Alta, Utah or Rapid City?

Neither is a swimming destination, but Rapid City at least has somewhere to get into the water. Sylvan Lake, Sheridan Lake and Pactola Reservoir sit in the pine hills, with small shores and water warm enough for a dip in high summer. Alta has no swimmable water at all, because the Great Salt Lake below is too shallow and salty for bathing, so a swim there means the lodge pool or hot tub.

Rapid City gives you more choice, although neither is a place to travel to for food. It has regional dishes Alta has nothing like, such as chislic, bison burgers and Indian tacos on Lakota fry bread. Downtown around Main Street adds brewpubs, coffee houses and a few more ambitious kitchens, and there are wineries out in the hills.

In Alta nearly every meal is eaten in your lodge, often a set dinner on half board at long shared tables, with cafeteria lunches on the mountain. That suits a skier's day well, but for any variety you drive down the canyon to Salt Lake City.

Rapid City has a modest but genuine set of sights. There are bronze statues of the presidents on the downtown street corners, and the Journey Museum covers everything from Black Hills geology to Lakota history and the gold rush. Badlands fossils fill the museum at the School of Mines, and Cold War aircraft stand outside near Ellsworth.

Alta has no museums or historic buildings, only traces of its silver-mining past on the slopes, so any cultural sightseeing means a day in Salt Lake City.

A drink in a lodge bar after the lifts close is the whole of Alta's night out. There are no clubs and no late scene, and regulars like it that way, because first tracks in the morning matter more than the evening.

Rapid City gives you a real evening out, if a modest one. Brewpubs, sports bars, a cocktail lounge or two and country-music bars cluster around Main Street Square, and they are friendly and mostly quiet before midnight. In early August the Sturgis rally, half an hour north, keeps the bars loud and late for a week.

Both are mountain places, but Alta's mountain is exceptional. At the head of Little Cottonwood Canyon, the powder is famously deep and dry, often well over 12m in a winter. The skiing is steep and reserved for skiers, and there is serious backcountry touring. Summer is just as focused, with Albion Basin's wildflowers, the walk to Cecret Lake and moose on the trails.

Rapid City's strength is range rather than depth. It has granite spires and ponderosa forest in the Black Hills, bison in Custer State Park, Wind Cave and Jewel Cave underground, the Badlands to the east and the Mickelson Trail for cyclists. Its winter skiing is one small area near Lead, so for snow Alta is in another league.

Rapid City has a whole itinerary within easy driving distance. Mount Rushmore is about half an hour away, with the Crazy Horse Memorial and its museum a little beyond. There is gold-rush Deadwood, the Mammoth Site at Hot Springs and the Minuteman Missile silo out east, although you need a car for all of them.

From Alta the choice comes down to Salt Lake City, Park City and Ogden. In winter even those depend on a single canyon road that closes after heavy storms.

Rapid City is the far easier choice with children. The Black Hills have hosted family road trips for generations, with Storybook Island, Dinosaur Park, the reptile park, cave tours, gold panning and bison holding up the traffic. There are motels with pools almost everywhere, and the main drawback is long hours in the car.

Alta works only if the whole family skis. There is a ski school and gentle terrain near the base, but nothing else built for children, and the 2,600m altitude and storm days spent indoors can wear young ones down.

Alta is simpler once you arrive. The lodges sit at the lifts, many with ski-in, ski-out access, a winter shuttle links the village, and buses and shuttles come up from Salt Lake City. The weak point is the single canyon road, which jams on powder mornings and shuts for avalanche control.

In Rapid City you need a car for almost everything, because the city buses do not reach Mount Rushmore, the state parks or the hill towns. The driving itself is relaxed, with light traffic, easy parking and scenic roads through the hills.

Neither place is a reason to bring an empty suitcase, but Rapid City is well ahead. In Alta the only counters you will find deal in ski rental, tuning, outdoor kit and souvenirs with the resort's logo, so whatever you buy there is something you need on the mountain. Browsing for anything else means a drive down to Park City or Salt Lake City.

Rapid City at least gives you things to take home that you could not easily buy elsewhere. The local jewellers work Black Hills gold into leaves and grape clusters in pink, green and yellow tones, and downtown galleries sell Lakota beadwork, quillwork and star quilts, with Western boots and hats in the shops nearby. Add the mall and the souvenir counters of Keystone and Wall, and you have enough for an afternoon, though not a shopping trip.

Rapid City is clearly the cheaper trip, with reasonably priced motels, casual meals and many free sights. The summer peak and rally week in August push room rates up, and a hire car and fuel are unavoidable.

Alta's few lodge beds are expensive in season, often with dinner included because there is nowhere else to eat. The economical way to ski it is to sleep in the Salt Lake valley and ride up each day.

Rapid City has a small but real stage life. The Black Hills Symphony Orchestra gives a season, the civic centre hosts touring shows, the playhouse in Custer State Park stages summer plays in the pines, and the large autumn powwow is the most distinctive of all. Alta has no theatre or music venue, so evenings are spent in the lodge and any concert means a trip to Salt Lake City.

Alta does relaxation better, in a modest way. There are outdoor hot tubs steaming in the snow, saunas and small spas in the lodges for the end of a ski day, and the village is so tiny and quiet that nothing keeps you awake.

Rapid City itself has only a few day spas and hotel spas. Its best restorative outing is the drive to Hot Springs, about an hour south, to bathe in the historic spring-fed pool that has drawn bathers since the 1890s. Otherwise the calm comes from cabin stays in the hills.