Jackson Hole or San Jose?

Neither city is a place to swim, but San Jose at least has an ocean within reach. In Jackson Hole the water means mountain lakes. String Lake warms enough for a midsummer dip, the others stay bracing, and snowmelt keeps the Snake River for floating trips only.

From San Jose you cross the Santa Cruz Mountains to sunny Santa Cruz, Capitola and the coves of the Monterey Bay, which have sand, surf and a real beach-town feel. The Pacific stays cold, so expect wetsuits and lying on the sand rather than swimming, but it makes a proper beach day.

Jackson Hole eats better than its size suggests. It has chef-driven dining rooms, elk, bison and mountain trout, and huckleberries in almost everything, but the choice is narrow and very little is cheap.

San Jose has much more variety: pho and banh mi in Little Saigon, serious taquerias, Indian and Korean cooking towards Santa Clara and old family places in Japantown. The catch is that you drive between suburban plazas to find it, whereas Jackson's good tables are all around one walkable square.

San Jose has more to fill the time between outings. The Winchester Mystery House, the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum, Mission Santa Clara and the Computer History Museum make an odd but rewarding couple of days, even though the historic core is thin.

Jackson Hole's sights are fewer and quieter. There are the antler arches on the Town Square, the National Museum of Wildlife Art above the elk refuge, and the Mormon Row barns and the log chapel with the Tetons behind them. They are moving to see but fit easily into a day between hikes.

Jackson Hole has no clubs to speak of. Evenings mean loud après-ski in Teton Village as the lifts close, or country dancing at the saloon with saddles for bar stools, and the town is asleep well before midnight.

San Jose gives a night out a little more range. San Pedro Square has pubs and a covered food-and-drink market, and SoFA has cocktail bars, dive bars and a few dance clubs that fill up at weekends. When you want a bigger night, San Francisco is close enough to reach.

Both are good bases for the outdoors, but Jackson Hole is in another league. The Tetons rise straight from the valley floor, Grand Teton National Park begins minutes from town and Yellowstone is about an hour and a half away. Moose, bison, elk and bears are part of an ordinary day, and winter brings some of the steepest lift-served skiing in North America.

San Jose's outdoors are gentler and closer to the sea. It has redwood groves at Big Basin and Henry Cowell, easy foothill walks at Alum Rock, and sea otters and whales in the Monterey Bay. This is pleasant, mild-weather nature rather than wilderness.

This is where San Jose pulls furthest ahead. San Francisco is about an hour away by Caltrain, Stanford and Palo Alto are closer still, and Santa Cruz, Monterey and Carmel make easy days out. Napa and Sonoma can be reached in about two hours.

From Jackson Hole, excursions go into the landscape and Yellowstone rather than to other towns. The Idaho farm towns over Teton Pass and the ranch towns to the south make pleasant drives, but none of them is worth a day for its own sake.

Both suit families, but in very different ways. In Jackson Hole children spot wildlife from the car, earn Junior Ranger badges, ride a sleigh through the elk herd, watch the summer rodeo and learn at a good ski school. The altitude, long drives and rainy days can wear out small children, though.

San Jose has the conventional attractions that Jackson lacks: Great America, Happy Hollow Park and Zoo and a children's discovery museum, with the Monterey Bay Aquarium and the Santa Cruz Boardwalk further out. The weather is milder, but there are more hours in traffic.

In both places you will want a car, and in both the centre is easy on foot. Jackson's shops and restaurants sit within a few blocks of the Town Square, and a bus runs to Teton Village, but no public transport reaches the parks and winter roads need care.

San Jose has more transit, with light rail and Caltrain to San Francisco, yet its sights are scattered across a valley of freeways. There, rush-hour traffic rather than snow is the thing to plan around.

Western galleries against big malls sums up the difference. Along the boardwalks around Jackson's Town Square you find Western and wildlife art, handmade cowboy hats and boots, turquoise jewellery and top-end mountain gear. It is particular to the place, but the choice soon runs out.

San Jose gives you far more to choose from, though little of it belongs to the place. Most of it is in the large west-side mall and the open-air street of boutiques beside it, where international and luxury brands sit together. Los Gatos and Willow Glen add pleasant main streets, and the Asian supermarkets are worth a browse.

Neither is cheap, but Jackson Hole costs more. Its lodging in summer and ski season is among the most expensive in the country, rooms can be scarce, and meals, lift tickets and rafting trips all cost resort prices. Once you are there, the trails and roadside wildlife cost little.

San Jose is expensive too, but its business hotels are often cheaper at weekends, and the Vietnamese and Mexican eateries in suburban plazas remain fair value. In both places, budget for a hire car.

San Jose has the steadier calendar. Opera San José performs in the restored California Theatre, the symphony and touring Broadway shows play the Center for the Performing Arts, big touring concerts come to the arena and a summer jazz festival takes over downtown. San Francisco is close by when you want more.

Jackson Hole comes to life mainly in summer, when the Grand Teton Music Festival brings orchestral players to Teton Village and chuckwagon shows and saloon country bands fill the evenings. Out of season there is little beyond bar bands.

Jackson Hole is the better place to unwind, thanks to its natural hot springs. One is a pool in a forested canyon, reached in winter by snowmobile or dog sled. Another is a park of soaking pools beside the Snake River, and after a day outdoors a massage at a resort spa is part of the routine.

San Jose has hotel and day spas, a few Korean-style bathhouses and quiet hours in the Hakone gardens or the Japanese Friendship Garden. Still, the city's sprawl and working-week pace work against a restful stay.