Alta, Utah or Aspen?

Neither town is a place to swim, and in both you end up in a hotel pool. The small difference is summer water: Aspen has cold alpine lakes, reservoir shores and rafting on the Roaring Fork. Alta's nearest open water is the Great Salt Lake, where nobody goes to swim.

Aspen eats far better. Its downtown has chef-led dining rooms, Italian kitchens, sushi and serious wine lists, an après ritual on the terraces at the base of Aspen Mountain, and a farmers' market in summer. The catch is cost and season: there is little cheap food, and many kitchens close in spring and autumn.

In Alta you eat where you sleep, usually a set half-board dinner at a long lodge table, with lunch in the day lodges. It is fuel for skiing. For real choice you have to drive down the canyon to Salt Lake City.

Aspen has more to look at, though it is a walk rather than a list of sights. Downtown has red-brick Victorian blocks, the West End has painted miners' cottages, and there are the Aspen Art Museum and Herbert Bayer's modernist campus for the Aspen Institute. The ghost town of Ashcroft lies up the valley.

Alta shares the same silver-mining past but has kept almost nothing of it beyond traces of old mines on the slopes. For culture you go down to Salt Lake City.

Aspen has a real night out, at least in ski season. Après moves from the slopeside decks into the downtown bars and lounges. In the peak winter weeks, a few small clubs and hotel bars stay busy late with a well-dressed crowd. Spring and autumn are quiet.

Alta offers none of that, on purpose. A drink in the lodge bar and bed before the first lift is the whole evening, and that is exactly what its regulars come for.

Both are among the great mountain destinations, so the difference is one of kind. Alta is a single ski area for skiers only, at the head of Little Cottonwood Canyon. It is built around some of the deepest, driest powder in North America and serious backcountry touring. In summer, the wildflower meadows of Albion Basin and the walk to Cecret Lake take over.

Aspen offers range instead. It has four mountains, from gentle Buttermilk to steep Highlands, and huts for overnight ski tours. In summer there are hikes around the Maroon Bells, summits above 4,000m, rafting and fly-fishing, and the drive over Independence Pass.

Alta has the better day out because Salt Lake City is under an hour away, with Temple Square, the State Capitol and proper museums. Park City's old mining Main Street is about an hour away too. The catch is the single canyon road, which shuts after big storms.

From Aspen the options are smaller places: the railway-era centre of Glenwood Springs, Carbondale, the quarry village of Marble and, in summer only, Victorian Leadville over Independence Pass. They make pleasant drives, but none of them has a city's museums and landmarks.

Aspen is the easier choice for families. Buttermilk and Snowmass have gentle slopes and dedicated kids' areas, and the free buses keep getting around simple. Summer adds alpine coasters, ropes courses, and fountains for children to play in downtown.

Alta suits only families where everyone skis. The ski school and beginner slopes near the base are good, but nothing else is aimed at children, and on storm days guests can be kept indoors. Both towns are high enough to tire small children for the first day or so.

Aspen is far easier without a car. The flat downtown grid takes minutes to walk, the gondola leaves from its edge, free buses link all four ski mountains, and the town's own airport is only minutes away.

Alta is simple once you are there, with ski-in, ski-out lodges and a village shuttle. Getting there is the problem: it is about 50km from Salt Lake City's airport, up one canyon road that jams on powder mornings and closes for avalanche control. Outside winter you need a car.

Aspen is a genuine shopping stop if you have the budget. International luxury labels, jewellers, Western leather and fur, and commercial galleries fill a few pedestrian blocks, although there are no markets beyond the summer farmers' market and few affordable independent shops. Alta sells ski rental and tuning, outdoor gear and branded souvenirs, and nothing more.

Neither is cheap, but Alta costs less. Its lodges are expensive and often include dinner, but lift tickets are moderate by American standards. Sleeping in the Salt Lake valley and riding up each day brings the cost down a good deal.

In Aspen, rooms, lift tickets, ski school and meals are all priced for a very wealthy crowd. Summer helps a little and staying in Glenwood Springs or Carbondale helps more, but the trip is still expensive.

Summer in Aspen means the Music Festival: about eight weeks of orchestral, chamber and opera performances centred on the Benedict Music Tent, where you can listen for free from the lawn. Jazz festivals and the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet add to it. The Wheeler Opera House has a programme all year, though the choice is thinner in winter.

Alta has no stage of any kind. For a concert you go to Salt Lake City.

Aspen has more ways to unwind. There are resort spas with altitude-recovery treatments and yoga in the parks. An hour down the valley, Glenwood Springs has big mineral pools and cave vapour baths. In the peak ski weeks, though, the town is less restful.

In Alta, wellness means a hot tub in the snow and a sauna after skiing, with small spas in the larger lodges. Its real strength is quiet: storm days muffle the village and there is nothing to keep you up at night.