Alta, Utah or Palm Desert?

Neither place has a beach, so the difference lies in how you use the water. At Alta, water means a lodge pool or an outdoor hot tub for warming up after a day in the snow. The Great Salt Lake below is not somewhere people swim.

In Palm Desert, an afternoon by a heated resort pool under the palms is a central part of the stay. The real Pacific coast is a full day's outing, about two hours over the mountains.

Palm Desert gives you much more choice at dinner. Its resort restaurants and the patio steakhouses and bistros along El Paseo are polished, if somewhat alike. The taquerias of Indio and Coachella and the date shakes from the groves add genuine local flavour.

In Alta, meals mostly come with the lodge room: a set dinner at a communal table and lunch in a slopeside cafeteria. Any variety means driving down the canyon to Salt Lake City, and that depends on the road being open.

Neither is a sightseeing destination, but Palm Desert has more to fill a spare morning. There is the Palm Springs Art Museum branch with its sculpture garden, the galleries along El Paseo, and Palm Springs' mid-century modern houses twenty minutes away.

Alta's heritage is its silver-mining past and its long history as a ski area, and you mostly see it as old mine workings on the slopes. For museums you go down to Salt Lake City.

Both towns go to bed early, but Palm Desert has more to offer after dark. You can have patio cocktails and wine bars around El Paseo, the tribal casinos stay open late, and Palm Springs' downtown bars are a short drive away.

Alta's evening is a drink in the lodge bar and then sleep before first lifts. The livelier après-ski crowd is at the neighbouring resort.

Both are built around their landscapes, but Alta's is the more extraordinary. It sits at about 2,600m in the Wasatch, and its deep powder, steep runs and avalanche-country backcountry draw skiers from around the world. In summer the meadows of Albion Basin and the trail up to Cecret Lake take over.

Palm Desert's desert scenery is striking in its own way. Trails climb straight into the Santa Rosa Mountains, there are palm oases in the Indian Canyons, and Joshua Tree's boulders and night skies are about an hour away. Its outdoor season, though, shuts down in the summer heat.

Palm Desert has the wider spread of outings. Palm Springs is twenty minutes away, and Joshua Tree, Idyllwild, the Temecula wine country and the folk-art oddity of Salvation Mountain are all reachable in a day.

From Alta, Salt Lake City and Park City's old mining Main Street are the main choices. Every winter trip depends on the canyon road staying open after storms, and Utah's famous national parks are too far south for a day out.

Palm Desert is the easier choice with children. The Living Desert zoo fills a whole morning, the aerial tramway thrills older children, and resort pools and lawns fill the hours between outings.

Alta suits families only if they all ski. The children's ski school and gentle runs near the base are good, but there is little else for children, the altitude can tire them, and storm days can keep everyone indoors.

Once you arrive, Alta is far simpler. Lodges sit at the lifts, many are ski-in, ski-out, and a winter shuttle links the village. The catch is the single canyon road up from Salt Lake City, about 50km away, which queues on powder mornings and closes for avalanche control.

Palm Desert means driving for almost everything. It spreads along wide boulevards, and the buses are slow. Parking is easy and the roads are clear, but only a few blocks of El Paseo are pleasant on foot.

This is one of the widest gaps between the two. Palm Desert has El Paseo's upscale boutiques, jewellers and galleries, a large mall, a designer outlet centre half an hour west, and Palm Springs' mid-century furniture dealers.

Alta sells ski tuning, rental gear and branded souvenirs, and anything more means a trip down to the valley.

Neither is cheap, but Palm Desert gives you more ways to save. Chain hotels and vacation rentals are available all year, and resort rates fall sharply in the hot months. A hire car, golf and spa treatments are what add up.

Alta has only a handful of lodges, mostly on half board, and very little budget accommodation. That is why careful spenders stay in the Salt Lake valley and come up by bus each day.

Palm Desert has a proper stage in the McCallum Theatre, with touring Broadway shows, ballet and orchestras through the winter. The casinos host big-name concerts, and Coachella and Stagecoach fill the nearby Indio polo grounds each spring.

Alta has no venue at all. For a concert or a play you go down to Salt Lake City.

Palm Desert was built for unwinding. It has full resort spas, long poolside afternoons, a slow winter pace, and real mineral-spring bathing in Desert Hot Springs, about half an hour north.

Alta's version is simpler: a hot tub steaming in the snow, a sauna and a massage in a small lodge spa, then a deep sleep in a silent village. Tired skiers find that restorative, but it is not a spa break.