Park City or Portland?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Portland has a little more water to enjoy. In summer, locals swim from small sandy river beaches on the Willamette downtown and in Sellwood, and from the longer beaches on Sauvie Island. Cannon Beach on the Oregon coast makes a good day out for sand and sea stacks, though not really for swimming.

In Park City, swimming means Jordanelle Reservoir in high summer, where the water is cool and the season short. Otherwise it means hotel pools and hot tubs.

Portland is by far the better place to eat and drink. Its food cart pods put Thai, Georgian, Mexican and barbecue side by side, and its neighbourhood restaurants cook with salmon, Dungeness crab and hazelnuts. The breweries, coffee roasters and Willamette Valley pinot give every day something to drink.

Park City eats well for a mountain town. It has polished dining on Main Street built around elk, bison and trout, and après-ski on the slopeside decks is a ritual of its own. The range is narrow, though, cheaper meals lean on the chains at Kimball Junction, and for variety people drive down to Salt Lake City.

Neither is a sightseeing city, but Portland fills two or three days where Park City fills an afternoon. Portland's highlights are the walled Lan Su Chinese Garden and the Japanese Garden in Washington Park. The Portland Art Museum adds its Native American and Northwest collections, and the Oregon Historical Society tells the story of the Oregon Trail.

Park City's heritage is its silver-mining past. You can see it in the wooden storefronts of Main Street, the old headframes on the slopes and the Park City Museum with its basement jail cells, and the Utah Olympic Park adds ski and Olympic museums.

Portland gives you a proper night out of the bar-hopping kind. Taprooms, dive bars with pinball machines and careful cocktail bars line strips such as Alberta, Division and Hawthorne, and they serve until around 2.30am. There are few clubs, but plenty to fill a long evening.

Park City's evenings peak early, with après-ski on the decks. After that comes a short run of saloons on Main Street that gets rowdy on winter weekends and empties well before the small hours. In summer it goes quiet even earlier.

Both are excellent bases for the outdoors, but Park City puts the mountains right at the door. Two large ski areas rise straight from town, and Alta and Snowbird are within an hour over the ridge. In summer, hundreds of kilometres of singletrack and lift-served biking start from the streets.

Portland's outdoors are more varied but mostly further out. Forest Park's trails begin in the city, the waterfalls of the Columbia River Gorge are half an hour away, and Mount Hood's skiing is about an hour and a half's drive. Its wet winters also make the best season shorter.

Portland has more worth leaving town for. The wineries of the Willamette Valley are under an hour away, and Astoria has Victorian streets and a strong maritime museum. Cannon Beach and Hood River each make an easy full day, though almost every outing needs a car.

From Park City, the main outing is Salt Lake City, with Temple Square and the State Capitol. The Heber Valley steam railway, chalet-built Midway and Ogden's railroad-era street round out the list, and beyond those it is mostly scenery.

Park City is the easier base for a family, especially on a ski trip. It has well-run ski schools, gentle learning slopes and free buses to the lifts, and at the Utah Olympic Park children can ride the alpine coaster and watch freestyle skiers land in the splash pool. Summer adds alpine slides and climbing walls at the resort bases. The catches are the altitude for small children and the cost of a winter week.

Portland has the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry with its submarine, the zoo in Washington Park and Oaks Amusement Park. Its wet winters push families indoors, though, and parts of downtown can feel uncomfortable.

You can manage without a car in both towns, but in different ways. Park City is small, and free buses link Main Street, both ski bases and Kimball Junction. However, there is no rail, and the airport is a shuttle ride down the canyon.

Portland has the MAX light rail straight from the airport, a streetcar, short downtown blocks and flat, bike-friendly routes along the river. Its east-side neighbourhoods do mean longer bus rides, and in both places the best excursions need a car.

Portland is the better place to shop, and the more individual one. Powell's City of Books fills a whole block in the Pearl District, and vintage clothes, record shops and makers' studios line Mississippi, Alberta and Hawthorne. The Saturday Market sells local crafts, and Oregon charges no sales tax.

Park City's Main Street is pleasant for browsing galleries, cowboy boots and ski fashion, and there is an outlet centre at Kimball Junction. Beyond that there are few local crafts and no market to speak of.

Portland costs considerably less. Hotels are priced like those in any large American city, but food carts, low transit fares and free places such as Forest Park keep daily spending down. Car hire is the main extra.

In ski season, Park City sits at the top of the resort market, and lodging, lift tickets and ski school add up fast, with the festive weeks dearer still. Summer and autumn are much gentler, and many skiers on a budget stay in Salt Lake City or the Heber Valley and drive up for the day.

Portland keeps a full season going. The Oregon Symphony plays in the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, and the opera, ballet and resident theatre companies all perform. Its indie rock and folk circuit puts bands in small east-side rooms most nights, and the Crystal Ballroom has its historic sprung dance floor.

Park City's stages are the Egyptian Theatre on Main Street and the Eccles Center, which hosts touring shows. It comes into its own in summer, when the Utah Symphony plays on the lawns at Deer Valley, and outside those months there is little on.

Park City is the better place to unwind, especially after a day of exercise. The Deer Valley and Canyons lodges have large spas, outdoor hot tubs in the snow come with most stays, and in Midway you can swim in the Homestead Crater, a geothermal pool at about 35°C inside a limestone dome.

Portland's calm comes from its pace, with gardens, forest trails, long café mornings and a few neighbourhood soaking houses. Its nearest natural hot springs are a two-hour drive into the Cascades.