Los Angeles or Park City?

Los Angeles has more than 100km of real coastline, from the Malibu coves past Santa Monica and Venice to the South Bay. Beach life here means volleyball, surfing and the bike path along the sand, even though the cool Pacific means most people wade rather than swim.

Park City is in the mountains, with no coast anywhere near it. The nearest thing to a beach is Jordanelle Reservoir in high summer, which has a short season and cool water. Most visitors only get in the water in a hotel pool or hot tub.

The gap here is wide. Los Angeles is one of the best reasons to travel for food, from the late-night soup houses of Koreatown and the Oaxacan kitchens of Mid-City to grazing at Grand Central Market and the farmers' markets that run all year. The only drawback is how far you drive between meals.

Park City eats well for a small resort town, with elk, bison and trout on Main Street and whiskey on the slopeside decks after skiing. The range is narrow, though. Street food is scarce and the cheaper meals tend to come from the chains at Kimball Junction, so diners who want variety drive down to Salt Lake City.

For sightseeing the two are far apart. Los Angeles can fill a week of museum days, while Park City's heritage takes an afternoon. In Los Angeles the circuit runs from the Getty Center on its Brentwood hilltop and the antiquities of the Getty Villa to LACMA, the Broad and the Huntington's library and gardens, with Hollywood's movie palaces and the Disney Concert Hall for architecture. What it lacks is an old quarter.

Park City's story is silver mining. You see it in the wooden storefronts of Main Street and the headframes on the slopes, and the Park City Museum tells it down to the jail cells in the basement. The Olympic museums at the Utah Olympic Park complete the list.

A night out in Los Angeles can mean the velvet-rope clubs of Hollywood, the gay bars of West Hollywood's Santa Monica Boulevard, downtown rooftops or the dive bars of Echo Park. Bars close at 2am, and you need a ride between districts.

Park City's evenings start at après-ski and end early on Main Street. A few saloons and bars with live music liven up on winter weekends. In summer the town is quiet, and locals wanting a big night drive to Salt Lake City.

Both are strong, but Park City is built around the outdoors. Two large ski areas rise from town, Utah's dry powder falls all winter, and in summer hundreds of kilometres of singletrack start in the streets, with lifts carrying bikes uphill.

Los Angeles has real wild country close by, including Griffith Park, the Santa Monica Mountains and the San Gabriels above 3,000m. It also has surf, whale watching and boats to the Channel Islands. The difference is access: from Park City you walk to the trailhead, while in Los Angeles you sit in traffic to reach it.

Los Angeles has the wider choice. Santa Barbara and its mission, the Santa Ynez vineyards, Catalina Island by ferry, Laguna Beach and Ojai are all within reach, provided you leave early enough to beat the traffic.

From Park City, the main outing is Salt Lake City, about 40 minutes down the canyon, for Temple Square and the Capitol. The Heber Valley steam railway, Swiss-style Midway and the road past Sundance fill a few more days. After that, most of what lies within reach is scenery rather than towns.

Los Angeles has more for children to do than almost anywhere: Disneyland, Universal Studios, Magic Mountain, the La Brea Tar Pits, the Aquarium of the Pacific and the Santa Monica Pier. The cost is time in the car on almost every outing.

Park City is simpler to manage, with ski schools, free buses, a safe town centre and the alpine coaster at the Olympic Park. It suits families who come to ski or ride the summer slides. There is no zoo, aquarium or theme park in town, and the altitude can tire small children for the first day or two.

Here Park City is clearly easier. Free buses link Old Town, both ski bases and Kimball Junction, and many visitors never need a car once they arrive. You do need one for trips into the valleys.

Los Angeles is a basin of separate cities joined by jammed freeways. The Metro reaches Hollywood, Pasadena and Santa Monica, but most visitors still hire a car or use ride-hailing, and treat each neighbourhood as a day of its own.

Shopping can be a reason to go to Los Angeles, but in Park City it is something to do between meals. Across Los Angeles the range runs from the fashion houses of Rodeo Drive to streetwear and vintage on Melrose, independent boutiques on Abbot Kinney in Venice and the flea market at the Rose Bowl, where serious bargain hunters go. Covering more than one area in a day takes a car.

Park City's Main Street offers resort browsing: art galleries, cowboy boots, ski fashion and outdoor gear. Kimball Junction adds an outlet centre and the usual chains. For anything more, people drive to Salt Lake City.

Neither is cheap, but Los Angeles gives you more ways to save. Taco trucks, Koreatown and the San Gabriel Valley feed you well for little, and the beaches, Griffith Observatory and the Getty's collections are free. Hotels, the hire car and parking are what push the cost up.

Park City in ski season is at the top end of the resort market, with lift tickets, ski school and slopeside rooms all expensive. It costs much less in summer and autumn. Many budget travellers stay in Salt Lake City or the Heber Valley and drive up for the day.

Los Angeles is a major music city. The Philharmonic plays at the Walt Disney Concert Hall and in summer at the Hollywood Bowl. LA Opera performs at the Music Center, and there are bands every night on the Sunset Strip and in Echo Park, as well as comedy clubs and jazz in Leimert Park.

Park City has a smaller programme. It centres on the 1920s Egyptian Theatre and summer concerts by the Utah Symphony on the lawns at Deer Valley. For opera or ballet you have to go to Salt Lake City.

Los Angeles has the more unusual offer: the Korean bathhouses of Koreatown, with hot and cold pools, body scrubs and heated floors, some open around the clock. Yoga studios and Beverly Hills spas add more, though the city itself is not restful.

In Park City, relaxing means a lodge spa massage and an outdoor hot tub in the snow after a day on the slopes. The geothermal pool inside the Homestead Crater at Midway is a short drive away. The quiet itself is part of the appeal, especially in the off-season weeks.