Napa or Sonoma?

Neither town is a place for the sea. Both are well over an hour from the cold, rough water at Bodega Bay, and hotel pools do most of the work in summer.

The difference is in where you go for a freshwater swim. From Napa, locals head east to Lake Berryessa, a large reservoir where you can boat as well as swim. From Sonoma, the pull is north to the gravel beaches of the Russian River, where you can spend a lazy afternoon in the shallows.

Both places revolve around wine, but Napa goes further on the plate. Yountville and St Helena hold a cluster of restaurants famous across the country, and Napa town adds the Oxbow market hall, a riverfront of wine bars and taquerias run for vineyard workers. Cabernet is the signature, with Carneros Pinot and sparkling wine to the south.

Sonoma eats well but on a smaller stage, with a handful of restaurants around the plaza and in Glen Ellen. Old-vine Zinfandel is its distinctive glass. It is ideal for a long, unhurried lunch, but over a week you will find less variety than in Napa.

Sonoma has the more interesting history. The broad plaza where the California Republic was briefly declared in 1846 is still the heart of town, with Mission San Francisco Solano, the adobe barracks and General Vallejo's Gothic house all within a short walk. Jack London's ruined Wolf House is nearby in Glen Ellen.

Napa offers less: some Victorian streets downtown, the 1880 opera house, the di Rosa contemporary art estate in Carneros and the old stone wineries up the valley. Neither is a museum destination, but Sonoma's past is more tangible.

Both towns are quiet by late evening, and neither has clubs. Napa's evenings have a little more choice, with cocktail bars and pubs along First Street and the river that fill up on summer weekends. Sonoma's are centred on the plaza's wine bars, a brewpub and a couple of saloons. For a real night out, people go to San Francisco from Napa, or to Santa Rosa or the city from Sonoma.

The two valleys look much alike, vineyard floors between wooded ranges with balloons rising over the vines at dawn, but Sonoma makes it easier to get out into the hills. Napa's outdoors is mostly on the flat and on the water. A paved trail runs through much of the valley for cycling and the river can be paddled near town. Walkers have Skyline park on the edge of town, the redwoods at Bothe-Napa and the long climb of Mount St Helena, though each takes a drive.

In Sonoma the hills begin almost at the plaza, with a trail up to the Sonoma Overlook. Jack London park and Sugarloaf Ridge, with redwood groves, oak meadows and the view from Bald Mountain, are a short drive up the valley. Quiet back roads through the vines suit cycling, and the wild Sonoma Coast headlands and Point Reyes are within about an hour, close enough for an easy day out.

Each town is the obvious day out from the other, and both are about an hour from San Francisco. Napa has slightly more range. Sacramento's old town and capitol are a little over an hour east, and you can reach the city by ferry from Vallejo without driving all the way.

From Sonoma, the closer outings include Petaluma's Victorian riverfront, Healdsburg and Sausalito and Tiburon on the bay. Outside the city, though, most of them are yet another wine town.

Both are adult places built around tasting rooms, and both are safe and calm with children who are content to tag along. Napa has the theme and animal park in Vallejo and a geyser near Calistoga. Sonoma has a miniature railway just south of town and an African wildlife park near Santa Rosa. With young children, either works best as a day trip from a city base.

Both have walkable centres, Napa's around the riverfront and market hall and Sonoma's around the plaza, where several tasting rooms are a few blocks apart. Sonoma's centre is slightly easier on foot for a tasting day. Napa's wineries are strung along some 50km of valley, with a cycle trail and slow summer traffic on the main road. Either way, a car, a driver or a tour is the realistic answer.

Wine shipped home from the cellars is the main purchase in both. Napa has more to browse beyond the cellars: the market hall for olive oil and kitchenware, the cookware and design shops on St Helena's main street, and an outlet mall for familiar brands.

Sonoma keeps it smaller. You stroll the plaza's arcades for galleries, cheese and home goods, and the summer farmers' market sells local produce. Neither offers much fashion.

Both are expensive, so the choice here comes down to how you save. Around Napa, the cheaper option is a chain hotel further south, with meals at the taquerias and the market hall. From Sonoma, budget travellers tend to sleep in Santa Rosa or Petaluma and picnic among the vines. In either valley, tasting fees and the cost of a driver add up quickly.

Both have a thin year-round programme and send serious opera and theatre fans to San Francisco, but their summer highlights differ. Napa has a classical festival in winery venues and a large rock and pop festival at the fairgrounds in late spring. Sonoma has outdoor concerts among the ruins at Jack London park and, about half an hour away, the Green Music Center, a fine hall that attracts touring orchestras.

Napa's valley includes Calistoga, a hot spring town since the nineteenth century, where mud baths and mineral pools are the traditional way to finish a day of tastings. Closer to town, the large resort spas in Carneros and the hills add plenty of choice.

Sonoma has one historic source at Boyes Hot Springs, feeding a single resort spa with day passes, and Calistoga is about an hour away over the hills. What it offers instead is its slow, quiet days on the plaza.