Park City or San Diego?

Park City has no coast at all. Summer swimming means Jordanelle Reservoir down the valley, where the water is cool and the season short, and most visitors only get wet in a hotel hot tub.

San Diego is built around its shore, from Coronado's wide sand and the Mission Beach boardwalk to quieter cliff-backed beaches in North County. The Pacific stays cool, though, so swimming is mainly a late-summer pleasure and winter surfers wear wetsuits.

Park City eats well for a town its size. Main Street serves polished mountain cooking such as elk, bison and trout, and après-ski on slopeside decks is a ritual of its own. The range is narrow, though, and cheaper meals often mean the chains at Kimball Junction.

San Diego has far more to discover. There are Baja-style fish tacos, the local California burrito, Korean, Japanese and Vietnamese kitchens along Convoy Street, and one of the densest craft-beer scenes in the country. The style is casual rather than grand, but you will eat much more widely here.

Park City's heritage is its silver-mining past. The Park City Museum tells that story, and you can see it in Main Street's wooden storefronts and the old headframes on the slopes. Add the Olympic Park museums and an afternoon covers it.

San Diego needs a full day for Balboa Park's museums alone. Beyond the park there are the USS Midway, Old Town's adobe buildings, the first of California's missions and Cabrillo National Monument. None of it is world class, but there is far more to fill a culture-minded trip.

Park City's evenings peak early, on slopeside decks as the lifts close. Then they move to a short run of Main Street saloons and cocktail bars that are lively on winter weekends and quiet the rest of the year.

San Diego has several distinct scenes. The Gaslamp Quarter has clubs and rooftop bars, Pacific Beach is a young beach-town bar strip, North Park has taprooms, and Hillcrest is the centre of the gay bar scene. It is not a party city, but there is much more choice for a night out.

This is Park City's strongest card. Two large ski areas rise straight from town, and Alta, Snowbird, Brighton and Solitude are within an hour. In summer the same slopes become a mountain-biking and hiking base, with fly fishing on the Provo and Weber rivers.

San Diego's outdoors are gentler and can be enjoyed all year. There are bluff trails at Torrey Pines, sea lions and sea caves at La Jolla Cove, surf breaks along the coast, and forest and desert an hour or more inland. It is excellent for an active seaside trip, but it has no answer to Park City's snow and big mountain terrain.

From Park City, Salt Lake City is the outing that counts, with Temple Square and the domed State Capitol. Closer in are the Heber Valley's steam railway and Swiss-style Midway, and Ogden's railroad-era street is further north. Beyond those it is mostly scenery.

San Diego's list is broader and more unusual. Tijuana is a trolley ride and a short walk away, the Valle de Guadalupe vineyards lie across the border, and Temecula's wine country and the coastal towns up the line are easy to reach. Most of these still need a car.

Park City works well for a family ski trip. It has well-run ski schools, free buses, and the alpine coaster and ziplines at the Olympic Park. Altitude can tire small children for the first day or two, though, and there is no zoo or theme park in town.

San Diego is one of the easiest cities in the country for children. The zoo, the Safari Park, SeaWorld, Legoland and the Birch Aquarium are all within reach, and mild weather keeps plans on track. The big attractions are far apart, so expect to spend a day on each.

Park City is easier to get around once you have arrived. Free buses link Old Town, both ski bases and Kimball Junction, so many visitors never need a car in town. There is no rail, though, and the airport is about 40 minutes away by shuttle.

In San Diego, downtown, Little Italy and the waterfront are easy on foot, and the trolley reaches Old Town and the border. La Jolla, the beaches and the big parks are far apart, however, and buses are slow, so most visitors end up hiring a car.

Neither city is a shopping destination. Park City's Main Street is resort browsing, with galleries, Western wear, cowboy boots and ski fashion, plus an outlet centre at Kimball Junction.

San Diego has a little more range. You will find luxury brands at Fashion Valley, independent and vintage shops in Little Italy and North Park, Mexican crafts in Old Town and a large outlet centre by the border.

Both cities are expensive, and Park City is the costlier of the two in ski season. Slopeside lodging, lift tickets and ski school all sit at the top of the resort market, and the Christmas and New Year weeks cost even more. Summer and autumn are much cheaper, and staying in Salt Lake City or the Heber Valley is a common way to save.

In San Diego the big costs are beachside hotels and high admission at the major attractions. Taco shops, free beaches and the gardens of Balboa Park make cheaper days easy to put together.

Park City's stage life centres on the 1920s Egyptian Theatre on Main Street. In summer the Utah Symphony plays on the lawns at Deer Valley, but for the rest of the year the programme is thin.

San Diego has two serious producing theatres, the Old Globe and the La Jolla Playhouse, and both have launched shows that went on to Broadway. There is also a symphony season on the bay and a short opera season, so a theatre lover will find much more here.

For pure unwinding, Park City has a slight edge. The Deer Valley and Canyons lodges have large spas, outdoor hot tubs under the snow come with most stays, and the Homestead Crater in Midway lets you swim in a warm spring inside a limestone dome.

San Diego's restfulness is more about pace. There are resort spas in La Jolla and Coronado, a long yoga tradition in Encinitas and slow beach-town mornings, though downtown and Pacific Beach are far from quiet.