Portland or Sun Valley?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Portland has a little more to offer. In summer, locals swim off small river beaches along the Willamette and on Sauvie Island. The Oregon coast at Cannon Beach is about an hour and a half away, good for walking on the sand, though the Pacific is too cold and rough for most swimmers.

Sun Valley is far from any sea. In high summer, swimming means Redfish Lake under the Sawtooths, an hour's drive away and cold even then, or the outdoor heated pools in town.

Portland is a real eating city. Its food cart pods offer anything from Georgian to barbecue, its neighbourhood restaurants cook with salmon, Dungeness crab and hazelnuts, and its breweries, roasters and Willamette pinot noir make drinking a highlight in its own right.

Ketchum does well for a town its size, with après-ski grills and a few serious kitchens cooking trout, lamb and elk. But the choice is narrow, cheap meals are scarce and some places cut back their hours in spring and autumn. You will eat well there, but you would not plan a trip around it.

Portland has enough to fill two or three unhurried days. There is the walled Lan Su Chinese Garden in Old Town and the much-admired Japanese Garden in Washington Park. The Portland Art Museum has strong Native American holdings, and from Pittock Mansion you look across the city to Mount Hood.

Sun Valley's story is short but interesting. Union Pacific built it in 1936 with the world's first chairlifts, the Lodge corridors are lined with photos of film stars, and Hemingway's grave is in the Ketchum cemetery. An afternoon covers all of it.

Portland gives you a proper night out without big clubs. Brewery taprooms, dive bars with pinball, cocktail bars and wine bars line the strips of Division, Hawthorne, Alberta and Mississippi, and they serve until about 2.30am.

Sun Valley's evenings revolve around après-ski: a handful of saloons, wine bars and hotel lounges in Ketchum, and the odd band on a winter weekend. Outside the ski season and midsummer the town goes quiet soon after dinner.

Both are outstanding for the outdoors, and the difference is one of setting. In Sun Valley the mountains are the town. You can walk from Ketchum's streets to the steep, unbroken runs of Bald Mountain. Summer brings singletrack, fly fishing on Silver Creek, the Sawtooth lakes and Salmon River rafting, and the cold, sunny winters keep the snow dry. That immediacy gives it the edge.

In Portland, the wild country sits at the edge of a city. Forest Park's trails begin in the northwest streets, the waterfalls of the Gorge are half an hour away and Mount Hood about an hour and a half. The long, wet winters do mean the best months are shorter.

Portland has far more within a day's reach. There is wine tasting in Dundee and McMinnville under an hour away, Astoria's Victorian streets and maritime museum, a coast day at Cannon Beach, and orchards and windsurfing at Hood River. Most of these need a car.

From Sun Valley, nearly every outing heads into the mountains. Hailey's small main street, the log-cabin outpost of Stanley and Shoshone Falls two hours south are about all there is by way of places to visit.

Portland gives children more to do whatever the weather. They can climb through the submarine at the science museum, visit the Oregon Zoo and the Washington Park playground, ride at Oaks Amusement Park and splash in the waterfront fountains. Rainy winters and some rough patches downtown are the drawbacks.

Sun Valley suits families who ski or love the outdoors. It has a separate beginner hill, a well-run ski school, quiet streets and summer horse rides and fishing. Nothing is built just for children, though, and the altitude, deep cold and lack of anything for teenagers who don't ski all count against it.

Portland works well without a car. The MAX light rail runs from the airport to downtown, a streetcar links the Pearl District and the east bank, the blocks are short and the riverside cycling is easy. The east-side neighbourhoods are spread out and served by buses, and you will want a car for the Gorge or the coast.

Sun Valley is simple within its small area. A free bus connects Ketchum, the village and the lift bases, and many skiers never drive. Beyond the town, though, you need a car for every trailhead and hot spring, and the drive from a major airport is long and can be snowy.

Portland's shopping is independent and worth exploring. Powell's City of Books fills a whole block. Mississippi, Alberta and Hawthorne have vintage clothes, records and makers' studios, the Saturday Market sells local crafts, and there is no sales tax.

In Ketchum, a few blocks of western and fine art galleries, fly-fishing and ski shops, and cashmere boutiques serve second-home owners. The range is narrow and the prices are high.

Portland costs roughly what a large American city does, though it is gentler than the big coastal cities to the north and south. Downtown hotel rooms are the largest expense, and the lack of sales tax is mostly cancelled out by tipping at sit-down restaurants. If the Gorge or wine country is on the plan, budget for car hire.

Sun Valley is in another bracket altogether. Peak ski weeks and midsummer are the dearest times, and there is little modest lodging in the valley itself. Coming in the quiet spring or autumn months and staying further down the valley bring the bill down, but never to Portland's level.

Portland has something on all year. The Oregon Symphony plays in a restored 1920s movie palace, and the opera and ballet run full seasons. Most distinctively, indie and folk bands play small east-side rooms and the sprung-floor Crystal Ballroom.

Sun Valley has one great season. In summer, a professional orchestra gives free concerts in the pavilion by the lodge while people picnic on the lawn, and figure skaters perform on the outdoor rink. Outside summer there is very little.

Sun Valley is the more restful of the two. It has full resort spas, outdoor heated pools that steam under falling snow, and rough creekside hot springs a short drive up the Warm Springs valley. It is the right place to rest after a day on the mountain, though there is no real bathing tradition.

In Portland, unwinding means gardens, forest walks, long café mornings and a few neighbourhood soaking houses with saunas and cold plunges. The nearest natural hot springs are about two hours away in the Cascades.