Carmel-by-the-Sea or Salt Lake City?

Carmel at least has a real beach: a long curve of white sand under the cypresses, made for sunset walks and dogs. The water is cold and the surf rough, though, and the prettier coves to the south are too dangerous for swimming.

Salt Lake City has no sea at all. Its water means one novelty float on the muddy shore of the Great Salt Lake, or a summer drive to Wasatch reservoirs such as Jordanelle and Pineview for paddleboards and patches of sand.

The two eat about equally well, but in opposite ways. Carmel is refined and European: French and Italian dining rooms in cottages, Dungeness crab and sand dabs from the bay, local Pinot Noir, and early, expensive dinners.

Salt Lake City is casual and far more varied. The best plates come from the Mexican, Peruvian, Pacific Islander and Vietnamese kitchens along State Street, alongside fry sauce, scones and craft beer in Sugar House. Wine and cocktails are thinner there, while Carmel has almost nothing cheap or from beyond Europe and California.

Salt Lake City has more to see. Temple Square alone, with the granite temple, the domed Tabernacle and Brigham Young's Beehive House, fills a day. The State Capitol, the Cathedral of the Madeleine and the Natural History Museum add a second.

Carmel's culture is quieter and more intimate. It has the Carmel Mission, where Junípero Serra is buried, the storybook cottages of the 1920s and Robinson Jeffers' hand-built Tor House above the sea. That makes a lovely morning or two, but there is no major museum.

Neither is a place for big nights, but Salt Lake City at least has options. There are bars, breweries and a few dance clubs downtown and in the Granary District, plus a long-standing gay bar scene. Utah's liquor rules keep things restrained. In Carmel, an evening out is a tasting room, a long dinner and perhaps a hotel nightcap, and the streets are silent by ten.

Both are superb bases for the outdoors, and the difference is sea against mountain. Carmel gives you the Pacific edge: the granite coves of Point Lobos with otters and seals, whales passing in winter and spring, the Big Sur cliffs and redwoods, and kayaking or kelp diving in Monterey Bay.

Salt Lake City gives you real height. The Wasatch rises straight from town to peaks over 3,000m, with the famous dry powder at Alta and Snowbird, alpine lakes and wildflower hikes in summer, and trails starting above the Avenues. To the west are Antelope Island's bison herds and the white Bonneville Salt Flats.

Carmel has more easy outings. Monterey's Cannery Row and old adobes, Victorian Pacific Grove, and the wine lanes of Carmel Valley are all a short drive. Steinbeck's Salinas, mission-town San Juan Bautista and Santa Cruz's boardwalk make fuller days.

From Salt Lake City, the choices thin quickly after Park City's mining-era Main Street, Midway and Ogden's 25th Street. Arches, Zion and Bryce are too far for a day and need an overnight stay.

Salt Lake City is plainly the better family base. It is a city where large families are the norm, with a zoo, an aquarium, a children's museum, a planetarium and the Lagoon amusement park all within the valley, and ski schools in winter.

Carmel is safe and calm but made for adults. Its trump card is the Monterey Bay Aquarium nearby, along with the tide pools at Point Lobos. Small children cannot paddle in the cold surf, and the restaurants expect quiet diners.

Salt Lake City is easier without a car, though not by much. TRAX light rail runs from the airport through downtown to the University, the FrontRunner train reaches Ogden and Provo, and the grid addresses are simple to follow. The wide streets and long blocks make walking slow, though.

Carmel's village is small enough to stroll, but its lanes have no pavements or street lights, the buses are sparse, and Point Lobos, Big Sur and the aquarium all mean driving. In both places the best of the trip lies beyond the reach of public transport.

Both are modest for shopping, and they suit different shoppers. Carmel is for browsing art: plein-air galleries, cashmere and jewellery boutiques tucked into courtyards, all polished and pricey. Salt Lake City is practical, with department stores in the City Creek Center, vintage shops around 9th and 9th, and excellent local ski and climbing outfitters, the one thing worth shopping for there.

Salt Lake City costs far less. Hotels are reasonably priced, casual meals are fair, and many sights are free, so the bill climbs mainly with a ski week in the canyons or Park City.

Carmel is priced as a luxury retreat all year. It has boutique inns, costly dinners and wine tastings, and little cheap food to balance them. The beach and coastal walks are free, and many visitors sleep in Monterey to save.

Salt Lake City has the fuller arts life. You can hear the Tabernacle Choir and the great organ at Temple Square, and the Utah Symphony, Utah Opera, Ballet West and touring Broadway shows play year-round.

Carmel's arts are lovely but seasonal. The Bach Festival fills the Sunset Center each summer, and the Forest Theater stages plays under the pines, while the Monterey Jazz Festival comes in September. Outside those weeks, there is little beyond the odd concert.

Neither city has a bathing culture of its own, so the difference is in how easily you can rest. In Carmel, rest is part of the stay. Several village inns bring massages and treatments to your room, and many couples come for nothing more than a slow weekend of coastal walks between long meals. There are no thermal springs, public baths or hammams, though, so anyone after a proper retreat will find only spas.

Salt Lake City has the natural warm water that Carmel lacks, in a few small hot springs north of the city and up in the canyons. The city itself is calm and unhurried. Even so, rest there fits in between days of hiking and skiing and is rarely the reason for the trip.