Park City or San Francisco?

Neither city is a place to swim, but San Francisco at least has a shoreline worth visiting. Ocean Beach, Baker Beach beneath the Golden Gate Bridge and the small cove at China Beach are good for long walks, bonfires and sunsets, even if the cold water and rip currents keep most people out of the sea.

Park City has no coast at all. The nearest substitute is Jordanelle Reservoir down the valley, whose sandy swimming areas are usable for a few weeks in high summer. Otherwise, the water you get into is a hotel pool or a hot tub.

The gap here is wide. Park City feeds its ski crowds well along Main Street and at the resort bases, with elk, bison, trout and après-ski craft beer. The range is narrow, though, and the cheaper meals tend to come from the chains at Kimball Junction.

San Francisco is worth crossing the country to eat in. It has Northern California produce and bay seafood, sourdough, cioppino and Dungeness crab, dim sum in Chinatown and the Richmond, Italian bakeries in North Beach, taquerias in the Mission and one of the country's strongest fine-dining scenes.

Park City's heritage is its silver-mining past. You 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 2002 Olympic venues add a second chapter. An afternoon covers it all.

San Francisco gives you several days of sightseeing. There are the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, the cable cars and the painted Victorians, and then the collections at SFMOMA, the de Young, the Legion of Honor and the Asian Art Museum. Chinatown, the Mission's murals and the Castro add neighbourhoods with stories of their own.

Park City's evenings begin on slopeside decks when the lifts close and end on a short run of Main Street saloons and cocktail bars. That strip can be rowdy on winter weekends but is quiet the rest of the year.

San Francisco has far more going on, spread across several districts. There are dive bars and mezcal bars in the Mission, old saloons in North Beach, the Castro's gay bars and SoMa's warehouse clubs for dancing. The bars close at 2am, but that is still a much longer night than the mountain town offers.

Both cities have dramatic surroundings, but Park City is built around its own. Two large ski areas rise from town in the Wasatch, and Alta, Snowbird, Brighton and Solitude are within an hour. In summer there are hundreds of kilometres of singletrack, lifts that carry bikes uphill and fly fishing on the Provo and Weber rivers.

San Francisco's nature is coastal and close at hand. It includes Golden Gate Park, the cliffs at Lands End, the Marin Headlands, the redwoods of Muir Woods and the wild headlands of Point Reyes, and you can sail or go whale watching on the water. It adds a great deal to a city stay, but summer fog and wind come with it.

San Francisco's region offers far more for a day out. You can visit the wineries and small towns of Napa and Sonoma, take a ferry to Sausalito, ride the train to Berkeley or follow the coast to Santa Cruz, the Monterey aquarium and the mission at Carmel.

From Park City, the main outing is Salt Lake City, about 40 minutes down the canyon. Closer in are the Heber Valley steam railway, the Swiss-style chalets of Midway and, further north, Ogden's railroad-era street. After those, what is within reach is mostly scenery.

Both work well with children, in very different ways. Park City is built around ski schools, gentle learning slopes and free buses, plus the alpine coaster and ziplines at the Utah Olympic Park, although the altitude tires small children at first and winter costs mount up.

San Francisco relies on indoor science and the outdoors. It has the Exploratorium, the California Academy of Sciences with its aquarium and rainforest, the zoo and the sea lions at Fisherman's Wharf. The drawbacks are the steep hills with a pushchair and some downtown streets that parents may prefer to avoid on foot.

You can manage both without a car, but San Francisco's transport goes much further. Muni, BART, streetcars, cable cars and ferries cover the whole compact city on one Clipper card, and BART runs straight to the airport. The steep hills are the main obstacle on foot.

Park City's free buses link Main Street, both ski bases and Kimball Junction well. There is no rail, though, the airport is a shuttle ride down the canyon, and trips into the valleys or to other ski areas really need a car.

Park City offers resort shopping. Main Street is pleasant to browse for galleries, cowboy boots, outdoor gear and ski fashion, and the outlets at Kimball Junction cover the basics.

San Francisco has much more to explore. Union Square has the department stores and flagship brands, while the neighbourhoods offer design boutiques in Hayes Valley, bookshops and vintage on Valencia Street, and more vintage in Haight-Ashbury.

Both are expensive, but the costs fall in different places. In Park City the big expenses are lift tickets, ski school and slopeside lodging, at their highest over Christmas and New Year. Summer and autumn bring prices down, and staying in Salt Lake City or the Heber Valley also helps.

In San Francisco the expense is mainly hotel rooms and restaurant bills, with tax and tipping on top. You can save with Mission taquerias, Chinatown dim sum, reasonably priced public transport and free parks, bridge walks and coastal trails.

San Francisco has a full year-round programme. San Francisco Opera and Ballet perform at the War Memorial Opera House, the Symphony plays at Davies Hall, and the American Conservatory Theater, the SFJAZZ Center and the Fillmore add drama, jazz and rock.

Park City has the 1920s Egyptian Theatre on Main Street and touring shows at the Eccles Center. Summer is its best season, when the Utah Symphony plays outdoors at Deer Valley, but for opera or ballet you have to drive to Salt Lake City.

Park City is the more restful of the two. Its relaxation centres on soaking after a day outdoors, in the large lodge spas at Deer Valley and the Canyons, in outdoor hot tubs under the snow, and at the Homestead Crater in Midway, a warm spring inside a limestone dome.

San Francisco has a Japanese-style bathhouse in Japantown, plenty of day spas and the calm of the Japanese Tea Garden. The city moves at a working pace, though, and real hot springs mean a two-hour drive to Calistoga.