Los Angeles or Telluride?

This is no contest. Los Angeles has more than 100km of shore, from the Malibu coves to the volleyball beaches of the South Bay, with surf, a bike path along the sand and a whole beach culture, even if the cool Pacific means a wetsuit for much of the year.

Telluride sits high in a box canyon, a long way from any coast, and the nearest place to swim is a cold reservoir near Ridgway about an hour away. Summer water there means rafting or fishing, not lying on sand.

Los Angeles is a reason to travel in itself for eating, because so many immigrant communities cook here: Koreatown, Thai Town, Little Ethiopia and the San Gabriel Valley, plus Grand Central Market and year-round farmers' markets. The only effort is driving between them.

Telluride does well for a town of a few thousand people, with a handful of serious kitchens on Colorado Avenue and in Mountain Village cooking elk, lamb and trout. After a few days, though, you will be back at the same tables, and there is no cheap street food to fall back on.

Los Angeles has the museums: the Getty Center on its hilltop, LACMA, the Broad and the Huntington's library and gardens, plus Hollywood's movie palaces and the Disney Concert Hall. What it lacks is an old quarter, and the sights are a drive apart.

Telluride has the reverse, on a tiny scale. The whole town is a preserved mining-boom district, and an hour or two with the historical museum and the Sheridan Opera House covers it. It makes a pleasant backdrop rather than a cultural itinerary.

Los Angeles has real nights out in several forms: velvet-rope clubs in Hollywood, the gay bars of West Hollywood, downtown rooftops and Silver Lake dives, though last orders come at 2am and you tend to stay in one district. Telluride's evenings are après-ski drinks and a few Victorian saloons on Colorado Avenue. They are lively in peak weeks and on festival weekends, but there are no clubs, and out of season the town is in bed early.

Both have mountains close by, but Telluride lives inside them. Peaks above 4,000m, Bridal Veil Falls and trails to the high basins start from the end of the main street, the same slopes become a ski area in winter, and the aspens turn gold in autumn.

For a city, Los Angeles offers an impressive range, from Griffith Park and the Santa Monica Mountains to surfing, whale watching and boats out to the Channel Islands. The difference is that every outing there starts in traffic, and inland heat and fire season limit summer hiking.

Los Angeles has more within reach: Santa Barbara and its mission, Catalina by ferry, Laguna Beach, Ojai, Temecula's wine country, and San Diego at a stretch, though traffic can add an hour each way.

From Telluride the choice is the old mining towns of Ouray and Silverton and ranching Ridgway, all lovely drives on mountain roads. Mesa Verde's cliff dwellings are the one major site, at the far edge of a day. In winter the passes can slow or close the routes.

For children, Los Angeles is hard to beat: Disneyland in Anaheim, Universal Studios, Knott's Berry Farm and Magic Mountain, the space shuttle at the California Science Center, the dinosaurs at the Natural History Museum, and the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. The cost is time in the car, so one area a day works best.

Telluride suits an active family better than a sightseeing one. The free gondola, the ski school's gentle slopes and the easy waterfall walks please children, but there are no theme parks, aquariums or science museums, and a wet day leaves little to do indoors. The altitude can also disturb young sleepers for the first few nights.

Telluride is far easier here. You can cross the historic grid on foot in a quarter of an hour, and the free gondola and town buses link it with Mountain Village, so many visitors never drive once they arrive. The effort goes into getting there and into any trip beyond town.

Los Angeles is the opposite. Metro lines help between downtown, Hollywood, Pasadena and Santa Monica, but most visitors hire a car or use ride-hailing, and a careless itinerary loses hours on the freeways.

Los Angeles is a serious shopping city, from the luxury houses of Rodeo Drive to streetwear on Melrose, independent shops on Abbot Kinney and vintage at the Rose Bowl flea market. Telluride has a few pleasant blocks of galleries, Western clothing, bookshops and ski gear, all expensive and worth an hour's browse rather than the journey.

Neither is cheap, but Los Angeles is easier on the wallet. Taco trucks and Koreatown kitchens feed you well for little, and the beaches, Griffith Observatory and the Getty's collections cost nothing, which offsets the bills for hotels, the car and parking.

Telluride is near the top of the North American market for rooms, lift tickets and meals, and there is no cheap food scene to soften it. The free gondola helps, and staying in Ridgway saves money at the cost of a daily drive.

Los Angeles has a full year of it: the LA Philharmonic at Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Hollywood Bowl, LA Opera, Broadway tours at the Pantages, rock rooms on the Sunset Strip and some of the best comedy clubs anywhere.

Telluride's strength is its summer festivals, led by the Bluegrass Festival in Town Park and the film festival over Labor Day, and the Sheridan Opera House puts on shows through the rest of the year. Outside those weekends there is little on.

Los Angeles comes out ahead thanks to Koreatown, where Korean bathhouses with hot and cold pools, scrubs and heated floors stay open late or around the clock, alongside the yoga studios and Beverly Hills spas. The city itself is tiring, though.

Telluride is the calmer place to be, with hotel spas in Mountain Village after skiing and the hot springs at Ouray and Ridgway an hour away. The altitude can make the first nights restless.