Laguna Beach or Salt Lake City?

Laguna Beach is by far the better of the two for a beach trip. Its shoreline breaks into coves and small beaches, from Main Beach in the village to Crescent Bay, Victoria Beach and the wide sand at Aliso. The water is clear enough for snorkelling over the reefs, although the Pacific is cool except in late summer and some coves have rip currents.

Salt Lake City has no sea. You can float in the Great Salt Lake off Antelope Island, but on a muddy shore with flies, it is something people do once. Proper swimming means a drive into the Wasatch to reservoirs such as Jordanelle or Pineview.

Neither city is a food destination, and they fall short in different ways. Laguna sells the setting: fish tacos, poke and local seafood with California wine on clifftop terraces at sunset. There is little range, though, and the real variety is in the Vietnamese, Mexican and Korean restaurants inland in Orange County.

Salt Lake City is less scenic but more unusual to eat in, with fry sauce, pastrami burgers, fried scones and drive-through soda shops, plus Pacific Islander, Peruvian and Mexican cooking along State Street. Utah's drinking rules mean less wine and cocktail culture, so Laguna is better for a long glass of wine with dinner and Salt Lake for breweries.

Salt Lake City has more to see. Temple Square alone tells a clear story of the pioneers who founded the city in 1847, through the granite temple, the domed Tabernacle with its organ and Brigham Young's Beehive House next door. The State Capitol, the Cathedral of the Madeleine and the dinosaur halls fill a second day.

Laguna's story is narrower. It was an early twentieth-century colony of plein air painters, and that history lives on in the Laguna Art Museum and the galleries along Coast Highway and Forest Avenue. It makes a pleasant morning, and for anything bigger you drive out to the mission at San Juan Capistrano.

Neither city is built for late nights, but Salt Lake City has a little more going on. Downtown, Main Street and the Granary District have bars, breweries and a few dance clubs, and there is a long-standing gay bar scene, even though the liquor laws keep things restrained.

In Laguna, a night out means a drink after dinner in a beach bar, wine bar or hotel lounge looking over the water. There are no clubs, and the village is quiet before midnight, so anyone wanting more drives to Newport Beach or Costa Mesa.

Both are good bases for the outdoors, but Salt Lake City's surroundings are on another scale. The Wasatch climbs to peaks over 3,000m straight from the edge of town, and the Cottonwood Canyons reach Alta, Snowbird, Brighton and Solitude in under an hour. In summer the same canyons become hiking country, and to the west lie the salt flats and Antelope Island's bison.

Laguna's nature is gentler and mostly about the sea. Its protected coast has tide pools, kelp and reefs, kayaking and dolphins, and behind the town there are chaparral trails in Laguna Coast Wilderness Park and Aliso and Wood Canyons. It suits someone who wants the ocean as much as the hills.

Laguna is far better placed for day trips. Mission San Juan Capistrano is twenty minutes away, and Newport, Huntington Beach and Dana Point are along the coast. A ferry crosses to Catalina Island, and San Diego, Los Angeles and the Temecula wine country can each be reached by car within a morning.

From Salt Lake City, the good choices are Park City's old mining-town Main Street, Midway and Ogden's 25th Street, and after that the list runs out. Arches, Zion and Bryce are too far for a day and need an overnight trip of their own.

Both work well with children, but in different ways. Laguna is a trip built around the shore, with lifeguarded beaches, tide pools and easy snorkelling, and Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm are about forty minutes away. Steep beach stairways and expensive family rooms lead many families to stay near Anaheim instead.

Salt Lake City is a place where children are expected everywhere. It has Hogle Zoo, the aquarium, the planetarium and the Discovery Gateway museum, with the Lagoon amusement park nearby and ski schools in winter. These are spread across the valley, so expect to drive between them.

Salt Lake City is easier to manage without a car, though only up to a point. TRAX light rail links the airport, downtown and the University, FrontRunner trains run to Ogden and Provo, and addresses counted outward from Temple Square are simple to follow. The wide streets do make every walk longer than it looks.

Laguna has a walkable village and a free trolley along Coast Highway, but no rail at all, slow buses and scarce parking in summer. In Salt Lake you mainly need a car for the canyons, while in Laguna you need one for almost anything beyond the beaches.

Laguna has the more enjoyable shopping, mainly thanks to its art. Galleries along Coast Highway and the North Laguna gallery row sell plein air paintings, ocean paintings and glass, and Forest Avenue adds boutiques. The summer festivals sell crafts directly from the people who make them, and the luxury malls of Newport Beach and Costa Mesa are half an hour away.

Salt Lake City's shopping is practical: City Creek Center, Trolley Square in the old streetcar barns, and vintage shops around 9th and 9th. Its real strength is outdoor gear, so it is the place to buy skis or climbing equipment rather than a painting.

Salt Lake City is the much cheaper base. Downtown hotels are reasonable, light rail is inexpensive and everything on Temple Square is free. A winter ski week is different, though, because lift tickets and lodging in the canyons cost a lot.

Laguna is one of the most expensive beach towns in California, from clifftop resorts and even simple motels to ocean-view dinners and paid parking. Its beaches, trails and trolley cost nothing, and travellers on a budget often stay inland and come in for the day.

Salt Lake City has the fuller programme. 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 at the Eccles Theater give it the range of a much larger city.

Laguna's highlight is a single summer spectacle, the Pageant of the Masters, where performers recreate famous artworks as living tableaux in an amphitheatre in the canyon. The long-running Laguna Playhouse adds plays and musicals, but for symphony or opera you have to drive to Costa Mesa.

Laguna is the better place simply to unwind. Clifftop walks, slow mornings, yoga studios and resort spas with ocean views set the mood, and the sunsets over the Pacific do the rest, although there are no hot springs.

Salt Lake City has the more unusual soak: warm mineral water inside the limestone dome of Homestead Crater at Midway, an hour away. Park City's spas also suit tired legs after skiing. Beyond that, rest is a side effect in Salt Lake, while in Laguna it is much of the point.