Mammoth Lakes or Santa Barbara?

Mammoth Lakes has no beach to speak of. The nearest thing is a cold swim in Horseshoe Lake or Crowley Lake in July or August, and most people sit on the shore or take out a kayak instead.

Santa Barbara has a real coastline. East and West Beach lie in town on either side of the wharf, Arroyo Burro and Leadbetter are just to the west, and Carpinteria's shallow state beach is good for small children. Even here the Pacific is cool and many swimmers wear wetsuits, but the beaches are sheltered and the surf is gentle.

Santa Barbara eats far better. Its cooking has a clear local character: spot prawns and sea urchin from the harbour, well-stocked farmers' markets, and pinot noir from the Santa Rita Hills poured in the Funk Zone tasting rooms. The taquerias of Milpas Street are a cheaper alternative.

Mammoth Lakes feeds hungry skiers and hikers well enough, with big breakfasts, burgers, steakhouses and beer brewed in town. There is no regional cooking or market to look for, though, and some kitchens cut back in the quiet months.

Here the gap is wide. Mammoth Lakes is a modern resort of lodges and condominiums, and its small museum in a log cabin is close to the only sight. The region's real history, at Bodie and Manzanar, is an hour or more away.

In Santa Barbara the town itself is the attraction. The red-tiled centre was rebuilt after the 1925 earthquake, and it has the County Courthouse with its clock tower, the Old Mission, the Presidio and two respectable museums. That makes a light sightseeing programme rather than a heavy one, but there is something worth looking at on most streets.

Neither town is made for late nights, but Santa Barbara gives more choice. Its evenings run from the Funk Zone tasting rooms and breweries to the student bars and small dance floors of lower State Street at weekends.

In Mammoth Lakes the evening peaks at après-ski in the Village in winter and then empties early. Outside the ski season the town is asleep well before midnight.

Both are outdoor places, but Mammoth Lakes is the more spectacular. It has a huge ski mountain where the snow often lasts into early summer, the granite-ringed lakes of the Lakes Basin, Devils Postpile and the tufa towers of Mono Lake. When Tioga Pass opens, Tuolumne Meadows is about an hour away. The thin air at 2,400m comes with all of it.

Santa Barbara's strength is mountains and sea together. Canyon trails such as Rattlesnake and Seven Falls climb straight from town to ridges with views over the channel, and boats go out to see grey, humpback and blue whales. Channel Islands National Park and the point break at Rincon add sea kayaking and surfing, which a mountain town cannot offer.

Santa Barbara has the better day trips. Over the mountains, the Santa Ynez Valley has wineries around Los Olivos and Los Alamos, the Danish-founded town of Solvang and the restored mission at La Purisima. Ojai and Ventura are easy second choices.

From Mammoth Lakes the day trips are long drives along one highway: Bodie's ghost town to the north, Bishop and Manzanar to the south. They are worth the effort, but there are only a few, and most days out from here are spent in the mountains instead.

Mammoth Lakes suits active families more than those with very young children. It has a large ski school and a tubing hill in winter, and in summer rowing boats, trout fishing and picnics in the Lakes Basin, plus the gondola ride to the summit for older children. There is nothing indoors for a snowy day, though, and the altitude can tire small children for the first day or two.

Santa Barbara is the slightly easier all-round choice. On a wet day the Sea Center's touch tanks, the hands-on MOXI science museum and the planetarium at the Museum of Natural History keep children busy, and on fine days the small zoo on its hill above the beach, the calm water at Carpinteria and the shoreline bike path fill the time in any season.

In both towns most visitors end up driving some of the time, but for different reasons. Santa Barbara has a flat, walkable downtown, a level shoreline path and a train stop near the beach. You need a car for the wine country, Ojai and the beaches outside town.

Mammoth Lakes is spread along a few roads, but free winter shuttles and the gondola from the Village make a ski trip possible without a car. In summer a trolley and the Reds Meadow shuttle help. The rest of the Eastern Sierra means long drives, and in winter you sometimes need snow chains.

Santa Barbara is clearly better for shopping. It has boutiques around the courtyard paseos off State Street, such as La Arcada, upmarket fashion on Coast Village Road in Montecito, and galleries in the Funk Zone. Wine and farmers' market produce are the best things to take home.

Mammoth Lakes sells what you need for the mountains: ski, climbing and fly-fishing gear, rentals and landscape photography. Beyond that there is little except souvenirs in the Village.

Both are resort towns that charge resort prices, but Mammoth Lakes is a little easier on the wallet, mainly outside the ski season. In winter the gap closes or reverses. A lift pass at a major American ski area, rental gear and lodging in the peak weeks can make a ski trip here cost as much as a summer week in Santa Barbara, or more. From late spring to autumn the balance tips Mammoth's way, because the lakes, trails and high-country drives cost almost nothing, and rooms ease off in the shoulder months.

Santa Barbara's costs are highest at the opposite time of year, on summer weekends, and they hit hardest in rooms by the sea and in Montecito, which cost more than almost anywhere else on the California coast. Good eating and wine tasting are much of the reason to come, so spending is harder to avoid than in a mountain town where cooking for yourself costs you little. The cheapest way to do Santa Barbara is midweek in the cooler months, with a base in Goleta or Ventura.

Santa Barbara has a far fuller stage life for a city its size. The restored Granada hosts the symphony, opera and ballet, the historic Lobero has chamber music and jazz, and touring bands play the Bowl, an amphitheatre in a canyon above town. Each summer the Music Academy of the West adds concerts by young professionals.

Mammoth Lakes has a community theatre on the college campus, a summer jazz festival, a chamber music series and outdoor concerts in a meadow. These make pleasant extras, but not a reason to plan a trip.

Mammoth Lakes offers wild hot springs, simple pools reached by dirt road out in the sagebrush, with the Sierra across the valley. After a day of skiing you can follow them with a hot tub or massage at one of the lodges.

Santa Barbara's version is the polished resort spa, found in Montecito and along the beachfront, with yoga studios and mild, sunny mornings around them. The spa resorts of the Ojai Valley are an hour away, and the nearest thing to a natural soak is a hike up to small hot pools in the hills.