Alta, Utah or Beaver Creek?

Neither is a place to swim. Alta has no water you would bathe in, since the Great Salt Lake is shallow and briny, so swimming means a lodge pool or hot tub.

Beaver Creek has a bit more. Nottingham Lake down in Avon has a small sandy area that families use on hot summer afternoons, though the snowmelt water is cold, and many hotels have heated outdoor pools with mountain views.

Beaver Creek eats noticeably better. It has polished restaurants serving elk, lamb and trout, dinners at on-mountain lodges reached by sleigh or chairlift, and cheaper taquerias and brewpubs down in Avon and Edwards, with Vail nearby for more choice.

In Alta you mostly eat where you sleep: set half-board dinners at communal tables and cafeteria lunches on the slopes. Anything more varied means driving down the canyon to Salt Lake City, if the road is open.

Neither has much to see. They are short on sights for different reasons. Alta's past is a silver-mining camp, and the only traces are old mine workings on the slopes. Beaver Creek was built as a resort around 1980, and its stone-and-timber village and outdoor art take about an hour to see. For museums, Alta has Salt Lake City and Beaver Creek has the old Colorado mining towns.

Both are quiet at night, but Beaver Creek has a little more going on. Après-ski means fire pits on the plaza and a few hotel lounges, and the busier bars of Vail are a short drive away.

Alta stops at one drink in the lodge bar, and regulars like it that way. A real night out means the resort next door or the long drive down to Salt Lake City.

These are two of the great ski mountains of the American West, with a different feel. Alta is about deep powder. Storms off the Great Salt Lake often leave more than 12m of snow in a winter on steep terrain open only to skiers, and the backcountry touring is serious. Beaver Creek is about long groomed runs, glades and uncrowded slopes, with Vail's huge terrain close by.

Summer is different too. Alta has the Albion Basin wildflowers, the walk to Cecret Lake, moose and mountain goats. Beaver Creek covers more ground, with the Holy Cross Wilderness, the Gore Range, rafting and gold-medal fly-fishing on the Eagle and Colorado Rivers.

The day trips are equally limited but not alike. From Alta the main outing is a real city: Salt Lake City, with Temple Square, the State Capitol and museums, plus Park City's mining-era Main Street. But winter trips depend on one canyon road that closes after storms.

From Beaver Creek you get several small mountain towns: Vail's Tyrolean-style village, Victorian Leadville, Breckenridge's gold-rush centre and the old spa town of Glenwood Springs. They are pleasant but quite similar to one another.

Beaver Creek is built for family ski vacations. It has a large, well-run ski school, an ice rink, escalators up from the car parks, warm cookies when the lifts close and, in summer, ropes courses and mini golf.

Alta offers ski lessons and gentle terrain near the base and very little beyond that. Storm days can keep families indoors while avalanche control goes on, so it only really works if everyone skis.

Beaver Creek is easier to reach and move around. It has a pedestrian core, free shuttles, valley buses to Vail and an airport at Eagle about half an hour away. The roads over the passes from Denver can still close in winter.

Alta is compact once you are there, with lodges at the lifts. The weak point is the single Little Cottonwood Canyon road from Salt Lake City, about 50km away. It jams on powder mornings, closes for avalanche control and often needs chains, and buses mostly stop running outside the ski season.

Beaver Creek has a small upmarket cluster around the plaza, with luxury outerwear, western boots, jewellery and galleries selling bronzes and landscape paintings. It is good for a browse on a rest day, though the range is narrow and prices are high. Alta has ski rental and tuning shops and a few souvenirs, so any real shopping is down in Salt Lake City or Park City.

Both are expensive, but Alta is the less costly of the two. Its lift tickets are moderate by American standards, the village has no luxury retail, and you can stay in the Salt Lake valley and come up each day. Its few lodges are still pricey in season.

Beaver Creek is among the most expensive vacations in North America. The costs pile up from luxury lodging, lift tickets, ski school and mountain dining. Staying in Avon or Edwards and coming in summer help, but not by much.

Here Beaver Creek is far ahead. The Vilar Performing Arts Center in the village runs concerts, comedy, dance and family shows. In summer the Bravo! Vail music festival brings leading orchestras to the open-air amphitheatre twenty minutes away, alongside the Vail Dance Festival. Alta has no stage at all, so any concert or play means Salt Lake City.

Beaver Creek has more to offer. Its resort spas are some of the largest in the Rockies, and the hot springs of Glenwood Springs, with a huge outdoor pool used since the 1880s, are about an hour away.

Alta offers mostly peace and quiet: lodge hot tubs in the snow, saunas and small spas, in a village so quiet that storm days feel muffled. That is restful after skiing, but it is not a spa break.