Salt Lake City or Santa Monica?

Swimming in Salt Lake City means fresh water or brine. Floating in the Great Salt Lake from Antelope Island is worth doing once, but the shore is muddy and the brine flies come out in summer. For a proper swim, locals drive up to Jordanelle, Deer Creek or Pineview, mountain reservoirs with paddleboards and small patches of sand.

Santa Monica has the real beach. The sand is wide and pale, the lifeguard towers are spaced along it, and the quieter coves at Point Dume and El Matador are a short drive north. The Pacific stays cool, though, so expect to wade more than swim, and keep away from the water right beside the pier.

Santa Monica eats better. Many kitchens buy from the Wednesday farmers market, and you get seasonal Californian cooking, good seafood and reliable Italian and Japanese places along Main Street and Montana Avenue. What it lacks nearby is the cheap immigrant cooking Los Angeles is known for, which is a long drive east.

Salt Lake City has some of that kind of food closer to hand. Its best meals come from the Mexican, Pacific Islander, Peruvian and Vietnamese kitchens along State Street. The local specialities, such as fry sauce, fried scones and dirty sodas, are fun rather than serious, and Utah's drinking rules keep wine and cocktail culture thin.

Salt Lake City has more to see within its own streets. Temple Square holds the granite temple, the domed Tabernacle with its great organ and the Conference Center, and the Beehive House, the State Capitol and the dinosaur halls of the Natural History Museum are close by. Two unhurried days are enough to see it all.

Inside Santa Monica the list is shorter: the pier with its carousel and the Route 66 sign, and the galleries of Bergamot Station. The finest collections near Santa Monica lie outside the town. The Getty Center and the Getty Villa are both a short drive away, but each needs its own outing.

Neither city is built for late nights, but Santa Monica makes for the more pleasant evening. You can have a sunset drink on a hotel rooftop, try the pubs along Main Street, or join the looser crowd in Venice next door. For clubs, you take a long taxi ride to Hollywood.

In Salt Lake City, nights out revolve around brewery taprooms and a few dance clubs downtown and in the Granary District. Utah's liquor laws limit stronger drinks and late opening, and the town goes to bed early.

Both cities have mountains behind them, but Salt Lake City's are on another scale. The Wasatch climbs past 3,000m straight from the city's edge, with ski slopes, wildflower meadows and serious summits in the canyons. To the west the land changes completely, with bison grazing on Antelope Island and the white Bonneville Salt Flats.

Santa Monica's outdoors is gentler but available almost every day. Trails in Temescal and Topanga climb through chaparral to views over the bay, the 35km beach path suits bikes and skates, and the surf breaks are good for lessons. Whales pass offshore in winter and spring.

Santa Monica has far more range for days out, provided you can face the traffic. Along the coast you can reach Santa Barbara's mission and wine country, quiet Ojai, the art-colony streets of Laguna Beach and, by ferry, Avalon on Catalina Island. Within Los Angeles, the Huntington Library and its gardens in Pasadena make a full day on their own.

From Salt Lake City the choice runs out quickly after Park City's Victorian Main Street, nearby Midway and Ogden's old railroad strip on 25th Street. Utah's famous national parks are four hours or more away, too far to go and come back in a day.

Both are easy places to bring children, but the day looks quite different in each. Salt Lake City has a long list of attractions for children: Hogle Zoo, the aquarium, the planetarium, the Discovery Gateway museum and Lagoon's roller coasters, plus ski schools in winter. They are spread across the valley, though, so you will spend time in the car.

Santa Monica keeps everything close together. You have the beach for digging, the funfair and small aquarium at the pier, and flat bike rides along the sand, all in mild weather. The big theme parks are a long drive away, and some families are unsettled by the visible homelessness downtown.

Santa Monica is easier day to day. The pier, the Promenade and Main Street are all within walking distance, the blue buses cover the rest of town, and the E Line light rail runs to downtown Los Angeles. Once you head for the Getty or the Malibu canyons, you are back to jammed freeways.

Salt Lake City's wide streets and long blocks make even short walks feel long. TRAX light rail is useful for the airport and the University, and FrontRunner trains run to Ogden and Provo. For the zoo and the canyons a car is close to essential, and canyon traffic on powder days tests anyone's patience.

Santa Monica is the better place to shop. Montana Avenue has upmarket boutiques, Main Street has surf shops and independents, and the design-led stores of Abbot Kinney in Venice are next door. Rodeo Drive is within reach for luxury labels.

Salt Lake City has City Creek's open-air mall, the old streetcar barns of Trolley Square and a few vintage shops around 9th and 9th. It is worth a look mainly for outdoor gear, as the local ski and climbing shops are excellent.

Salt Lake City is noticeably kinder on the wallet. Downtown hotels are reasonably priced, everything on Temple Square is free, and a summer hiking trip costs little. A winter ski week is another matter, because lift passes and canyon lodging push the bill up sharply.

Santa Monica is costly from the first night, with expensive hotel rooms near the ocean, high restaurant bills and parking on top. The beach, the trails and the bike path are free, and staying further inland helps.

Salt Lake City has the stronger stage of its own. You can hear the Tabernacle Choir rehearse, often with the great organ, and there are organ recitals every day. Add the Utah Symphony at Abravanel Hall, Ballet West and Utah Opera, and you can fill several evenings without leaving downtown.

Santa Monica's own offering is smaller: chamber music and dance at the Broad Stage, folk and acoustic sets in small rooms, and free concerts on the pier in summer. Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Hollywood Bowl are close enough to go to, but each means a long drive across the city.

Santa Monica makes relaxing part of the daily routine: yoga on the sand, a morning run along the ocean, beachfront hotel spas and sunset over the bay. There is no bathing culture behind it, so you mostly make your own rest.

Salt Lake City offers the one memorable soak of the two. At the Homestead Crater in Midway, about an hour away, you bathe in warm mineral water inside a limestone dome. Otherwise, rest comes from the resort spas after a day of skiing and the city's quiet pace.