Park City or Santa Barbara?

Only one of these is a beach destination. In Park City, getting in the water means a short summer season at Jordanelle Reservoir, which has sandy swimming areas below the mountains, or more often a hotel pool and hot tub.

Santa Barbara has a real coast. East Beach and West Beach lie either side of Stearns Wharf, Butterfly Beach is below Montecito, and Carpinteria's long, shallow sands suit small children, with the Channel Islands keeping the surf gentle. The Pacific stays cool, though, so swims are short and wetsuits are common.

Santa Barbara gives you more to eat and drink for its own sake. Spot prawns and sea urchin come in on the harbour boats, the farmers' markets are well stocked, and you can walk between wine tasting rooms in the Funk Zone before heading to Milpas Street for tacos.

Park City's strength is polished mountain cooking on Main Street, with elk, bison and trout, plus the après-ski ritual on slopeside decks. Beyond that the choice narrows to the chains at Kimball Junction, and for more variety you drive down to Salt Lake City.

In both towns the town itself is the main sight, but Santa Barbara's is the richer one. After 1925 its centre was rebuilt in white stucco and red tile, and the County Courthouse, the Old Mission, the Presidio and two good museums fill two or three days.

Park City's heritage is the silver-mining story, told by Main Street's wooden storefronts, the old headframes on the slopes and the Park City Museum. The Olympic Park adds some ski history, and an afternoon covers it all.

Neither town stays up late, but Santa Barbara gives you a little more for an evening. Tasting rooms and breweries in the Funk Zone are busy early on, then come the bars and small dance floors of lower State Street, fullest when students are out at weekends.

In Park City, evenings start on the slopeside decks as the lifts close and then move to a short run of saloons and cocktail bars on Main Street. Ski-season weekends are lively, and the rest of the year is quiet.

Park City has more to offer outdoors. Two major ski areas start at the edge of town at around 2,100m, with Utah's dry powder and four more resorts over the ridge. In summer there are hundreds of kilometres of singletrack, lifts that carry bikes uphill, and fly fishing on the Provo and Weber rivers.

Santa Barbara combines mountains and sea instead. Trails such as Rattlesnake Canyon and Seven Falls climb the Santa Ynez Mountains straight from town, and boats leave the harbour for whale watching, with kayaking along the shore and the Channel Islands a boat ride away. There are no snow sports, and summer fires sometimes close trails.

Santa Barbara has the better day out, over the mountains to the Santa Ynez Valley. Wine towns such as Los Olivos sit close to Solvang, founded by Danish settlers, and the restored mission at La Purisima. Ojai and Ventura make shorter outings, while Los Angeles is far enough away to deserve a stay of its own.

From Park City, Salt Lake City is the main draw, with Temple Square and the domed Capitol. The Heber Valley's steam railway and Swiss-style Midway are close by. Beyond Ogden and the canyon road past Sundance, most outings are for the scenery rather than for towns.

Both are safe and easy places to bring children, but the days look different. In Park City, winter means ski school and gentle learning slopes, and in summer there are alpine coasters, ziplines and slides at the Olympic Park and resort bases. The altitude tires small children for the first day or two, and winter costs add up quickly.

Santa Barbara offers gentler outings: the small zoo above the beach, touch tanks at the Sea Center, MOXI's hands-on science and calm water at Carpinteria. The mild weather means you can do all of it year round.

Park City is easier to get around once you are there. Free buses link Old Town, both ski bases, the lodging areas and Kimball Junction, so you can manage a ski stay without a car. Getting there is harder: there is no rail, so you need a shuttle up from the airport.

Santa Barbara's flat downtown and shoreline path are pleasant to walk or cycle, and the coastal train stops near the beach. But the uphill Mission, the trailheads, wine country and the beaches outside town mean most visitors end up driving for part of the trip.

Park City's shops serve the ski trade. Main Street sells Western boots and hats, gallery art, technical outdoor gear and smart ski clothing, so you are more likely to go home with cowboy boots or a new jacket than anything made locally. The chains and outlet stores are out at Kimball Junction, and a bigger shopping day means driving down to Salt Lake City.

Santa Barbara has a wider mix and better streets to shop in. Boutiques and galleries are tucked into the tiled Spanish-style passages off State Street, Montecito has upmarket fashion and homeware, and the Funk Zone adds design shops near the beach. It also has something Park City lacks, food and drink worth taking home: a bottle of Santa Rita Hills pinot noir from a tasting room, or something from a market stall. Neither town has a department store or much local craft.

Both are expensive, so the real question is when to go and how to save. Park City costs most in ski season, above all over Christmas and New Year. It gets much cheaper in summer and autumn, and visitors on a budget often stay in Salt Lake City or the Heber Valley.

Santa Barbara's peak is the opposite season, summer weekends by the beach. Midweek stays, the cooler months, taquerias, free hikes and rooms in Goleta or Ventura all help keep costs down.

Santa Barbara has a much fuller programme of music and theatre. The restored Granada hosts the local symphony, opera and ballet, and the Lobero puts on chamber music and jazz. The Santa Barbara Bowl brings touring bands to its canyon from spring to autumn, and the Music Academy of the West fills the summer with concerts.

Park City has the 1920s Egyptian Theatre for comedy and small shows, and summer is its best season, with the Utah Symphony playing on the Deer Valley lawns. At other times, opera and ballet mean a trip to Salt Lake City.

In Park City, unwinding means warming up after the cold. You sit in an outdoor hot tub with snow falling, or book a massage for ski-tired legs at the large lodge spas of Deer Valley and the Canyons. In Midway, about 25 minutes away, you can swim in the Homestead Crater, a geothermal spring inside a limestone dome.

Santa Barbara relaxes you more through its pace than its spas: mild sun, quiet mornings, yoga studios and the resort spas of Montecito. A hike climbs to small hot pools in the hills, and for a proper retreat the Ojai Valley's spa resorts are an hour's drive away.