Huntington Beach or Snowbird?

Huntington Beach is a true beach town. It has about 14km of flat sand with fire rings, volleyball and a long beachfront path, and a pier surrounded by surf. The Pacific stays cool for much of the year and rip currents mean swimming near the lifeguards, but from late summer into early autumn it makes a real beach destination.

Snowbird has no beach to speak of. Swimming means the resort's heated pools or a drive to cold reservoirs in the Heber Valley, and the Great Salt Lake is somewhere to look at rather than swim.

Huntington Beach eats casually and outdoors, with fish tacos by the pier, surfers' breakfasts and seafood with an ocean view. The best eating is a short drive inland in Little Saigon, where the pho and banh mi alone justify the trip.

At Snowbird every meal is a resort meal: lodge dining rooms, slopeside cafeterias and après-ski burgers, competent but with nothing local about them. Variety means the forty-minute drive down to Salt Lake City.

Neither place is a sightseeing destination. Huntington Beach at least has a story to tell in the surfing museum, the pier and the Surfers' Hall of Fame handprints on Main Street, which make a pleasant hour or two.

Snowbird is a purpose-built 1971 resort of concrete lodges. Almost nothing visible remains of the canyon's mining and quarrying past, so in practice both send culture-seekers elsewhere, to Los Angeles from the coast and to Salt Lake City from the mountain.

Huntington Beach has a real, if limited, night out. Main Street fills on Fridays and Saturdays with sports bars, rooftop decks and a few dance spots, and the crowd is young and noisy in summer. At Snowbird the evening peaks at après-ski in a couple of lodge bars, and by mid-evening most people are asleep before the first tram. Neither competes with Los Angeles or Park City, but only one has a weekend scene of its own.

Snowbird is one of the great mountains of the American West. The tram climbs to Hidden Peak at about 3,350m, the snow often runs to more than 12m a season, and the terrain spreads through Mineral Basin to Alta. In summer the Twin Peaks and Lone Peak wilderness, Albion Basin's wildflowers and granite climbing take over.

Huntington Beach's outdoors are almost all ocean: consistent surf breaks, paddling in the harbour channels and cycling the beach path. The Bolsa Chica wetland is a real highlight for birders, but hills mean driving half an hour to Crystal Cove or Laguna.

Huntington Beach sits within reach of much of Southern California. Los Angeles, Laguna Beach, Mission San Juan Capistrano, Catalina by ferry and even San Diego are all possible, provided you have a car and avoid rush hour.

From Snowbird the two strong outings are Salt Lake City, with Temple Square and the Capitol, and Park City's Victorian Main Street. Midway, Sundance and Ogden are pleasant but minor, and beyond them there is mostly open country.

Huntington Beach is one of the easiest family bases on the coast. Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm are near, the beaches are wide, and the parks and Bolsa Chica's pelicans fill quieter days. Waves suit boogie boarding more than toddlers, and every outing needs the car.

Snowbird works mainly for families who already ski well. It has a ski school and summer extras such as the alpine slide and mountain coaster, and its car-free base is easy with children. The steep mountain and thin air, though, are hard on young ones.

Of the two, Snowbird is the easier place to be without a car. Huntington Beach is pleasant on foot or by bike only in a small area, around the pier, Main Street and along the beach path. Anything beyond that, from the theme parks to Little Saigon and Los Angeles, means a car on busy freeways, slow local buses and a fight for parking on summer weekends.

Snowbird's base is compact and car-free, and the lodges, tram and lifts are all a short walk apart, often straight from your room. In winter, ski buses come up from the valley. The catch is the one winding canyon road, which jams on powder mornings and can close for avalanche work. Dinners in Salt Lake City and day trips still need a car or a shuttle.

Huntington Beach gives shoppers something to do. Its surf shops and board makers along Main Street sell the town's most characteristic souvenirs, and South Coast Plaza, a major luxury mall, is about twenty minutes away. Snowbird's few base-area stores are for replacing goggles or renting skis, and any real browsing waits for Salt Lake City or Park City's boutique main street.

Both are expensive, but Snowbird is harder on the budget, with lift tickets, slopeside rooms, rentals and captive-audience meals all adding up in peak winter. Staying in Salt Lake City or visiting in summer cuts the cost considerably.

Huntington Beach is pricey on the beachfront and needs a rental car. Still, the beach is free, inland motels are cheaper, and the Vietnamese and Mexican cooking nearby makes eating well inexpensive.

Huntington Beach has little stage life of its own, mainly bar bands and summer park concerts. Costa Mesa is close, though, with the Segerstrom Center hosting the Pacific Symphony, ballet, opera and Broadway tours, and South Coast Repertory's theatre season.

Snowbird offers summer plaza concerts, oompah bands at its Oktoberfest and the odd après-ski band. Anything more serious means a drive down the canyon to Salt Lake City.

The two are about even here, but they unwind in very different ways. Snowbird has one serious spa, with a rooftop pool and hot tubs facing the canyon walls, made for aching legs after skiing, and the mineral crater at Midway is an hour away. Huntington Beach has ordinary day spas instead, and its relaxation comes from the pace: yoga on the sand, sunset on the pier and an evening by a beach fire.