Las Vegas or Mammoth Lakes?

Neither city is a beach destination. The difference is in what takes the sea's place. Las Vegas has resort pools with sand-lined wave pools and lazy rivers, and the warm summer water of Lake Mead at Boulder Beach, which has a gravel shore. Mammoth Lakes has cold, clear mountain lakes such as Horseshoe Lake, where a quick dip in July or August is possible, but most visitors paddle, fish or sit on the shore instead.

Las Vegas eats on a far larger scale. The Strip has outposts of famous chefs, steakhouses and tasting menus, and Spring Mountain Road runs for kilometres with Asian restaurants, many of them open late. Neither city has a cuisine of its own, but only Las Vegas gives a visitor who cares about food real choice.

Mammoth Lakes cooks for people coming off the mountain: big breakfasts, burgers, pizza and craft beer brewed in town, plus a few more ambitious kitchens around the Village. It is satisfying after a long day outside, but it is fuel rather than a reason to go.

Neither is a place for heritage, but Las Vegas at least has its own story to tell. The Neon Museum's yard of retired casino signs and the Mob Museum in the old federal courthouse fill a morning. The themed resorts and the light show over Fremont Street make an evening of spectacle.

In Mammoth Lakes the list is a small history museum in a log cabin and a modern Village of lodges and condominiums. Sightseers will run out of things to see within an hour.

The two hardly compare. Las Vegas runs around the clock, with casino bars that never close, DJ residencies in the resort clubs and dayclub pool parties in the afternoon. For a looser and cheaper night there are dive bars and cocktail lounges around Fremont Street and the arts district.

Mammoth Lakes goes out early: après-ski in the Village, then pubs and brewery taprooms, and the only late nights come on long weekends in the ski season. Most evenings are over well before midnight, because everyone is up early for the slopes or the trails.

Both have impressive landscape close by, but Mammoth Lakes sits right in the middle of it. The ski mountain, the granite-ringed lakes of the Lakes Basin, Devils Postpile, Rainbow Falls, the tufa towers of Mono Lake and the trails into the John Muir Wilderness are all close. The mountains have something to offer in every season, from skiing in winter to biking and hiking in summer.

Las Vegas has fine desert country within an hour: the sandstone cliffs and climbing of Red Rock Canyon, and the flame-coloured rock of Valley of Fire. But summer heat makes desert hiking dangerous except at dawn, so the best outdoor days fall in the cooler months.

Both cities are isolated, and in both the grandest outings are to landscapes rather than to towns. Mammoth Lakes has the more varied set of places to visit: the gold-rush ghost town of Bodie, the internment camp at Manzanar, the small town of Bishop, and shorter stops at Lee Vining and June Lake. Winter pass closures cut the options back, though.

Las Vegas has one clear classic, Hoover Dam with neighbouring Boulder City. Beyond that come long tour journeys to the Grand Canyon, Zion or Death Valley.

Mammoth Lakes is much easier with children. It has a ski school and gentle beginner slopes, a snow tubing hill and a gondola ride to the summit, and in summer there are rowing boats and trout fishing in the Lakes Basin. Condominiums with kitchens simplify daily life. Its weak spot is a snowbound day with no museums or aquariums to fall back on, and the altitude can tire young children for the first day or two.

Las Vegas does have indoor options, among them a shark aquarium, an indoor amusement park and the Discovery Children's Museum. But the Strip's adult advertising and late-night atmosphere are hard to keep children away from, and many families treat the city as a stop on a road trip to the national parks.

In Las Vegas the distances fool you. The Strip runs for about 6km and looks walkable, but the resorts are so large that the hotel next door can be a twenty-minute walk away, and footbridges and casino interiors make every route longer. In summer the heat makes it punishing. Most visitors use the monorail, the buses that run day and night, or ride-hailing, and take a hire car or a tour out into the desert.

Mammoth Lakes is spread along a few main roads, with only the pedestrian Village compact enough to walk. Its transport follows the seasons. Free winter shuttles and the gondola up to the mountain mean a ski vacation works without driving, and in summer a trolley serves the Lakes Basin while a shuttle runs into Reds Meadow. Further into the Eastern Sierra you need a car, sometimes with snow chains.

Las Vegas is a serious place to shop, though almost all of it is indoors. The Roman-themed arcade at Caesars Palace and the Venetian's canal-side shops hold the big fashion and jewellery houses, and two outlet centres serve bargain hunters. What it lacks is anything local or handmade.

Mammoth Lakes sells what the mountains call for: ski, climbing and fly-fishing gear, rentals, landscape photography and Village souvenirs. Anyone who wants clothes or fashion should save that for the city.

Las Vegas rewards careful timing, which gives a careful traveller more room to save. From Sunday to Thursday, rooms on and near the Strip can be good value for their comfort, downtown costs less again, and meals in Chinatown or the suburbs keep the daily bill down. Weekends, resort fees, headline shows and clubs soon push it back up.

Mammoth Lakes is dearest in the ski season, when lift tickets, ski rental and lodging all peak at once. Summer is gentler on the budget, because the lakes and trails cost little beyond a park pass. Staying in a condominium with a kitchen also helps against resort-town prices in shops and restaurants.

In Las Vegas, live entertainment is a reason to travel in its own right. Dozens of shows play each night, from water-based acrobatics and magicians to burlesque, and major stars take residencies you would rarely get to see on tour. The Smith Center adds touring Broadway musicals, the Philharmonic and ballet.

Mammoth Lakes offers a community theatre company on the college campus and, in summer, a jazz festival, chamber music and outdoor concerts in a mountain meadow. It makes a pleasant evening, but it will not shape a trip.

Mammoth Lakes is the more restful of the two. Its volcanic ground feeds primitive hot springs out in the sagebrush, simple pools facing the Sierra. Outside the busiest ski weeks, the quiet evenings and mountain air do much of the work, and lodge spas and hot tubs help tired legs.

Las Vegas has larger and more polished spas, with thermal circuits, salt rooms and long treatment menus. But the casinos around them are designed to keep visitors stimulated, so relaxing there takes planning: stay at a non-gaming hotel and book spa time early in the day.