Las Vegas or Sonoma?

Neither city is a beach destination. Las Vegas has the gravel shore of Lake Mead and its warm summer water, along with resort pools that have sand-lined wave pools and lazy rivers. Sonoma's real coast at Bodega Bay is for looking rather than swimming, so in practice you have the Russian River's gravel beaches in summer or the hotel pool. For a dip in the heat, Las Vegas's pools are the easier option. For a dramatic shoreline, Sonoma's is the one worth the drive.

Both cities eat well but in very different ways. Las Vegas offers range: chef outposts, steakhouses and tasting menus on the Strip, then kilometres of late-opening Asian restaurants in Chinatown and good Mexican food in the suburbs.

Sonoma offers depth in a single tradition. Seasonal Californian cooking is built around the valley's own wine, cheese, olive oil and coastal oysters, and served in a few dozen restaurants around the plaza and in Glen Ellen. Go to Las Vegas for variety and late meals, and to Sonoma for a long lunch with a bottle made just up the road.

Neither city will fill a week of sightseeing, and their sights could hardly be more different. In Las Vegas the attraction is spectacle: themed resorts, the fountains and the Fremont Street light show. The real history is concentrated in the Neon Museum and the Mob Museum.

Sonoma has genuine old fabric. Its plaza, where the Bear Flag Revolt began, the last Franciscan mission, the adobe barracks and Vallejo's house make a quiet half day of California history, while Las Vegas tells the much shorter story of the casinos.

This is where the two cities differ most. Las Vegas never really closes: casino bars stay open, superstar DJs play the resort clubs at weekends, and Fremont Street and the arts district offer cheaper dive bars and craft beer.

Sonoma winds down after dinner. A few wine bars and saloons around the plaza keep going into the evening, but nothing runs late, and anyone wanting a night out has to drive to Santa Rosa or San Francisco.

Red desert rock around Las Vegas, green vineyard hills around Sonoma: both offer plenty outdoors, in opposite styles. From Las Vegas you drive to sandstone cliffs and world-class climbing at Red Rock Canyon, petroglyphs among the flame-coloured rock of Valley of Fire, kayaking on Lake Mead, and Mount Charleston, which offers cool summer trails and even a little winter skiing.

Sonoma's outdoors begins at the edge of town. Trails climb from the plaza to the Sonoma Overlook, redwood groves and Bald Mountain views wait at Sugarloaf Ridge, back roads through the vines suit an easy bike ride, and balloons drift over the valley on calm mornings. Point Reyes and the wild coast are within an hour.

Sonoma is by far the better base for outings. San Francisco is about an hour's drive, and Napa, Healdsburg, Victorian Petaluma and the bay towns of Sausalito and Tiburon are all nearby, although most of them are more wine country.

Las Vegas has Hoover Dam and Boulder City for a half day, and after that it is isolated. The Grand Canyon and Zion are long journeys to landscapes rather than easy day trips to towns.

In Las Vegas the trouble is the casino floor, which children may cross but not linger on, and which is the route through almost every resort, with adult advertising and late crowds all around. Still, an indoor amusement park, a shark aquarium, the tower thrill rides and big pools will fill a day or two, and many families simply stop here on a road trip to the national parks.

Sonoma's trouble is quieter: days revolve around tasting rooms and long lunches. It is calm and safe, with a playground on the plaza, a miniature railway park just south of town and an African wildlife park near Santa Rosa, but families often do better basing themselves in San Francisco and coming up for a day.

Las Vegas is easier to manage without a car, at least along the Strip. A monorail and round-the-clock buses link the resorts and downtown, and taxis and ride-hailing are always available, though the vast resorts and the summer heat make walking slower than it looks.

In Sonoma only the plaza is walkable. The local buses are of little use, so wineries, parks and the coast mean a hire car, a driver or a tour, or a bicycle on the flat valley roads.

Las Vegas is the serious shopping destination of the two. The resort arcades at Caesars Palace and the Venetian, the luxury mall at the centre of the Strip and the Fashion Show mall hold most of the big brands, and two outlet centres add bargains.

Sonoma goes the other way. It has small, local and mostly edible things: boutiques and galleries in the plaza arcades, olive oil, cheese and wine bought direct, and a farmers' market in summer.

Neither is cheap, but Las Vegas leaves more room to save. Midweek rooms on or near the Strip, cheaper still downtown, and meals in Chinatown can keep costs in check, though weekends, resort fees and the clubs quickly push them up again.

Sonoma has few rooms, all priced for wine-country weekends. Add tasting fees and a car or driver, and staying in Santa Rosa or Petaluma is the usual way to make it affordable.

Las Vegas is in another league for live entertainment. Dozens of shows play every night, including aquatic acrobatics, magicians and comedy, and major stars take long residencies, with the Smith Center adding touring musicals and the Philharmonic.

Sonoma's stage is small and seasonal. There are summer concerts among the ruins at Jack London park, shows at wineries and the old plaza theatre, and the Green Music Center half an hour away for classical music.

Sonoma is the more restful choice. Boyes Hot Springs gives it real mineral water feeding a historic resort spa, and the town's quiet mornings and early evenings make rest easy, with Calistoga's mud baths over the hills.

Las Vegas has enormous spas with thermal circuits and salt rooms, but they sit inside casinos built to keep you awake. They work best on a weekday morning at a non-gaming hotel.