Portland or Sonoma?

Neither city is a place to swim in the sea, because the Pacific off both coasts stays cold and rough. Portland comes out slightly ahead because summer swimming is right in town, at the small sandy river beaches downtown and in Sellwood, with longer ones on Sauvie Island half an hour away.

In Sonoma, swimming means a hotel pool or a drive to the gravel beaches of the Russian River. The headlands around Bodega Bay are for an afternoon of views, not a day on the sand.

Both are serious places to eat and drink, but in different ways. Portland gives you range: Thai, Georgian or barbecue from food carts, Northwest crab and mushrooms in neighbourhood restaurants, and a brewery or roaster on most corners.

Sonoma is about wine first, tasted where it is made, with Californian cooking built around it. A long lunch on the plaza or in Glen Ellen is the high point. After a few nights, though, you will miss the variety Portland offers.

Portland has more to fill the days. The Japanese Garden in Washington Park and the walled Lan Su garden in Old Town are its finest sights, backed by an art museum strong on Native American and Northwest work and the Oregon Trail story at the Historical Society.

Sonoma's history is packed into one place. Around its broad plaza, where the Bear Flag Revolt of 1846 was proclaimed, stand the last Franciscan mission, the adobe barracks and Vallejo's house nearby. It is a rewarding half day, not a reason to come.

Portland has a real night out, mostly in bars. You can drift between taprooms, dive bars with pinball machines and cocktail bars along Alberta, Division or Belmont until about 2.30am, though dance clubs are few.

Sonoma's evening is dinner and perhaps a glass in a wine bar or saloon on the plaza, and then the town goes quiet. For anything later you have to drive to Santa Rosa.

Portland has the wilder and wider outdoors. Forest Park's 110km of trails start from city streets. Half an hour away are the waterfalls of the Columbia River Gorge, with windsurfing at Hood River, and Mount Hood offers skiing and alpine hiking.

Sonoma's landscape is gentler and more cultivated: vineyards between oak-covered ridges, short climbs to the Sonoma Overlook and redwood groves at Sugarloaf Ridge. It suits cycling on back roads and a morning balloon flight more than serious mountain days.

Sonoma is better placed. San Francisco is about an hour away for a full day of a major city, and Napa, Healdsburg, Petaluma and Sausalito are all within easy reach, although most outings beyond the city are another wine town.

Portland's best day out is also wine, among the pinot noir estates of the Willamette Valley. Beyond that come the Victorian streets of Astoria, Cannon Beach and the orchards of Hood River. Both cities need a car for almost all of this.

Portland is much easier with children. There is the hands-on science museum with its submarine, the zoo and a large playground in Washington Park, Oaks Amusement Park in Sellwood and waterfront fountains to run through in summer. Light rail makes getting about with a pushchair simple.

Sonoma is calm and safe, but its days revolve around tasting rooms. A miniature railway, the plaza playground and an African wildlife park near Santa Rosa do not fill a week, so families do better visiting for a day.

In Portland you can do without a car in town. The MAX light rail runs from the airport to the centre, a streetcar links downtown with the Pearl District, and the short blocks and river bridges make walking and cycling easy. You only need a car for the mountains and the coast.

In Sonoma only the plaza area is walkable, and the buses are of little use to a visitor. You will hire a car, book a driver or join a tour, which at least solves the question of who drives after the tasting.

Portland gives shoppers far more to explore. Powell's City of Books fills a whole block, the vintage and record shops along Mississippi, Alberta and Hawthorne reward a slow afternoon, and the outdoor gear and lack of sales tax are a draw.

In Sonoma, shopping is a stroll round the plaza's arcades for kitchenware, galleries, olive oil and cheese. The best thing to take home is wine bought at the winery.

Neither is cheap, but Portland is clearly easier on the wallet. Food carts are some of the best eating in town, fares are low, and Forest Park and the waterfront cost nothing. The main extra cost is a hire car for days out.

Sonoma's few rooms are priced for wine-country weekends, and tasting fees, upmarket restaurants and a driver soon add up. Staying in Petaluma or Santa Rosa and picnicking among the vines is the usual way to save.

Portland has something on all year. The Oregon Symphony plays in a restored 1920s movie palace, and there are opera, ballet and theatre seasons. Its own strength is indie and folk bands playing small east-side rooms and the sprung floor of the Crystal Ballroom.

Sonoma's season is mostly summer: Broadway-style shows among the ruins of Jack London's park and concerts at the wineries. The Green Music Center, half an hour away, brings in touring orchestras. Outside summer there is little to see.

Sonoma is the better place to slow down. Natural mineral water at Boyes Hot Springs feeds a historic resort spa with day passes, Calistoga's mud baths are an hour away, and quiet plaza mornings set an unhurried pace, though almost all of it comes at resort prices.

Portland relaxes you through its gardens, forest trails and long mornings in cafés. Its bathing is limited to a few neighbourhood soaking houses with saunas and cold plunges, and the Cascade hot springs are about two hours away by car.