Edmonton or Victoria?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Victoria at least sits on the sea. Willows Beach and Gonzales Bay are pleasant for a walk or a paddle, and the Dallas Road shore is lined with driftwood, but the cold strait puts most people off a real swim. For that, locals drive about 20 minutes to Thetis Lake or out to the river pools at the Sooke Potholes.

Edmonton is far inland. The nearest swimming is at prairie lakes such as Pigeon Lake and Wabamun Lake, about an hour's drive away, where the season is short and algae can close the water in late summer. The indoor wave pool at West Edmonton Mall is the more reliable option.

The two cities eat about equally well, in different ways. Edmonton's food comes from the prairie and its immigrants: Alberta beef in the steakhouses, Ukrainian perogies and cabbage rolls, and Vietnamese, Ethiopian and Filipino cooking in strip malls along the main roads. Whyte Avenue and 124 Street are the easiest areas to explore.

Victoria relies on the sea and the farms nearby: salmon, Dungeness crab, oysters and spot prawns, produce from Saanich and Cowichan, serious brunch, a long-standing craft beer culture and afternoon tea at the Empress. Neither city has much fine dining or street food.

Both can be seen in two or three days, and each has a provincial legislature and a large museum with strong First Nations galleries. What differs is the setting. Edmonton's sights are spread out: the Royal Alberta Museum and the Art Gallery of Alberta downtown, the domed Legislature above the river, and the living-history streets of Fort Edmonton Park further out.

Victoria puts its main sights side by side on an elegant harbour front, with the Parliament Buildings, the Empress, the Royal BC Museum and the totem poles of Thunderbird Park. Craigdarroch Castle and the Emily Carr House are a short way out.

Edmonton is the better place for a night out. Whyte Avenue is a long strip of pubs, dive bars and small clubs, full of university students and loud at weekends. Downtown fills up around hockey games and concerts, and bars stay open until 2am.

Victoria's evenings are gentler. You get pubs, brewery taprooms and a few cocktail bars in the old brick streets around Wharf Street and Yates Street, plus a small student club scene. Most of the town is in bed before midnight.

Victoria is much the stronger of the two outdoors, and most of it begins at the edge of town. There is the Dallas Road clifftop path facing the Olympic Mountains, whale-watching from the Inner Harbour, easy sea kayaking around Discovery Island, and coastal hiking at East Sooke and along the Juan de Fuca Marine Trail. The mild climate means you can get out all year.

Edmonton's highlight is the North Saskatchewan River Valley, a forested green belt with well over 150km of trails and deer and beavers along the banks. Bison and dark skies are close by at Elk Island National Park. Beyond that the land is flat, and the Rockies take several days to visit.

Victoria has far more within a day's reach. Butchart Gardens is half an hour north, and the seaside town of Sidney sits further up the same peninsula. The Cowichan Valley's wineries and the murals of Chemainus are about an hour away over the Malahat, and ferries go to Salt Spring Island, though the crossings make these outings longer than they look on a map.

From Edmonton the choice is thin. The Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village and the vintage cars and aircraft of the Reynolds-Alberta Museum are worth a day, but Drumheller, Jasper and Banff all need an overnight stay.

Both work equally well for children, in opposite ways. Edmonton has large attractions that work in any weather: the waterpark and indoor rides at West Edmonton Mall, the steam train at Fort Edmonton Park, the science centre and the Valley Zoo. You need a car to get between them.

Victoria is small-scale and mostly outdoors. There is the petting farm in Beacon Hill Park, seaplanes and little harbour ferries to watch, whale-watching for older children and a small aquarium in Sidney. It has no zoo or theme park.

Victoria is much easier without a car. The main sights, from the Inner Harbour to Beacon Hill Park, are within about 20 minutes' walk of each other. Harbour ferries hop between docks, and protected bike lanes lead out to long trails, though the buses are slow beyond the city.

In Edmonton, downtown and Old Strathcona are walkable and joined by the High Level Bridge, and the LRT runs north to south. But the big mall and Fort Edmonton Park are far apart, so most visitors hire a car or use ride-hailing. In winter, the pedways help downtown.

Neither is a fashion destination, and the real difference is scale. Edmonton has West Edmonton Mall, a vast complex of chain stores that many visitors come for, plus record and vintage shops on Whyte Avenue and boutiques on 124 Street.

Victoria's shops are small and independent: the heritage storefronts of Lower Johnson Street, Market Square, the curio shops of Chinatown, Cowichan sweaters and second-hand bookshops. Indigenous art is worth looking for in both cities.

Edmonton is the cheaper place to stay. Hotel rooms, even downtown, are moderately priced outside festival weeks and big hockey games, car hire costs less, and much of the summer festival programme is free.

Victoria costs noticeably more, especially from June to September when the harbour hotels fill up, and whale-watching, Butchart Gardens and ferries add up. You save on transport because the centre is walkable, and room rates drop a long way from November to March. Eating out costs about the same in both cities.

Edmonton has the bigger stage life, above all in August. That is when its Fringe, the largest of its kind in North America, takes over Old Strathcona and the folk festival fills the hillside at Gallagher Park. The Citadel, the Winspear Centre and the Jubilee Auditorium keep a steady programme going for the rest of the year.

Victoria has a pleasant, smaller calendar. The symphony, opera and ballet play the historic Royal Theatre and McPherson Playhouse, the Belfry stages contemporary theatre, and the symphony gives a free summer concert on a barge in the Inner Harbour. Its own Fringe is much smaller.

Victoria is the more restful of the two, more for its pace than its spas. It has gardens, seafront walks, long afternoon teas and quiet streets in Oak Bay and James Bay, along with hotel spas and a few waterfront resorts in Sooke and on the Saanich Peninsula.

Edmonton offers something narrower but different: Nordic-style spas with saunas, cold plunges and outdoor hot pools, best enjoyed with snow on the ground. You need a car to reach most of them.