive regions in the country, hotels are priced for business travellers midweek, and restaurants, parking and car hire all add up. Weekend hotel rates and the Vietnamese and Mexican eateries in the suburban plazas soften the bill.

Bend's prices jump in summer and on ski weekends, and you will need a hire car here too. Still, Oregon has no sales tax, the trails and rivers are mostly free, and a midweek stay in spring or autumn is noticeably easier on the budget.

San Jose's arts calendar is somewhat fuller. Opera San José performs in the restored California Theatre, and the symphony and touring Broadway shows play the Center for the Performing Arts. The long-running summer jazz festival takes over downtown streets.

Bend has no opera and no professional orchestra. Its best moments are in summer, with touring rock and country acts at the riverside amphitheatre and free concerts in the parks, while the Tower Theatre keeps things going in winter.

Relaxation in Bend follows activity, while in San Jose it is a break you take from the city. In Bend that means a hot tub after a day on the slopes or the bike trails, a resort spa around Sunriver or the golf resorts, or a walk to the primitive hot springs at Paulina Lake in the Newberry caldera. Slow mornings on the sunny riverside lawns are part of the appeal.

San Jose's version is more indoor and urban. There are Korean-style bathhouses with saunas and soaking pools in the valley towns and day spas in the wealthier suburbs, and you can spend a quiet hour in the Japanese gardens at Hakone or in the Japanese Friendship Garden at Kelley Park. To slow down away from the sprawl, go to the leafy streets of Los Gatos and Saratoga.