Los Angeles or Napa?

Only one of these is a beach destination. Los Angeles has more than 100km of shore, from Zuma and El Matador in Malibu through Venice to the South Bay, with surf, volleyball and lifeguard towers, though the water is cool and swimming is best in late summer.

Napa has no coast of its own. The cold Sonoma shore is more than an hour away and is for looking at, not swimming in, so a swim here means a hotel pool or a summer drive to Lake Berryessa.

Both are outstanding places to eat, but in very different ways. Los Angeles is about range and immigrant cooking: tacos on Eastside street corners, Koreatown barbecue, regional Chinese in the San Gabriel Valley, Thai Town and Little Ethiopia, plus Grand Central Market for grazing. It is cheap at the bottom end and enormous, but you drive between meals.

Napa is narrower and built around the wine. Its strength is destination dining in Yountville and St Helena, farm produce and tasting rooms, with the Oxbow Public Market for casual eating. Expect polished Californian cooking rather than variety, and little street food beyond the taquerias.

Los Angeles has far more to see. The Getty Center and Getty Villa, LACMA, the Broad, the Huntington and Griffith Observatory make a serious museum circuit, and Hollywood and the Disney Concert Hall add landmarks, even if there is no old town.

Napa offers a pleasant afternoon at most: Victorian buildings along First Street, the 1880 opera house, the di Rosa art estate in Carneros and the stone wineries up the valley. Anyone who travels for museums will exhaust it within a day.

Los Angeles is the place for a night out, with Hollywood clubs, the gay bars of West Hollywood's Santa Monica Boulevard, downtown rooftops and the dive bars of Silver Lake and Echo Park. Last orders at 2am and the distances keep most nights within one neighbourhood.

In Napa, evenings mean a long dinner and a glass of wine downtown, and the valley is quiet by late evening. For anything livelier you would have to go to San Francisco.

Los Angeles has the wilder and more varied outdoors: trails up Mount Hollywood in Griffith Park, ridge walks in the Santa Monica Mountains, pine forest in the San Gabriels, plus surfing, winter whale watching and boats to the Channel Islands. Traffic is the main barrier.

Napa's appeal is gentler. The vineyard floor between the Mayacamas and the Vaca hills suits cycling and dawn balloon flights, and Bothe-Napa Valley's redwoods and the climb up Mount St Helena give good walking, but the variety is smaller.

Napa is better placed for days out. Yountville, St Helena, Calistoga and Sonoma's plaza and mission are all short drives, Healdsburg and the Russian River lie about an hour away, and San Francisco is reachable by car or by ferry from Vallejo.

From Los Angeles the best outings are Santa Barbara and Catalina Island, with Laguna Beach, Ojai and San Juan Capistrano as alternatives. The distances are longer and traffic can stretch a two-hour drive well beyond that.

Los Angeles is one of the easiest big cities to bring children to. There are theme parks in Anaheim and Hollywood, Knott's Berry Farm and Magic Mountain, plus dinosaurs, the La Brea fossils, the Long Beach aquarium and the Santa Monica Pier. Keeping a car and covering one area a day makes it manageable.

Napa is mainly for adults. A theme park in Vallejo, the geyser near Calistoga and the hotel pools help, but tasting days, long drives and summer heat wear young children out.

Both effectively need a car, in different ways. In Los Angeles the problem is scale and congestion: the Metro links downtown with Hollywood, Pasadena, Long Beach and Santa Monica, but most visitors drive or use ride-hailing across a huge basin.

Napa is small, and downtown is easy to walk, but the wineries are spread along some 50km of valley with few buses. Because tasting and driving do not mix, many people hire a driver or join a tour rather than drive themselves.

Los Angeles is a real shopping city, with luxury houses on Rodeo Drive, streetwear and vintage on Melrose, independent shops on Abbot Kinney and serious flea markets at the Rose Bowl.

In Napa, shopping mostly means wine shipped home from the cellars, along with food gifts at the Oxbow market, cookware on St Helena's main street and an outlet mall. Anyone who wants fashion will find little here.

Neither is cheap, but Los Angeles is easier on a budget. Hotels, hire cars and theme parks cost a lot, yet taco trucks, Koreatown and San Gabriel Valley restaurants feed you well, and the beaches, Griffith Observatory and the Getty collections are free.

Napa is priced for luxury from top to bottom. Resort rooms, estate tastings, celebrated restaurants and a driver for the day all add up, and even chain hotels to the south and taqueria meals only soften the bill.

Los Angeles is in another league. The Philharmonic plays at the Disney Concert Hall and, in summer, the Hollywood Bowl, LA Opera and touring shows fill the Music Center and the Pantages, and rock rooms on the Sunset Strip, the comedy clubs and Leimert Park jazz provide music every night.

Napa has the old opera house, an Art Deco theatre for touring acts, a summer classical festival in winery venues and a large spring rock festival. For opera or an orchestra outside those dates, visitors go to San Francisco.

Napa is the more restful choice. Calistoga's volcanic mud baths and mineral pools have drawn visitors since the nineteenth century, the resorts have large spas, and the slow rhythm of the days does the rest, especially on weekdays outside summer.

Los Angeles has its own draw in the Koreatown bathhouses, open late or around the clock, alongside yoga studios and Beverly Hills spas. The city itself is tiring, though, and locals looking for real quiet go to Ojai or Palm Springs.