Big Sky or Portland?

Neither is a place for beach life, but Portland at least has swimming. From July to early September locals take to small sandy river beaches in Sellwood and along the downtown waterfront, and the longer ones on Sauvie Island. The Oregon coast at Cannon Beach makes a fine sand-and-sea-stack walk, though the cold Pacific keeps most people out of the water.

Big Sky is a mountain resort far inland, and the Gallatin stays icy even in midsummer. A hotel pool or a quick paddle in a reservoir is about as close as it gets.

Big Sky feeds skiers well but within narrow limits: bison, elk, trout and Montana beef in lodges and roadhouses, a few more ambitious hotel kitchens, and some places that close between seasons. For real variety you drive an hour to Bozeman.

Portland is in another league for eating out. Its food cart pods offer Thai, Georgian, Mexican and barbecue side by side, neighbourhood restaurants build on salmon, Dungeness crab and hazelnuts, and the craft beer, coffee and Willamette Valley pinot noir are reasons to visit in themselves.

Big Sky has almost nothing to visit beyond the log cabins of the Crail Ranch homestead, as the resort dates only from the 1970s. Portland is no great museum city, but it gives you a few good days: the walled Lan Su Chinese Garden in Old Town, the much-admired Japanese Garden, the Portland Art Museum's Native American and Northwest collections, and the Oregon Trail story at the Historical Society.

In Big Sky a night out mostly ends early. It means boots-on après-ski on the decks of Mountain Village, a few taverns in Town Center and canyon saloons with pool tables, and almost nothing in spring and autumn.

Portland has far more evening on offer, though it is still more about bars than dancing. Taprooms, pinball dives, cocktail and wine bars line strips such as Alberta, Mississippi, Division and Hawthorne, and they serve late, so a long, easy evening of drinks and talk is the norm.

Both are outstanding, but Big Sky has the edge because the wilderness starts at your door. Lone Peak towers over one of the largest ski areas in North America, summer lifts serve hikers and mountain bikers heading for Beehive Basin and the Spanish Peaks, and the Gallatin offers fly fishing and rafting. Yellowstone's geysers and wolves are about an hour away.

Portland pairs city life with a remarkable range. Forest Park's trails begin in the northwest streets, the Gorge and Multnomah Falls are half an hour off, and Mount Hood has skiing and alpine hiking. Most of it takes a drive, though, and the long wet winter dims it for months.

Portland has more varied outings. The Willamette Valley's pinot noir towns lie under an hour away, Astoria offers Victorian streets and a maritime museum at the mouth of the Columbia, and Hood River and the coast make easy days out.

From Big Sky, apart from Yellowstone, the choice is thinner. There is Bozeman with its Museum of the Rockies and dinosaur fossils, and the boardwalked gold-rush towns of Virginia City and Nevada City, about two hours away.

Both work for children, but in quite different ways. Big Sky is an outdoor playground: ski school and gentle slopes in winter, zip lines, ropes courses, riding and bison-spotting in summer. It has nothing for a rainy day, though, and the altitude tires small children at first.

Portland is the indoor-and-park alternative. It has the science museum with its submarine, the zoo and playground in Washington Park, Oaks Amusement Park and waterfront fountains, all reachable by light rail with a pushchair, though wet winters keep families inside.

Portland is much simpler. The MAX light rail runs from the airport into a compact downtown of short blocks, a streetcar and bike-friendly bridges link both banks, and you only need a car for the Gorge, Mount Hood or the coast.

Big Sky stretches about 15km from the canyon to Mountain Village. A free bus and ski-in lodgings help, but the airport is an hour away and Yellowstone or anything beyond the resort really needs a car and winter tyres.

Big Sky's shops are for practical needs: ski gloves, a fly rod, Western-style clothes and wildlife art. Portland makes shopping part of the visit. There is Powell's City of Books filling a block in the Pearl District, vintage and record shops on Mississippi, Alberta and Hawthorne, and the Saturday Market crafts. Oregon's lack of sales tax is a small bonus.

Big Sky is among the most expensive stays in the American West. Slopeside lodging, lift passes, ski school and guided fishing all add up, and staying cheaper in the canyon or Bozeman means more driving. Summer brings some relief.

Portland is no bargain, but it is clearly gentler on the budget. Food carts are some of its best eating, transit is cheap, and Forest Park, the waterfront and the neighbourhoods cost nothing to enjoy. The main extra cost is car hire for days out.

Portland has a proper season of performances. The Oregon Symphony plays in the restored Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, and there are opera, ballet and touring shows. Indie and folk bands play small east-side rooms most nights, as well as the sprung-floor Crystal Ballroom.

Big Sky does well for a resort, with a small arts centre for winter concerts and theatre, and free summer concerts on the Town Center lawn. Between seasons, though, it goes quiet.

Neither is a spa destination, and both offer relaxation of a similar, modest kind. In Big Sky it means a deck hot tub under starry skies and lodge spas that treat sore ski legs, with natural hot springs about an hour off. Portland relies on its gardens, forest walks and café mornings, plus a few neighbourhood soaking houses with saunas and cold plunges. Its Cascade hot springs are a two-hour drive away.