Mammoth Lakes or Napa?

Neither town is a beach destination, but Mammoth Lakes at least offers a bracing mountain swim. In July and August people swim at Horseshoe Lake in the Lakes Basin or in the slightly warmer Crowley Lake. Napa's nearest coast is the cold, rough shore at Bodega Bay, more than an hour away, so swimming there means a drive to Lake Berryessa or, more often, the hotel pool.

Mammoth Lakes feeds people who have spent the day outside. You get big breakfasts before the lifts, burgers, pizza, steakhouses and beer brewed in town. It is satisfying, but nobody plans a trip around it, and some kitchens scale back in the quiet months.

In Napa the food is the trip. Tastings run from grand Cabernet estates to small cellars in the side valleys, Carneros adds Pinot Noir and sparkling wine, and Yountville and St Helena have some of the most celebrated restaurants in the country. The Oxbow Public Market and the taquerias fill in the more casual end.

Neither is a sightseeing town, but Napa gives a curious visitor more to look at. It has Victorian buildings along First Street, the restored 1880 Opera House, the di Rosa art estate in Carneros and old stone wineries up the valley. Mammoth Lakes is mostly modern lodges and condominiums, and its small log-cabin history museum is nearly the whole list in town.

Both towns go quiet early, so the difference is in the mood. Mammoth Lakes has après-ski: bars by the lifts and brewery taprooms fill in the late afternoon, and long ski weekends can run late. In Napa the evening is a long dinner followed by a glass at a riverfront wine bar. For a proper night out, people drive to San Francisco, about an hour away.

Mammoth Lakes is one of the great mountain bases in the American West. Its huge ski area often stays open into early summer, and then the same mountain becomes a bike park. The Lakes Basin, Reds Meadow, Rainbow Falls and the Ansel Adams and John Muir wildernesses all start close to town. Further out are Convict Lake, the tufa towers of Mono Lake and, once Tioga Pass opens, Tuolumne Meadows.

Napa's landscape is gentler and shaped by farming. It has a vineyard floor between two ranges, mustard flowers in spring and balloons at dawn. You can walk among the redwoods in Bothe-Napa Valley State Park or climb Mount St Helena. It is lovely for cycling and easy walks, but nothing like the scale of the high Sierra.

Napa is well placed for day trips. Yountville, St Helena and Calistoga are short drives up the valley. Sonoma's plaza and mission are about half an hour away, Healdsburg and the Russian River make a second wine country, and San Francisco is an hour away by car or by ferry from Vallejo.

From Mammoth Lakes the options are few and far apart along the highway. The Bodie ghost town and the Manzanar internment camp are both worth the drive, but most outings from here go into the mountains rather than to other towns.

Mammoth Lakes suits outdoor families well. It has a large ski school, gentle beginner slopes and a snow tubing hill in winter, and rowing boats, trout fishing and the summit gondola in summer. The weak spots are bad-weather days, with no museums or zoos, and the altitude, which can tire small children for the first day or two.

Napa is mainly a place for adults, and a day of tastings bores children. A theme and animal park in Vallejo, the geyser near Calistoga and hotel pools help, but the summer heat and long drives make it harder going.

Both need a car beyond the centre, but Mammoth Lakes is easier without one. In winter, free shuttles and the Village gondola connect the lodgings with the lifts. In summer, a trolley serves the Lakes Basin and a shuttle runs into Reds Meadow. Wider Eastern Sierra trips still mean driving, sometimes with snow chains.

Downtown Napa is compact and walkable, but the wineries are spread along some 50km of valley with sparse buses. Since tasting and driving do not mix, many visitors pay for a driver or a tour.

Napa has more to browse, though mostly around food and wine. Visitors ship cases home from cellars, buy olive oil and kitchenware at the Oxbow market, and stroll the gift and cookware shops on St Helena's main street, with an outlet mall for familiar brands. Mammoth Lakes is for buying kit: ski, climbing and fly-fishing shops, rental outlets and a few galleries of landscape photography.

Neither is cheap, but Mammoth Lakes leaves more room to save. In winter the lift tickets, rentals and lodging are expensive. In summer, though, hiking, the lakes and scenic drives cost little, and a condominium kitchen cuts the cost of eating out.

Napa is priced for luxury throughout. Boutique and resort rooms, tastings at the famous estates and a driver for the day all add up quickly. Staying further south and eating at taquerias softens the bill without making it a budget trip.

Napa has more to choose from. The 1880 Opera House puts on concerts and comedy, a restored Art Deco theatre hosts touring bands, and summer brings a classical festival in winery venues and a large rock and pop festival in late spring. Mammoth Lakes offers community theatre on the college campus, a summer jazz festival and chamber concerts in mountain meadows. These make a pleasant evening, but nobody would plan a trip around them.

Napa is built for slowing down. Calistoga has offered volcanic mud baths and mineral pools since the nineteenth century, the resorts in Carneros and the hills have large spas, and a typical day of late breakfasts and long lunches is unhurried by design.

Mammoth Lakes has a wilder version. You can soak in undeveloped hot springs out in the sagebrush, facing the Sierra, though without any facilities. The lodges have hot tubs and massage for sore legs, but there is nothing like Napa's spa culture.