Santa Barbara or Sun Valley?

Santa Barbara has real beaches and Sun Valley has none. The Santa Barbara coast faces south behind the Channel Islands, so the surf is gentler than elsewhere in California. You can walk from town to East and West Beach, and Carpinteria's shallow strand is good for small children.

The Pacific stays cool enough that many swimmers wear wetsuits. Still, that is a better option than anything in central Idaho, where summer swimming means cold Redfish Lake about an hour north or the resort's heated outdoor pools.

Santa Barbara eats from the sea and the valleys behind it. It has spot prawns and sea urchin from the harbour boats, very well stocked farmers' markets, and Santa Rita Hills pinot noir poured in Funk Zone warehouses. The Eastside taquerias give it a cheaper, more local side.

Ketchum does well for a small mountain town, with Idaho trout, lamb and elk alongside the après-ski grills. But the choice is narrow, there is no regional cooking to seek out, and some kitchens cut back in the quiet spring and autumn months.

Santa Barbara's white stucco and red tile centre was rebuilt in a single style after the 1925 earthquake, so simply walking around is the main sight. The County Courthouse clock tower and the Old Mission on the slope above add two or three easy days of sightseeing.

Sun Valley's history fits into an afternoon. It covers the 1936 railroad resort with the world's first chairlifts, the film-star photographs in the Lodge, and Hemingway's grave in the Ketchum cemetery.

Neither town is a place for a big night out, but Santa Barbara has more going on. Its evenings move from Funk Zone tasting rooms and taprooms to the student bars and small dance floors of lower State Street at weekends.

In Sun Valley, nightlife means après-ski in a few Ketchum saloons and lounges, with the odd band on a winter weekend. Outside the ski season and midsummer, most evenings end not long after dinner.

Sun Valley wins here because the outdoors is the reason it exists. Bald Mountain's long fall-line runs rise straight out of Ketchum, Nordic tracks run up the side valleys, and in summer there is singletrack, fly fishing on the Big Wood and Silver Creek, and the Sawtooth range an hour north.

Santa Barbara's outdoors is gentler, though it has the sea, which Sun Valley lacks. Canyon trails such as Rattlesnake and Seven Falls start from suburban streets, boats go whale watching, surfers head to Rincon, and the Channel Islands are a boat ride from nearby Ventura.

From Santa Barbara, one excellent day out is the drive over the mountains to the Santa Ynez Valley. It combines wine tasting, Danish-built Solvang and the restored mission at La Purisima. Ojai and Ventura make easy second choices.

Sun Valley is surrounded by wild country rather than towns. Hailey's small main street and the log-cabin outpost of Stanley are the obvious outings, and Shoshone Falls is two hours south. Most days away from Sun Valley are spent in the mountains rather than visiting other places.

Santa Barbara has more for children to do. There is the hillside zoo, the touch tanks at the Sea Center on Stearns Wharf, MOXI's hands-on science, and calm water at Carpinteria. The mild weather means time outdoors in any month.

Sun Valley works well for families who ski, thanks to a separate beginners' hill and a well-run ski school, and in summer there are horse rides and an outdoor rink. Nothing there is built for children, though. Rainy days, altitude and midwinter cold can be hard on younger ones.

Both are easy without a car in the centre, but in different ways. In Santa Barbara you walk the flat line of State Street down to the waterfront path, and the coastal train lets you arrive without driving. In Sun Valley, a free bus links Ketchum, the village and the lift bases, so a ski week can be car-free.

Both need a car for anything further out, whether that is Santa Barbara's wine country or Sun Valley's trailheads and hot springs. Sun Valley is also harder to reach, with only a small airport nearby and long winter drives from the larger ones.

Santa Barbara gives you more to browse. State Street mixes the familiar chains with some independents. The fountain courtyards of paseos such as La Arcada hide galleries and small boutiques, and Montecito's Coast Village Road sells upmarket fashion and homeware. The best things to take home are local wine and farmers' market produce.\n\nKetchum's shopping fits into a few blocks. There are fine and western art galleries, boutiques selling cashmere and western wear, and very good ski and fly-fishing shops. They are useful if you need gear, but there is little browsing beyond that.

Both are expensive, and staying in either is costly because of wealthy local and second-home buyers. The difference is in how you can save. In Santa Barbara the beaches and hikes are free, taquerias and farmers' markets keep meals cheap, and staying in Goleta or Ventura helps.

Sun Valley adds the cost of lift access in winter and has very little budget lodging. The quiet spring and autumn months, rooms further down the valley and the free buses are the main ways to keep costs down.

Santa Barbara has performances all year. The symphony, opera and ballet play in the restored Granada, chamber music and jazz are on at the historic Lobero, and big touring bands come to the Santa Barbara Bowl, an outdoor amphitheatre in a canyon above town.

Sun Valley's season is one summer. Its music festival brings a full orchestra to the lawn by the Lodge with free admission, and figure skaters perform on the outdoor rink. The rest of the year there is almost nothing.

In Santa Barbara the pace itself is restful: mild sun, quiet mornings, polished resort spas in Montecito and plenty of yoga studios. For a proper retreat, the spa resorts of the Ojai Valley are an hour's drive away.\n\nSun Valley rests you just as well, in a mountain way. You can sit in a steaming outdoor pool under falling snow, or soak in the rough natural hot springs beside the creek up the Warm Springs valley, reached by a dirt road. Then you have an early night in the mountain air. Neither town has a public bathing tradition.