Olympic National Park or Yosemite?

Neither park has a beach for a swimming vacation, but what they offer is quite different. Olympic has a real ocean shore at Rialto, Ruby and Second Beach, with sea stacks, driftwood and tide pools to explore. The surf is cold and dangerous, though, so swimming means a quick, chilly dip in Lake Crescent.

Yosemite has no coast, only fresh water. In late summer the Merced River slows into pools and sandbars for wading, and Tenaya Lake has a sandy shore. Bass Lake, just outside the park, is warm enough for a proper afternoon in the water.

Olympic eats noticeably better because it has real towns on its edge. Port Townsend has bakeries, seafood places and local cider, and the peninsula's own produce is very good: Dungeness crab, Hood Canal oysters and smoked salmon.

In Yosemite you eat at lodge dining rooms, cafeterias and pizza counters, and the grand historic dining room in the Valley is the only memorable setting. The gateway towns offer diners and Mexican cooking, so a campsite meal is often the best of the day.

Olympic has more to see that people built. Port Townsend's brick waterfront and hilltop Victorian houses survive almost whole, Fort Worden sits on its edge, and the Makah Museum at Neah Bay shows the Ozette village finds and the whaling culture of the coast's Native peoples.

Yosemite's heritage is a short list centred on the Valley: rustic timber and stone park architecture, the Yosemite Museum's Miwok basketry and Ansel Adams's photographs, plus the pioneer cabins at Wawona. Each takes an hour or two.

Neither park has nightlife, and both go quiet after dark. Olympic has a little more, with pubs, taprooms and wine bars in Port Townsend and Port Angeles where you can stay out for a drink. In Yosemite the evening ends with a drink in a lodge lounge or a ranger talk. Its compensation is the high-country sky, among the clearest in California for stargazing.

These are two of America's great parks and stand level, but they impress in different ways. Olympic's strength is variety: glaciated peaks around Mount Olympus, temperate rainforest in the Hoh and Quinault valleys, and wilderness beach hikes timed to the tides, with elk, marmots and passing grey whales.

Yosemite works by sheer concentration. Granite walls rise about 1,000m from the Valley floor, the waterfalls thunder in spring, and the Mist Trail and Half Dome are classic hikes. Beyond the Valley lie the giant sequoias of Mariposa Grove and the alpine lakes of Tuolumne.

Olympic gives you more reasons to leave the park. The ferry from Port Angeles reaches Victoria, in British Columbia, in about an hour and a half, so bring a passport. Port Townsend, the crossing to Whidbey Island and the drive out to Cape Flattery all make full days.

From Yosemite, the outings are to the Gold Country, where Columbia keeps its whole gold-rush main street, and in summer over Tioga Pass to the ghost town of Bodie. Once snow closes the pass, the eastern trips are no longer possible.

Olympic is the easier park for children, provided the family doesn't mind rain gear. There are tide pools, elk to spot, short flat trails like the walk to Marymere Falls, and a small marine life centre in Port Angeles. The catch is the hours of driving between areas.

Yosemite's flat Valley floor, with its cycle paths, meadows and Junior Ranger programme, suits children who already hike and camp. Crowds, cliff edges, fast spring rivers and bears all demand more supervision, though.

Both parks are hard work without a car. The difference is where that changes. On the Olympic Peninsula a car is essential everywhere: no road crosses the mountains, so you drive around the edge on Highway 101, and Port Angeles to the Hoh takes about two hours.

Yosemite Valley can be visited without a car. A regional bus runs from the train station at Merced, and free shuttles and bike paths cover the valley floor. Glacier Point, Mariposa Grove and Tuolumne each mean an hour or more of winding road, and summer brings queues at the gates.

Shopping is not a reason to visit either park, but Olympic has a little more of it. Port Townsend's Victorian main street has galleries, antiques and bookshops, Sequim sells lavender in every form, and Native carvings turn up on the coast. In Yosemite there are park stores and a long-standing Valley gallery of landscape prints, and that is about all.

Olympic is the cheaper of the two, mainly because there is more to choose from. Motels in Port Angeles, Sequim and Forks and plenty of campsites keep costs reasonable, even though the park lodges are expensive.

In Yosemite, the few rooms inside the park sell out at high prices, and the gateway towns charge peak rates all summer. The very cheap campsites are hard to get, so a winter visit or a base down in the foothills is the way to save.

Olympic has a modest but real live scene, all of it in Port Townsend and Port Angeles. The arts centre at Fort Worden has long held summer festivals of jazz, blues and old-time fiddle, alongside a small professional theatre and a community symphony.

Yosemite has ranger campfire talks and the odd one-person historical show in the Valley. Beyond that there are only Sonora's small repertory theatre and summer concerts down in the foothills.

Olympic is the better place to slow down. The Sol Duc hot springs feed simple pools at the end of a forest road, and quiet lodges on Lake Crescent and Lake Quinault, many without phone signal, make it easy to switch off.

Yosemite's soaks are outside the park: resort spas near the southern entrance, and in summer the open-air hot springs around Bridgeport and Mammoth Lakes beyond Tioga Pass. The Valley in July is too busy to feel restful, so quiet means the high country or winter.