Albuquerque or Snowbird?

Neither place is anywhere near a coast, so a swim means a pool or a mountain reservoir in both. Albuquerque's options are hotel pools and a drive to Cochiti Lake on a hot afternoon, while Snowbird has heated resort pools and the cold, small-beached reservoirs of the Heber Valley, with the Great Salt Lake a curiosity to look at rather than enter.

Albuquerque has a regional cuisine worth travelling for: chile-based New Mexican dishes such as carne adovada, blue corn enchiladas and posole, best in long-running family places in the South and North Valley, plus a solid craft brewery scene and the late-summer smell of roasting chile.

At Snowbird you eat what the resort offers, competent lodge restaurants, slopeside cafeterias and burger-and-pizza après bars, with nothing distinctly local. Most guests drive forty minutes to Salt Lake City for a change of menu once or twice a week.

Albuquerque has a real past you can walk through. Old Town keeps its adobe plaza around the late eighteenth-century church of San Felipe de Neri, the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, run by the state's Pueblos, is the place to start on the region's Native cultures, and the National Hispanic Cultural Center fills a large campus in Barelas. Add the nuclear science museum, the rock carvings on the volcanic escarpment at Petroglyph National Monument and the neon motel signs of Route 66 along Central Avenue, and you have a good couple of days rather than a week.

Snowbird was built from nothing as a ski resort in 1971, and the canyon's silver-mining days have left almost nothing to see beyond its angular concrete lodges. Any museum or historic building means a drive down to Salt Lake City.

Albuquerque at least offers a choice: Downtown's bars and dance clubs fill up at weekends, and Nob Hill has calmer cocktail bars and taprooms, with patio evenings through the warm months. It is modest, and quiet midweek.

Snowbird's evening peaks with après-ski on the lodge decks at the end of the lift day and is largely over by mid-evening. A real night out means driving a mountain road to Salt Lake City or Park City.

Snowbird is the more spectacular outdoor base, built for skiers who want steep chutes, open bowls and tree runs on deep, dry snow from November into late spring. In summer the same slopes lead into the Twin Peaks and Lone Peak wilderness and the wildflowers of Albion Basin, with climbing on the canyon's granite.

Albuquerque has its own fine landscape, with the Sandia tramway, the La Luz Trail, the cottonwood bosque along the Rio Grande and wintering cranes. It is better for desert hiking and birdwatching in spring and autumn, but has nothing to rival Snowbird's mountain terrain.

Albuquerque has the stronger set of outings, led by Santa Fe with its plaza, Palace of the Governors and Canyon Road galleries. Behind it come Acoma's Sky City, the cliff dwellings at Bandelier, Chimayo and the Turquoise Trail villages, all needing a car.

From Snowbird the obvious trips are Salt Lake City for Temple Square and the Capitol, and Park City's Victorian Main Street. After those the choice thins to pleasant small places such as Midway, Sundance and Ogden's 25th Street.

Albuquerque suits a wider range of ages, with the BioPark's zoo, aquarium and gardens, the hands-on Explora centre, dinosaur halls and the Sandia tram. The October Balloon Fiesta is a memorable dawn spectacle for children, though everything is reached by car.

Snowbird works best for families who already ski, especially teenagers, since the mountain leans towards expert terrain. Its car-free base is easy to manage and summer brings a mountain coaster and alpine slide, but the thin air can tire toddlers.

Snowbird is simpler once you are there: lodges, tram and lifts sit a short walk apart on a car-free base, often with ski-in rooms. The catch is the single canyon road, which clogs on powder mornings and can close for avalanche control.

Albuquerque spreads across a wide valley and is built for driving. Old Town is walkable and a bus links Central Avenue's districts, but the mountains, petroglyphs and nearly every day trip need a rental car.

Albuquerque has something specific to buy: silver and turquoise jewellery, Pueblo pottery, Navajo weaving and kachina carvings around Old Town and the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, plus Nob Hill's vintage shops and chile ristras as souvenirs.

Snowbird's stores sell and rent ski gear, goggles and resort clothing, useful but not for browsing. For real shopping you go to Salt Lake City's malls or Park City's main street.

Albuquerque is the cheaper trip, with fairly priced hotels outside Balloon Fiesta week, generous New Mexican plates and free sights like Old Town and the foothills trails. The main extra cost is the rental car.

Snowbird carries full ski-resort costs, from lift tickets and slopeside rooms to rentals and captive-audience meals, at their highest in peak winter. Staying in Salt Lake City and driving up, or coming in summer, softens the bill.

Albuquerque has a genuine stage life: touring musicals and the philharmonic at Popejoy Hall, shows in the Pueblo Deco KiMo Theatre, a deep-rooted flamenco scene and weekend Native dances at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center. Santa Fe's open-air opera is within a summer evening's drive.

Snowbird offers summer plaza concerts, oompah bands at its Oktoberfest and the odd après-ski band. Symphony, opera and theatre all mean driving down to Salt Lake City.

Snowbird has the better place to unwind on site: a large spa on top of the main lodge with a rooftop pool, hot tubs facing the canyon walls and steam rooms, and still, dark nights once the morning rush is over. The warm crater pool at Homestead in Midway is about an hour away.

Albuquerque relies on hotel and resort spas, some on Pueblo land with mountain views, and on drives to the hot springs at Jemez Springs or around Santa Fe. The dry air and slow pace help, but the city is not a rest cure.