Salt Lake City or Sonoma?

Both are a long way from any swimming you would travel for. Salt Lake City offers the novelty of floating in the Great Salt Lake and real summer swimming at mountain reservoirs such as Jordanelle and Pineview.

Sonoma has hotel pools and the gravel beaches of the Russian River. It does have a true coast at Bodega Bay, but the Pacific is cold and rough there, so it is better for looking at than swimming in.

Sonoma is much the better place to eat and drink, because food and wine are what the town exists for. Old-vine Zinfandel, Carneros Pinot Noir and seasonal Californian cooking with local cheese and coast oysters make long lunches the centrepiece of a stay.

Salt Lake City's cooking is more homely: fry sauce, pastrami burgers and dirty sodas, with its best meals in the Mexican, Pacific Islander and Vietnamese kitchens along State Street. It has more variety than Sonoma's handful of plaza restaurants, but less polish, and Utah's rules make the wine and cocktail scene thinner.

Salt Lake City has more to see, mostly because of Temple Square, where the Tabernacle, the granite temple and the Family History Library form a distinctive religious landmark. The Capitol, the Cathedral of the Madeleine and the natural history museum fill out about two days.

Sonoma's history is smaller in scale but well kept: the plaza of the Bear Flag Revolt, the last Franciscan mission and Vallejo's house. Together they make a pleasant half day.

Neither is a party town, but Salt Lake City at least gives you a choice. It has breweries, bars, a few dance clubs downtown and in the Granary District, and a long-standing gay scene, though liquor laws keep the nights fairly tame. In Sonoma the evening is dinner and maybe a glass in a wine bar, and the plaza is silent by late evening.

Salt Lake City has the more dramatic and varied outdoors. Peaks over 3,000m stand above the suburbs, with famous ski resorts at Alta and Snowbird and alpine lakes and meadows in summer. To the west are bison on Antelope Island and the Bonneville Salt Flats.

Sonoma's landscape is gentler: vineyards, oak hills and redwood groves at Sugarloaf Ridge, ideal for easy hikes, cycling the back roads and balloon flights. Point Reyes and the wild coast are within reach, but high summer brings heat and the risk of fire smoke.

Sonoma is far better placed for outings. San Francisco is about an hour away, and Napa, Healdsburg, Petaluma and Sausalito are all easy drives, although many of them are wine country again.

From Salt Lake City, Park City's Victorian Main Street and Ogden's 25th Street make good outings, and then the list runs short. Arches, Zion and Bryce are too far for a day.

Salt Lake City is built around families, and it shows. Hogle Zoo, the aquarium, Discovery Gateway, the planetarium and Lagoon amusement park keep children busy, and the resorts run ski schools in winter. Expect to drive between them.

Sonoma is safe and calm, but apart from the plaza playground, a miniature railway and a wildlife park near Santa Rosa, there is little for children. Many families visit for a day from San Francisco.

Salt Lake City is easier without a car, though not by much. TRAX light rail links the airport, downtown and the university, FrontRunner trains run to Ogden and Provo, and ski buses go up the canyons, although the wide blocks make walking slow.

In Sonoma only the plaza is walkable. Buses are of little use, so wineries, parks and the coast mean a hire car, a driver or a tour, or a bicycle for the nearby flat roads.

Neither is a shopping destination, and what you can buy differs. Salt Lake City has the department stores at City Creek Center, the old streetcar barns of Trolley Square and excellent local ski and climbing shops. Sonoma's arcades around the plaza sell boutique homeware, olive oil, cheese and above all wine bought straight from the producer, which makes it the better place for edible gifts.

Salt Lake City is clearly the cheaper of the two. Downtown hotels are reasonably priced and Temple Square costs nothing to visit. Costs rise mainly with ski passes and slope-side lodging, so a summer trip is much cheaper.

Sonoma is expensive across the board. It has few rooms, priced for wine-country weekends, upmarket restaurants and tasting fees that add up, plus the cost of a car or driver. Staying in Santa Rosa or Petaluma eases the cost.

Salt Lake City offers far more to attend. The Tabernacle Choir and its organ are open to the public, and the Utah Symphony, Utah Opera, Ballet West and touring Broadway shows give the city a full season.

Sonoma's performances are mostly in summer and outdoors, at Jack London park and at winery concerts. The Green Music Center half an hour away is the serious exception.

Sonoma is the more restful place, with a hot-spring tradition on its doorstep at Boyes Hot Springs and Calistoga's mud baths over the hills. Above all it has an unhurried pace that suits a slow couple's break, though bathing comes at resort prices.

Salt Lake City is quiet too, but rest is a by-product there. Its best soak is the limestone Homestead Crater in Midway, an hour away, and otherwise spas mean the ski resorts after a day on the slopes.