Alta, Utah or Big Sky?

Neither place offers swimming in any real sense, so on this point they are level. In Alta, summer swimming means a lodge pool or hot tub, because the Great Salt Lake below is too shallow and too salty for bathing. Big Sky at least has small ponds for a quick paddle on a hot afternoon and riverbank picnics beside the cold Gallatin.

Big Sky eats better, though neither is a place to come for the food. Its restaurants are spread across Mountain Village, Town Center, Meadow Village and the canyon roadhouses, and they serve bison, elk, Montana beef and trout. A few lodge kitchens aim higher, and there is a local brewing culture. Some places close or cut their hours between seasons.

In Alta you mostly eat where you sleep. Many guests stay on half board, with set dinners at communal tables, and lunch is at the cafeterias on the mountain. Utah's liquor rules shape how drinks are served. For more choice, Alta guests drive down to Salt Lake City, while Big Sky guests head an hour to Bozeman.

There is little culture to see in either place. Alta has the deeper history, as a silver-mining camp that became one of the oldest ski areas in the West, but all that remains are traces of old mines on the slopes, with no museum. Big Sky has only been built since the 1970s, yet it does have one small museum, the log cabins of the Crail Ranch homestead in Meadow Village.

Big Sky has more going on after the lifts close. Skiers clump in their boots onto the sunny decks at the base of Mountain Village, a few taverns in Town Center stay open after dinner, and old saloons in the Gallatin Canyon have pool tables and a ranch-country crowd. Even so, it is a place for a drink, not for clubs.

In Alta the evening is one après-ski drink in a lodge bar and then bed, and regulars like it that way. For a livelier après you go to the neighbouring resort down the road, and for anything more you go to Salt Lake City.

Both are outstanding mountain destinations, and they differ in character. Alta is about the snow. Storms off the Great Salt Lake often drop more than 12m of dry powder in a winter, the steep terrain is reserved for skiers, and backcountry touring into the avalanche-prone bowls is taken seriously. In summer, Albion Basin turns into one of the Rockies' great wildflower meadows, and moose and mountain goats are seen on the trails.

Big Sky offers more scale and variety. Lone Peak rises to 3,403m above one of the largest ski areas in North America, with cross-country trails in the meadows below. In summer you can hike into the Spanish Peaks and the Lee Metcalf Wilderness, fish for trout or go rafting on the Gallatin, and drive about an hour to see Yellowstone's geysers and wolves.

Alta has the better choice of towns within a day's reach. Salt Lake City, with Temple Square and the State Capitol, is under an hour away. Park City's old silver-mining Main Street and Ogden's railway street are further options. Every winter outing depends on the canyon road staying open after storms.

From Big Sky, most outings head into the landscape rather than to towns. Bozeman has a Western main street and the Museum of the Rockies with its dinosaur fossils. The boardwalked gold-rush towns of Virginia City and Nevada City are about two hours away, which makes for a long day.

Big Sky is much easier with children. Besides the ski school and beginner slopes, in summer the base area becomes an adventure park with zip lines, ropes courses and gondola rides. Gentle rafting, horse riding and bison in Yellowstone give children memories that have nothing to do with skiing.

Alta works only for families who ski. It has lessons and gentle terrain near the base, but no attractions made for children, and during heavy storms guests may have to stay indoors while avalanche control goes on. In both places the altitude can tire small children at first, especially in Alta at around 2,600m.

Alta is simpler to reach and to move around. Salt Lake City's airport is about 50km away, the lodges sit at the foot of the lifts, and a village shuttle covers the rest. The weak point is the single canyon road, which backs up with traffic on powder mornings and closes after storms.

Big Sky is spread along about 15km of road from the canyon up to Mountain Village. A free bus links the villages, but walking between them isn't practical. Bozeman airport is an hour's drive away, and you need a car for Yellowstone or anything else beyond the resort.

Neither is somewhere to shop, but Big Sky has a little more to browse. In Town Center and Mountain Village there are a few boutiques with a Western feel and galleries selling wildlife and landscape art. Alta stops at ski rental and tuning shops and branded souvenirs, so shoppers go to Park City or Salt Lake City.

Both are expensive, and Alta is the somewhat gentler of the two. Its few lodge beds charge high rates in season, but dinner is often included and lift tickets are moderate by major American resort standards. It also has none of the luxury-retail gloss of the glitzier resorts. Staying in the Salt Lake valley and taking the bus up is the usual way to save.

Big Sky sets its prices around slopeside luxury. Lift passes, ski school, guided fishing and meals out all cost a great deal. Summer and the shoulder seasons are cheaper, but sleeping in the canyon or in Bozeman to save money means a lot of driving.

Big Sky has a real, if seasonal, arts life. A small arts centre in Meadow Village hosts touring musicians, chamber music and theatre through the winter. In summer there are free concerts on the lawn in Town Center and a short classical music festival.

Alta has nothing of the kind, so evenings are spent in the lodges. For a play, a concert or the symphony, Alta's visitors drive down to Salt Lake City.

Neither has thermal water or a bathing tradition, and both offer much the same post-ski relaxation. Alta's version is simpler and quieter: outdoor hot tubs steaming in the snow, saunas, a few small spas in the lodges, and a village so small and still that storm days are naturally restful. Big Sky's large resorts have full-service spas with proper massage menus, the nights are clear and starry, and natural hot springs lie about an hour away towards Bozeman.