Seattle or Whitefish?

Neither is a beach destination, and in both the real swimming is in lakes, warm enough only in high summer. They differ in setting. Seattle has sandy strips on salt water at Alki and Golden Gardens, which are good for bonfires and sunsets over the Olympics but too cold for more than a paddle. Swimmers go to the lifeguarded beaches on Lake Washington instead.

Whitefish keeps its water closer to the mountains. City Beach on Whitefish Lake is at the edge of town and has a swimming dock, and the clear, pebbly shores of Flathead Lake are a short drive south.

Seattle is by far the better place to eat. Oysters, Dungeness crab, wild salmon and geoduck come from the waters around it, Pike Place Market is a meal in itself, and the International District and the eastern suburbs add serious Vietnamese, Japanese and Korean cooking. The coffee and Washington wine are both excellent.

Whitefish feeds hungry hikers and skiers well enough, with elk and bison burgers, trout and huckleberry everything in late summer. The choice is narrow, though, and there is almost no international cooking, so a week means returning to the same few tables on Central Avenue.

Seattle is no heritage city, but it gives you two or three good days of sightseeing. You can see the Space Needle and the Museum of Pop Culture at Seattle Center, Northwest Coast Indigenous art at the Burke, aircraft at the Museum of Flight, and the brick blocks of Pioneer Square, rebuilt after the 1889 fire.

Whitefish has the timber Great Northern depot with its small railway and logging museum, and some modest early twentieth-century frontage. After that there is little to visit in town, and the mountains have to fill the days.

Seattle offers a real night out. Pike and Pine streets on Capitol Hill are full of cocktail bars, dive bars and dance floors, and the hill is also the centre of the LGBTQ+ scene. Ballard and Fremont add relaxed taprooms. Last call is at 2am and there are few clubs, but there is plenty of choice before then.

Evenings in Whitefish are a different thing: saloons with pool tables, brewery taprooms, and après-ski that drifts down from the mountain in winter. It is friendly and sometimes loud, with no clubs, and most places are quiet long before Seattle's bars close.

Both are superb for the outdoors, but Whitefish puts the more dramatic country right on its doorstep. Glacier National Park starts about forty minutes away, with the Highline Trail, Grinnell Glacier and the Going-to-the-Sun Road, and grizzlies and mountain goats live there. Big Mountain above town is a full ski area. The catch is that the high country is reliably open only from July to September.

Seattle's wilderness is further out but more varied. There are Cascade trails and ski slopes along Interstate 90, Rainier's glaciers about two hours away and the Olympic rainforest across the Sound. Within the city you have Discovery Park, kayaking on Lake Union and ferry rides with the odd orca in view.

From Seattle the best days out go by ferry. Bainbridge Island is half an hour across the water, and further crossings lead to Whidbey's farm villages and Victorian Port Townsend. The Woodinville tasting rooms and Tacoma's Museum of Glass are close by road.

Around Whitefish the towns matter less than the landscape. Kalispell has the Conrad Mansion, Bigfork has galleries and summer theatre on Flathead Lake, and the mission church at St Ignatius is two hours south. Most good days out from Whitefish go into the park instead.

Seattle gives children more to do, especially when it rains. There is Woodland Park Zoo, the waterfront aquarium, the Pacific Science Center beside the Space Needle and the shuttle trainer at the Museum of Flight, and a monorail or ferry ride counts as an outing in its own right. The steep streets down to the waterfront are hard going with a pushchair.

Whitefish works for outdoor families. Small children can manage the ski school, the summer alpine slide and zip line, calm City Beach and Glacier's flat Trail of the Cedars. Children who do not enjoy hiking or paddling will soon run short of things to do, and the drives through the park are long.

You can manage Seattle without a car. Link light rail runs from the airport through downtown to Capitol Hill, and one tap card covers buses, the monorail and the water taxis. Buses to Ballard or Alki are slow, and you only really need a car for the national parks.

In Whitefish you can walk the few downtown blocks, and the long-distance train stops at the depot. Apart from the winter ski shuttle, though, the trailheads, lakes and Glacier are spread along rural highways, so plan on hiring a car.

Seattle has more to offer, though it is practical rather than glamorous. Downtown around Pine Street has the department stores and big outdoor-gear stores, while Capitol Hill and Fremont have vintage clothes, records and independent boutiques. Luxury is limited downtown, with more in the malls across the lake in Bellevue.

In Whitefish, an afternoon on Central Avenue covers western boots, wildlife art, outdoor outfitters and huckleberry jam. For anything bigger you have to drive to Kalispell.

Both are costly, and Whitefish is only slightly easier on the wallet. Its rooms are expensive in summer and ski season, but late spring and autumn bring relief, staying in Kalispell or Columbia Falls costs less, and once you are inside Glacier it is good value. The cost that eats into those savings is a hire car.

Seattle charges more for central hotels, restaurant bills grow with tax and tip, and the big attractions have high entry charges. Transit, teriyaki shops and the Pike Place counters help, as does a room near the light rail outside the centre.

This is one of the widest gaps between the two. Seattle Opera and Pacific Northwest Ballet share McCaw Hall, and the Symphony plays at Benaroya Hall. The 5th Avenue and the Paramount stage musicals, and bands play most nights in the city of Hendrix and grunge.

Whitefish does well for a small town. It has a community arts centre, a professional summer theatre, the valley symphony in Kalispell and free outdoor concerts. Even so, a visitor will find only an occasional show rather than a programme to plan around.

Neither is built for a spa trip, but Seattle has more on offer. Downtown hotels have spas, and the Korean-style bathhouses in the suburbs offer heated pools, steam rooms and scrubs. On wet afternoons you can walk the Japanese Garden or linger in a neighbourhood coffee house.

Whitefish relaxes you through its setting, with quiet mornings by the lake, yoga studios and massages at the lodges on the mountain and the shore. There are no baths nearby, and Montana's hot springs pools are a couple of hours' drive away.