Alta, Utah or Newport Beach?

There is no real comparison here. Alta sits high in the Wasatch with no swimmable water nearby, and the Great Salt Lake is not a bathing lake, so a summer swim means a lodge pool.

Newport Beach has a long run of sand on the Balboa Peninsula, waves for surfers near the piers and at the Wedge, and quieter coves and harbour strips for small children. The Pacific stays cool, so expect wetsuits and boogie boards rather than warm-water floating.

In Alta you mostly eat at your lodge. Dinner is often a set meal at a communal table and lunch comes from the slopeside cafeterias, and anyone wanting variety drives down to Salt Lake City.

Newport Beach gives you real choice: harbour seafood with boat views, brunch in Corona del Mar, fish tacos on the peninsula and a frozen banana on Balboa Island. Costa Mesa and the Vietnamese kitchens of Little Saigon add range if you're willing to drive.

Neither town is a sightseeing destination, but Newport Beach gives you a little more to look at. It has the 1905 Balboa Pavilion, Schindler's Lovell Beach House and the gardens in Corona del Mar, with a proper art museum in Costa Mesa. Alta's history as a silver-mining camp shows only in old mine workings on the slopes, and for museums you go down to Salt Lake City.

Alta goes to bed early. An après-ski drink in a lodge bar is about all there is, and regulars like it that way.

Newport Beach offers more without being a party town. Beach and dive bars by the piers fill up on summer weekends, and harbour wine bars and hotel lounges suit a quieter evening. There are no clubs, though, and for a big night you head to Costa Mesa or Los Angeles.

Alta has the more dramatic scenery. Storms off the Great Salt Lake bury the high Wasatch in powder, the skiing is steep and the backcountry bowls draw experienced tourers. In summer Albion Basin turns into one of the great wildflower meadows of the Rockies.

Newport Beach's outdoors is coastal and gentler. You can cycle round the birdlife of Upper Newport Bay, paddle in the harbour, walk the bluffs of Crystal Cove and take a boat out to watch grey or blue whales. For real elevation you drive about an hour to the Santa Ana Mountains.

From Alta, the options are Salt Lake City's Temple Square and museums or Park City's old Main Street. All of them depend on a canyon road that closes after heavy snow, and Utah's national parks are too far for a day out.

Newport Beach has far more within reach. You can visit Laguna Beach's galleries, Mission San Juan Capistrano or the harbour town of Avalon on Catalina, which is a ferry ride away, and both Los Angeles and San Diego work as day trips. Freeway traffic is the price you pay.

Newport Beach is much easier with children. Calm harbour water, the ferris wheel at the Fun Zone, whale-watching boats and tide pools fill the days, and Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm are close enough to visit from the coast.

Alta suits families only if everyone skis. There is a good ski school and gentle beginner slopes, but nothing else for children. The altitude and storm closures add to the strain.

Once you're in Alta you barely need to move. The lodges are at the lifts, many with ski-in, ski-out access, and a shuttle links the base areas. The difficulty is getting there. The single canyon road can jam or close for avalanche control, and chains or winter tyres are often needed.

Newport Beach is spread out and needs a car almost every day. Only the Balboa Peninsula and Balboa Island, joined by the little ferry, are easy to explore on foot or by bike.

Alta's shops sell ski rentals, tuning and outdoor gear, and little else. Newport Beach is a real place to shop. It has designer names at the open-air centre above the harbour, a huge luxury mall a few minutes away in Costa Mesa, and boutiques and surf shops along Coast Highway and on the peninsula, though you won't find many markets or crafts.

Both are expensive, for different reasons. In Alta, beds are scarce and the lodges charge high rates with dinner included, although lift tickets are moderate for a major American resort. In Newport Beach, beachfront hotels, restaurants with views and the cost of a hire car add up. In both places the way to save is to stay further away, in the Salt Lake valley or inland in Costa Mesa and Irvine.

Alta has no stage of any kind, and for a concert or a play you go down to Salt Lake City.

Newport Beach has the Segerstrom Center for the Arts close by in Costa Mesa, with touring musicals, ballet and the Pacific Symphony, and South Coast Repertory next door. Summer brings concerts by the water. For opera and big-name concerts you still drive to Los Angeles.

The two offer different kinds of rest, and Newport Beach has a slight edge. Alta's relaxation follows a hard day on the slopes: hot tubs steaming in the snow, saunas, small lodge spas and silent evenings.

Newport Beach has full spas at the hillside resorts, plus day spas and yoga studios around Corona del Mar and Fashion Island. Its calm comes from bluff walks and sunsets over the harbour. Neither town has thermal water.