Carmel-by-the-Sea or Portland?

Neither is a place to swim in the ocean, but Carmel has its beach right in town. The curve of white sand at the foot of Ocean Avenue is a short walk from every inn and is used daily for sunset strolls, dog walks and digging. The water stays cold and rough, though, and the beaches to the south are for looking at only.

Portland's ocean sand at Cannon Beach is a day trip away, with the same cold Pacific. What it has instead is summer river swimming. From July to early September, locals swim from small beaches on the Willamette and on Sauvie Island, and that water is actually pleasant.

Both draw on Dungeness crab and pinot noir, but Portland gives you far more variety and freedom. You can eat Georgian or Thai from a cart at lunch and visit a neighbourhood restaurant built on Northwest salmon, mushrooms and hazelnuts for dinner. Brewery taprooms and serious coffee fill the gaps in between.

Carmel's cooking is good for such a small village, with candlelit French and Italian rooms, sand dabs and wine from the Santa Lucia Highlands. It is narrow, formal and costly, though, and the evening ends early. For anything casual or cooked outside the European tradition, you have to drive to Monterey.

Portland has a little more to fill a few days. The Portland Art Museum has strong Native American and Northwest collections, there is the Oregon Trail story at the Historical Society, and its two famous gardens are the Suzhou-style Lan Su and the Japanese Garden in Washington Park.

Carmel's culture is concentrated rather than broad. The stone basilica of the 1771 mission where Junípero Serra lies, the storybook cottages of the 1920s and Robinson Jeffers's hand-built Tor House make a rewarding morning or two. There is no major museum to follow them.

This is where the two differ most. Portland has a whole night out spread across neighbourhood strips, from dive bars with pinball machines to cocktail bars and taprooms, and they stay open until about 2.30am. It suits talking and drinking more than dancing, as the club scene is small.

Carmel has nothing like it. An evening means a tasting room before it closes, dinner and perhaps a nightcap in a hotel lounge, with the village silent by ten.

Both are first-rate bases for the outdoors, but the scenery is different. Carmel's is the coast: granite headlands and otter coves at Point Lobos five minutes away, the Big Sur cliffs and Bixby Bridge beyond, and kayaking, kelp diving and whale-watching on Monterey Bay.

Portland's is forest, rivers and mountains. Its trails start inside the city in Forest Park, and the waterfalls of the Columbia Gorge are half an hour out. Mount Hood offers skiing and alpine hiking. Carmel works in every season, while Portland's outdoors really belongs to summer and early autumn.

The day trips from each are about equally good, and both lean on wine and a hire car. From Carmel the outings are short and varied: Cannery Row in Monterey, Victorian Pacific Grove, Steinbeck country in Salinas and the boardwalk at Santa Cruz.

From Portland the Willamette Valley pinot towns are the classic day out, and Astoria's steep river port and Hood River's orchards are further options. The distances are longer, though, and neither city has much heavyweight heritage within reach.

The two are similarly suited to children, but they appeal to different kinds. Carmel works for wildlife lovers: the Monterey Bay Aquarium can fill a day, and there are tide pools at Point Lobos and sand to dig on, though the restaurants are hushed and every outing is by car.

Portland offers science and play. There is the submarine at OMSI, the zoo and playground in Washington Park, rides at Oaks Park and the summer fountains, all reachable by light rail with a pushchair. It is less appealing in the wet winter and in parts of downtown.

Portland is much easier without a car. The MAX light rail runs from the airport to downtown, a streetcar links the Pearl District with the east bank, and the flat riverside and bridge paths make cycling natural. Only the spread-out east-side neighbourhoods take some time by bus.

Carmel's square-mile village is walkable, steep hill aside, but buses are thin, the lanes are dark at night, and the coast, wineries and aquarium all need a car. Parking is tight in summer.

Portland gives keen shoppers far more. There is a whole block of books at Powell's, vintage and record shops on Mississippi, Alberta and Hawthorne, crafts at the Saturday Market and plenty of outdoor gear, and Oregon has no sales tax.

Carmel is something to browse between walks. Its galleries of plein-air painting and its courtyard boutiques of cashmere and jewellery are polished but few, and you can cover them in an afternoon.

Neither is cheap, but Portland is noticeably easier on the wallet. It has the room rates of a typical large American city, very good food carts and low transit fares, and the extra cost to plan for is car hire for trips out of town.

Carmel is priced as a luxury retreat all year, from its boutique inns to dinner and wine tasting. The beach, the coastal walks and the village streets are free, and many visitors cut costs by sleeping in Monterey or Seaside.

Portland has a performance on almost any night of the year. The Oregon Symphony plays in a restored 1920s movie palace, the opera and ballet run full seasons, and indie and folk bands play small east-side rooms and the sprung floor of the Crystal Ballroom.

Carmel's arts are seasonal but have real character. The Bach Festival has filled summers with Baroque music since 1935, the open-air Forest Theater stages plays among the pines, and the Monterey Jazz Festival runs nearby each September. Outside those months there is little.

Carmel is the more restful of the two, mostly because of its pace. The village has quiet misty mornings, still evenings and fireside rooms, and the lodges of Pebble Beach and Carmel Valley have well-regarded spas.

Portland offers some sauna and cold-plunge soaking houses in its residential neighbourhoods, and gardens and forest trails for slowing down. Its natural hot springs are about two hours away in the Cascades, though. Neither town has a real bathing tradition.