Kelowna or Victoria?

Kelowna's beaches are a real draw and Victoria's are not. Hot Sands in City Park, Gyro Beach and Rotary Beach are sandy, and in July and August the freshwater lake is warm enough to spend whole afternoons swimming and paddleboarding. The season is short, though, and on summer weekends the beaches nearest downtown get crowded.

Victoria's shoreline is for walking along. Willows Beach and Gonzales Bay are pleasant for paddling at the edge, but the strait stays cold all summer and Dallas Road is pebble and driftwood. For a real swim, locals drive out to Thetis Lake or the Sooke Potholes.

The two eat about equally well, but in different ways. In Kelowna, food means the countryside: winery terraces above the lake, cherries and peaches from the farm stands, and cideries and distilleries. Once you are past the downtown restaurants, the choice quickly turns to highway chains.

Victoria cooks from the sea. Its strengths are spot prawns, Dungeness crab and oysters, along with serious brunches, a long-established craft beer culture, afternoon tea at the Empress and fish and chips at Fisherman's Wharf. Chinatown gives it a little more range than Kelowna, though neither city has much street food or late-night eating.

Victoria has much more to see. The Parliament Buildings and the Empress face each other across the Inner Harbour, the Royal BC Museum covers First Nations cultures and natural history, and Craigdarroch Castle, Fan Tan Alley and the Emily Carr House fill two or three days.

In Kelowna, one afternoon covers it: the Okanagan Heritage Museum, a small art gallery and the log buildings of Father Pandosy Mission. People come for the lake and the vineyards, not the sights.

Both are early-to-bed places, and the difference is in the mood. Kelowna's Bernard Avenue fills in summer with students, stag and hen parties and lake-weekend crowds on the patios, and goes quiet once the season ends. Victoria's evenings revolve around British-style pubs, taprooms and a few good cocktail bars in old brick buildings, with a small student club scene that closes early.

Kelowna sits among dry, pine-dotted hills above a long glacial lake, while Victoria looks out on a cold green coast of cliffs and cedar forest. Around Kelowna the lake is the playground for wakeboarding, kayaking and paddleboarding, Myra Canyon gives an easy ride over its wooden trestles, and mountain bike trails climb the hills. In winter the dry powder at Big White is about an hour's drive away.

Victoria's outdoors start on the Dallas Road clifftops, with the Olympic Mountains across the strait. Boats leave the Inner Harbour to look for orcas and humpbacks, sheltered water around Discovery Island suits beginners in sea kayaks, and Goldstream's old-growth cedar and the rainforest coast beyond Sooke are within reach. There are no high mountains or ski slopes nearby, but walking and cycling carry on all year.

Victoria has the more varied outings. Butchart Gardens is half an hour away, and further afield are the Cowichan Valley with the totem poles of Duncan, Salt Spring Island's market by ferry and even Vancouver by floatplane. Ferry crossings make some of these trips slower than they look on the map.

From Kelowna, almost every outing is more of the Okanagan wine country: the Naramata Bench by Penticton, the vineyards around Oliver and Osoyoos, and O'Keefe Ranch near Vernon. It makes a lovely circuit for wine lovers, but every stop needs a car and none of the towns is a historic place.

In Kelowna a family day means the lake and the car. Children paddle in shallow, warm water off the city beaches, pick fruit in the orchards and cycle the flat Myra Canyon trail, and in winter Big White has ski-in, ski-out lodgings. The attractions are spread along the highway, so expect to drive between them.

Victoria keeps everything within a short walk. Beacon Hill Park has a petting farm and playgrounds, the Royal BC Museum has a full-size replica old town, and seaplanes land in the harbour. Whale watching suits older children, but the cold sea leaves little room for beach play.

Victoria is much easier without a car. The harbour, the museum, Chinatown and Beacon Hill Park are within about 20 minutes of each other on foot, harbour ferries link the docks and protected bike lanes lead out onto car-free trails. For Sooke or the Cowichan Valley you still want a car.

In Kelowna only the downtown waterfront and the lakeside path are walkable. The city spreads out along Highway 97, and wineries, trails and ski slopes all call for a car or an organised tour.

Victoria gives shoppers more reason to browse. The heritage storefronts of Lower Johnson Street hold local labels, and there are Market Square, Chinatown's tea and curio shops, second-hand bookshops and galleries selling Northwest Coast First Nations art.

Kelowna has a few boutiques on Bernard Avenue and a chain mall. Its best buys come from the cellar doors and fruit stands.

Neither is cheap, and both are at their most expensive in summer. In Kelowna the extra cost is car hire, along with tastings and boat rentals. In Victoria the compact centre saves on transport, but whale watching, Butchart Gardens and ferries add up. Both get much easier on the budget out of season, although Kelowna's ski weeks at Big White are the exception.

Victoria has the fuller calendar. The symphony, Pacific Opera Victoria and ballet play the historic Royal Theatre and McPherson Playhouse, the Belfry stages Canadian theatre in a converted church, and summer brings the jazz and Fringe festivals.

Kelowna's programme is regional: community theatre, the Okanagan Symphony, touring acts at the arena and free summer concerts by the lake. It will fill an evening, but it is not something to plan a trip around.

Neither city has thermal springs, so in both the rest comes from the pace, with Victoria slightly the easier place to unwind. Its gardens, seafront walks and long afternoon teas stay pleasant out of season, and Sooke has quiet waterfront resorts. Kelowna's version is long vineyard lunches and calm mornings on the lake, which are best enjoyed outside the busiest summer weeks.