Napa or Seattle?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Seattle at least has water you can get into. Alki Beach and Golden Gardens are sandy spots for sunsets and bonfires, and in high summer the lifeguarded beaches on Lake Washington are warm enough for a proper swim.

Napa has no shore of its own. The cold, rough Sonoma coast is more than an hour away and better for looking at than swimming in, so in Napa swimming means a resort pool or a summer drive to Lake Berryessa.

Napa is the stronger choice for food, because eating and drinking are the reason most people go. It has Cabernet estates along the valley, sparkling wine from Carneros, and restaurants in Yountville and St Helena that rank among the most celebrated in the country. Its weak point is range: cheap eating hardly goes beyond the taquerias and the Oxbow Public Market.

Seattle has fewer destination restaurants but more variety at the casual end. You'll find oysters, Dungeness crab and salmon at Pike Place Market, serious coffee in every neighbourhood, craft beer, and strong Vietnamese, Chinese and Korean cooking in the International District.

Seattle can fill two or three days with sights. There is the Space Needle and Chihuly glass at Seattle Center, the Museum of Pop Culture, the Burke Museum's Northwest Coast art and the huge Museum of Flight. Napa runs out within a day: the 1880 Opera House, a few Victorian blocks downtown, the di Rosa art estate in Carneros and the old stone wineries up the valley. Neither is a heritage city, but only Seattle can carry a trip planned around sightseeing.

Seattle offers a real night out. Capitol Hill's Pike and Pine strip has cocktail bars, dive bars and dance floors and is the centre of the city's LGBTQ+ scene, while Ballard has brewery taprooms and Belltown has a younger club crowd. The night still ends at last call.

In Napa the evening is a long dinner and perhaps a glass at a downtown wine bar. The town is quiet by late evening, and anyone wanting more has to go to San Francisco, about an hour away.

Both have scenery close by, but Seattle's is grander and more varied. The Cascades begin within an hour, Mount Rainier's glaciers and alpine meadows are about two hours away, and the Olympic rainforest lies across the Sound. Kayaking on Lake Union or spotting seals from a ferry fits easily into an ordinary city day.

Napa's landscape is gentler: vineyards between the Mayacamas range and the Vaca hills, balloon flights at dawn and a flat cycling trail along the valley floor. For walking there are the redwoods of Bothe-Napa Valley and the climb up Mount St Helena, though the summer heat pushes outings to the early morning.

Napa is the better base for days out. Yountville, St Helena and Calistoga are short drives, and Sonoma's plaza and mission are about half an hour over the Carneros hills. Healdsburg and the Russian River valley make a second wine region, and San Francisco is about an hour away by car or by ferry from Vallejo.

Seattle's best days out are by ferry, to Bainbridge Island or the Victorian seaport of Port Townsend. Tacoma's Museum of Glass and the Woodinville tasting rooms are closer, while Vancouver and Leavenworth take longer than a comfortable day.

Seattle is much easier with children. The zoo, the waterfront aquarium, the Pacific Science Center and the summer fountain at Seattle Center are all good, and parks and lake beaches are everywhere. The grey months do mean planning indoor days.

Napa is really built for adults. There is an animal park in Vallejo, a geyser and petting farm near Calistoga and plenty of hotel pools, but days of tasting rooms and long drives in the heat wear young children out quickly.

Seattle is far easier without a car. Link light rail runs from the airport through downtown to Capitol Hill, and a single tap card covers buses, streetcars, the monorail and the ferries, although hills and water make some neighbourhoods slow to reach. You only really need a car for the mountains.

In Napa only the riverfront downtown is walkable. The wineries are spread along some 50km of road, buses are too infrequent to plan a day around, and because tasting and driving don't mix, most visitors hire a driver or join a tour.

Seattle has more to browse. Big outdoor gear stores reflect the city's mountain habits, Capitol Hill has record shops and vintage clothing, Fremont has its Sunday market, Ballard has design shops, and Bellevue across the lake fills the gap in luxury.

Napa's shopping is mostly about wine, often cases shipped home from the cellars you visited. Beyond that there are food gifts and kitchenware at the Oxbow Public Market, St Helena's cookware and gift stores, and an outlet mall.

Neither is cheap, but Seattle is the easier city to manage on a budget. Public transport saves on cars and drivers, and you can eat well and cheaply at teriyaki shops, food halls and Pike Place counters. Staying near the light rail outside the centre helps too.

Napa sits near the very top for cost. Resort rooms are priced for luxury travel, tastings at the famous estates and the celebrated restaurants add up quickly, and a driver for the day is a large extra on its own.

Seattle has a full season of performances. Seattle Opera and Pacific Northwest Ballet share McCaw Hall, the symphony plays at Benaroya Hall, and the 5th Avenue and the Paramount stage musicals. The city of Hendrix and grunge also has bands playing most nights in Belltown, Capitol Hill and Ballard.

Napa offers concerts and comedy at its Opera House and touring acts at an Art Deco theatre. Its main draws are seasonal: a summer classical festival in winery venues and a large rock and pop festival each late spring.

For a trip built around rest, Napa has the clear edge. The classic end to a day of tastings is a soak in volcanic mud at Calistoga, at the top of the valley, and the resort spas in Carneros and the hills put grape seed and other vineyard products into their treatments. For calm without the traffic on the main road, choose weekdays or the quieter months from late autumn to spring.

In Seattle you can book a treatment, but the setting isn't built around it. There are spas in the downtown hotels and a handful of Korean-style bathhouses in the suburbs with steam rooms and body scrubs, but the city never developed a spa culture, and the mountain hot springs are a long drive away. Its slower side is more informal: a long morning over coffee, a walk through the Arboretum or a wet afternoon indoors with a book.