Monterey or Salt Lake City?

Neither city is a swimming destination, but Monterey at least has proper beaches. The sand at Carmel, the dunes at Asilomar and the shallows by the wharf make good settings for picnics, surf-watching and the odd paddle on a warm autumn day, though the bay stays cold and rip currents are common.

Salt Lake City has no coast at all. The Great Salt Lake is a one-time novelty for floating, with muddy shores and brine flies, and real swimming means driving up to reservoirs such as Jordanelle or Pineview in summer.

The two eat about equally well, but from very different larders. Monterey's strength is the sea and the Salinas Valley: squid, Dungeness crab and sand dabs, local artichokes, and Pinot Noir from the Santa Lucia Highlands, with the best tables away from the wharf in Old Monterey, Pacific Grove and Carmel.

Salt Lake City's best meals come from the Mexican, Pacific Islander, Peruvian and Vietnamese kitchens along State Street, alongside quirky local habits like fry sauce and dirty sodas. Wine lovers will find Monterey far more rewarding, since Utah's drinking rules thin out the cocktail and wine scene.

Both offer compact, two-day history rather than great museums, and the difference is in the story told. Monterey's adobes, the Custom House and Colton Hall recall Spanish and Mexican California, and the Carmel Mission and Steinbeck's Cannery Row add to it.

Salt Lake City's sights revolve around its founding faith, with Temple Square, the Tabernacle and the Beehive House at the centre, plus the State Capitol and a strong dinosaur collection at the Natural History Museum.

Salt Lake City offers somewhat more after dark, with bars, breweries and a few dance clubs downtown and in the Granary District and a long-established gay scene, though liquor laws keep things restrained. Monterey has no clubs at all: a few pubs and wine bars on Alvarado Street, hotel bars on Cannery Row, and a town that is mostly asleep before midnight.

Both are superb for the outdoors, with Salt Lake City just ahead thanks to sheer range. Monterey's draw is marine. Whales pass over the submarine canyon, otters float in the kelp, and kayaking, diving and the cliff walks of Point Lobos and Big Sur are all close.

Salt Lake City has the Wasatch rising straight from town to peaks over 3,000m, with deep-powder skiing in winter, alpine lakes and wildflowers in summer, and foothill trails from the Avenues. Westward, it adds the bison of Antelope Island and the Bonneville Salt Flats.

Monterey is better placed for outings. Carmel, Pacific Grove, Carmel Valley's wineries, Steinbeck's Salinas and Santa Cruz's boardwalk are all within an hour, so a week can be filled without long drives.

Salt Lake City has Park City's old silver-mining Main Street, Midway and Ogden's 25th Street, but the list ends quickly, and Utah's famous national parks are four hours or more away and need overnight stays.

Salt Lake City is the more child-centred place overall. It has a zoo, an aquarium, a planetarium, a children's museum, the big coasters at Lagoon and ski schools in winter, and it is a city where restaurants simply expect families.

Monterey has one outstanding attraction in its aquarium, plus tide pools, whale-watching boats and otters along the waterfront path. Its cold water limits beach play, and in both places most outings beyond the centre need a car.

Both are essentially car destinations, but the centres work differently. Monterey's waterfront is easy on foot or by hired bike along the flat coastal trail from the wharf to the aquarium and Pacific Grove, while buses are sparse.

Salt Lake City has real rail in TRAX and the FrontRunner, which link the airport, the university, Ogden and Provo. Its wide streets and long blocks make walking feel slower than the map suggests.

Neither is a shopping destination, and each has one useful speciality. Monterey's best browsing is next door in Carmel's galleries and boutiques and in Pacific Grove's antique shops. Salt Lake City offers City Creek Center and Trolley Square for familiar brands, plus excellent local outdoor-gear shops that make it the place to kit out for skiing or climbing.

Salt Lake City is clearly the cheaper stay. Downtown hotels are reasonable, Temple Square is free and light rail costs little, although a winter ski week with lift passes and canyon lodging pushes the bill up sharply.

Monterey is costly almost across the board, with peninsula hotels and Carmel dinners priced for resort guests. Budget travellers there fall back on highway motels in Seaside or Marina, midweek dates and the free pleasures of the shoreline.

Salt Lake City has much more to see and hear. The Tabernacle Choir and its organ are open to the public each week, and the Utah Symphony, Utah Opera, Ballet West and Broadway tours at the Eccles Theater run through the year.

Monterey's musical fame rests on its festivals, chiefly the long-running September jazz festival and the Carmel Bach Festival in summer. Outside those dates the offer is thin.

Both offer calm rather than a bathing culture, so the choice comes down to setting. Monterey relaxes you through fog-softened mornings, shoreline evenings in Pacific Grove and vineyard spas in Carmel Valley. Salt Lake City's highlight is a soak inside the limestone dome of the Homestead Crater at Midway, with resort spas waiting at the end of a ski day.