Albuquerque or Park City?

Neither city has a beach. Both sit at altitude, far from any coast, so the difference lies in the lakes. From Albuquerque a summer afternoon out means driving to Cochiti Lake. Park City's Jordanelle Reservoir is closer and has sandy swimming areas, but the water stays cool and the season is short. In practice you will swim in a hotel pool in Albuquerque and sit in a hot tub in Park City.

Albuquerque has a cuisine of its own, and that settles it. Red or green chile runs through carne adovada, posole and blue corn enchiladas at long-running family places in the valleys and along old Route 66. In late summer the smell of roasting chile fills the city.

Park City eats well for a mountain town. Main Street's polished restaurants serve elk, trout and bison, and après-ski on the slopeside decks is a ritual of its own. But there is nothing regional to seek out, and cheaper meals tend to mean the chains at Kimball Junction.

Albuquerque fills a couple of rewarding days. There is Old Town's adobe plaza with its 1793 church, the Pueblo-run cultural centre, the National Hispanic Cultural Center and the nuclear science museum, plus thousands of petroglyphs on the city's western edge.

Park City's heritage is its silver-mining past. You can see it in Main Street's wooden storefronts, the old headframes on the slopes and a good museum in the former city hall, and the Olympic Park adds its own exhibits. All of that takes about an afternoon.

Nobody plans a trip to either city for the nightlife, but Albuquerque has more of it. Downtown has a strip of bars and dance clubs that fill at weekends, Nob Hill has calmer cocktail bars and taprooms, and the patio evenings last from spring to autumn.

Park City's evenings start early on the slopeside decks and finish on a short stretch of Main Street saloons. These are lively on winter weekends but quiet long before the small hours, and out of season the town goes to bed early.

Park City is built for the outdoors. Two big ski areas start at the edge of town, and the steep terrain of Alta, Snowbird, Brighton and Solitude is within an hour. In summer lifts carry bikes up to hundreds of kilometres of singletrack, there is fly fishing on the Provo and Weber rivers, and the aspens turn gold in autumn.

Albuquerque has real scenery too. A tramway climbs to the Sandia crest above 3,000m, the La Luz Trail climbs the whole mountain on foot, and cranes winter along the cottonwood bosque. But summer heat pushes hiking into spring and autumn, almost everything needs a car, and there is no skiing on Park City's scale.

Albuquerque has the stronger choice of outings. The best is Santa Fe, an hour north, which you can reach even by commuter train. Beyond it lie Acoma's Sky City, the cliff dwellings of Bandelier, the pilgrimage church at Chimayo and the Turquoise Trail mining villages, covering Native, Spanish colonial and mining history between them.

From Park City, Salt Lake City is the main outing, with Temple Square and the domed Capitol. After that come the Heber Valley steam railway, Swiss-style Midway and railroad-era Ogden, and beyond those most of what is within reach is landscape.

Park City edges it for families, mostly because it is so easy. Ski schools have gentle learning areas and free buses run to the slopes. At the Olympic Park there are coasters, ziplines and freestyle skiers flipping into a splash pool, and the resort bases add alpine slides in summer. There is no zoo or aquarium, and a winter week gets expensive.

Albuquerque has exactly those things, in the BioPark, along with Explora's hands-on science and the dinosaur halls at the natural history museum. In October the Balloon Fiesta's dawn launches are a sight children remember. The catch is that every outing means the car, often under strong summer sun.

Once you are in Park City, it is far easier without a car. Free buses link Old Town, Main Street, both ski bases and Kimball Junction, and parking is awkward enough that leaving the car is the sensible choice. You only need one to reach other valleys and ski areas.

Albuquerque is the opposite: a spread-out city built for driving, where only Old Town is comfortable on foot and the Central Avenue bus covers the core. On the plus side, the airport is close to the centre, parking is easy and a commuter train runs to Santa Fe. Park City has no rail at all.

Albuquerque has more that is worth taking home. Silver and turquoise jewellery, Pueblo pottery and Navajo weaving are sold around Old Town and at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, and dried chile ristras make easy souvenirs. Park City's Main Street is pleasant to browse for galleries, cowboy boots and upscale ski fashion, and there is an outlet centre at Kimball Junction, but local crafts are few.

Albuquerque is much cheaper, though not a budget trip. Rooms are fairly priced outside Balloon Fiesta week, the casual plates are generous, and Old Town, the petroglyphs and the foothills trails cost little. Car hire is the main expense.

In ski season Park City is among the most expensive resorts in North America. Lodging, lift tickets, ski school and Main Street dinners all add up, and the Christmas and New Year weeks cost even more. Summer and autumn are much cheaper, and many budget travellers stay in Salt Lake City or the Heber Valley and drive up for the day.

Flamenco is Albuquerque's surprise. The city has its own long-established institute and an annual festival that brings dancers over from Spain, and at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center Native dances are performed at weekends. Popejoy Hall takes touring Broadway shows and the philharmonic, the KiMo Theatre stages concerts and plays in its Pueblo Deco interior, and in summer Santa Fe's open-air opera is an evening's drive away.

Park City's stages are the 1920s Egyptian Theatre and the Eccles Center. The town is at its liveliest in summer, when the Utah Symphony plays on the Deer Valley lawns and free concerts are held in the parks. Outside summer there is little on.

Park City is the better choice for unwinding. The Deer Valley and Canyons lodges have large spas with massages for sore legs, outdoor hot tubs under the snow come with almost every stay, and in Midway the Homestead Crater lets you swim in water at about 35°C inside a limestone dome.

Albuquerque has resort spas on Pueblo lands and an unhurried pace, but the best soaking means a drive. The mineral pools at Jemez Springs are more than an hour away, and the Japanese-style bathhouses are around Santa Fe.