Big Bear Lake or San Diego?

San Diego is the clear choice for beach time. Coronado's wide sandy strand, the boardwalk at Mission Beach and Pacific Beach, the gentle surf at La Jolla Shores and the quieter cliff-backed beaches up in North County give you a different shoreline every day. Mission Bay's sheltered water is ideal for small children.

At Big Bear Lake you swim in a cool mountain lake rather than the ocean. The shoreline is mostly rocky, and Meadow Park has the only supervised swim beach. A dip there is a way to cool off on a summer afternoon, while most time on the water goes to kayaks and boats.

Big Bear Lake serves mountain-resort comfort food: big diner breakfasts, burgers, pizza and a pint at a brewpub after a day outdoors. Many visitors cook in their cabins instead, and on busy winter weekends you can expect queues for tables.

San Diego gives you far more reasons to eat out. Being close to the border means fish tacos, carne asada and the local California burrito, while Convoy Street has a long run of Asian kitchens and Little Italy has its farmers' market. Both places pour beer, but San Diego's taproom scene in North Park and Miramar is far deeper than a single brewpub in the Village.

Big Bear Lake has almost nothing in the way of sights. You can visit the Discovery Center for the forest's wildlife, and a dirt-road drive through Holcomb Valley passes the mining remains of the 1860s gold rush, which is enough for an afternoon.

San Diego has plenty to fill a few days. Balboa Park has Spanish Colonial Revival buildings, art and natural history museums and gardens. Add the USS Midway on the waterfront, the adobe buildings of Old Town and California's first mission, and you get a solid helping of history, even if none of it is world class.

Nights in Big Bear Lake are about après-ski drinks in the pubs of the Village in winter, then back to the cabin for the hot tub and an early night. Nothing stays open late.

San Diego has several different scenes to choose from. The Gaslamp Quarter has rooftop bars and dance clubs, Pacific Beach has a younger, rowdier bar strip, and North Park and Hillcrest have relaxed cocktail bars and taprooms, with Hillcrest at the centre of gay nightlife. It is a pleasant place for a night out without being a reason to come.

Both are excellent for the outdoors, but in opposite ways. Big Bear Lake is a high mountain base, with an alpine lake ringed by pine forest, ski runs that become bike trails in summer, the Pacific Crest Trail along the north shore and the San Gorgonio Wilderness close by. Bald eagles spend the winter around the lake.

San Diego's outdoors starts at the ocean: the clifftop trails of Torrey Pines, sea lions and kayaking through the sea caves at La Jolla Cove, surf breaks all along the coast and grey whales passing offshore in winter. Forests and the Anza-Borrego desert lie inland. In short, Big Bear gives you snow and altitude, and San Diego gives you surf and sea life.

From Big Bear Lake, outings mean slow, winding mountain roads. Lake Arrowhead is about an hour away, and the orchards of Oak Glen and the Mission Inn in Riverside take a bit longer, so most visitors stay on the mountain.

San Diego has a wider range of easy trips. You can cross into Tijuana by trolley and on foot, or drive to the vineyards of the Valle de Guadalupe in Mexico. Temecula's wine country is about an hour away, and so is the apple-pie town of Julian. Coastal trains run north to Carlsbad and Encinitas.

Big Bear Lake is a good family base in its own right. For children from the lowlands, snow is the main event, and the small Alpine Zoo with its rescued bears and bobcats takes an hour or two. In summer there are the alpine slide and pedal boats. Roomy cabins make the stay easy, though the thin air and cold nights take some getting used to.

San Diego is a step above. You can fill several days with the San Diego Zoo, the Safari Park, SeaWorld and Legoland, then add calm water at Mission Bay and science museums for cooler days. The main thing to plan for is distance, since one big park usually takes a whole day.

You will want a car in both places, but San Diego is the easier of the two. Downtown, Little Italy and the waterfront are walkable, the trolley reaches Old Town and the border, and coastal trains serve the beach towns. The beaches and theme parks are spread out, though, so most visitors still hire a car.

Big Bear Lake can only be reached up steep mountain highways, where snow chains may be required in winter. The Village is easy on foot and a seasonal trolley runs to the ski areas, but cabins are spread across hilly forest roads.

Shopping in Big Bear Lake means a few blocks in the Village: fudge, bear souvenirs, some antiques and outfitters for ski and lake gear. It fills an hour.

San Diego has much more. There are the luxury brands at Fashion Valley, a large outlet centre by the border, vintage shops in North Park, galleries in La Jolla and Mexican pottery in Old Town. It is spread over many places and lacks one great shopping street, but you will find a good deal more than souvenirs.

Neither is cheap, but Big Bear Lake costs less if you choose your dates. A shared cabin midweek or out of season, with meals cooked at home, keeps a group or family budget under control. On winter weekends, though, rates jump and lift tickets add up.

San Diego costs more almost every day. Hotels by the beach and downtown are expensive, and admission to the zoo, SeaWorld and Legoland is steep. Taco shops, free beaches and Balboa Park's gardens help soften the bill.

San Diego has proper theatre. The Old Globe in Balboa Park, with its outdoor Shakespeare stage, and the La Jolla Playhouse both produce their own shows, some of which have gone on to Broadway. In summer the symphony plays on the waterfront.

Big Bear Lake has a small community arts centre, free lakeside concerts in summer and Bavarian bands at its autumn Oktoberfest. Otherwise, live music means a guitarist in a bar.

Neither has thermal springs or a bathhouse tradition, so the difference is in style. At Big Bear Lake, relaxation is private: a hot tub on the cabin deck, a wood stove and quiet midweek days. The town has only a handful of day spas, and winter weekends are crowded.

San Diego offers more for a dedicated slow-down. There are resort spas in La Jolla, Coronado and Carlsbad, and Encinitas has a long-standing yoga and meditation culture. Mild evenings make sunset walks by the sea easy.