Alta, Utah or South Lake Tahoe?

On beaches the gap is total. Alta sits high in a canyon with nowhere to swim except lodge pools and hot tubs, and the Great Salt Lake below is not a lake people swim in.

South Lake Tahoe has real beaches on the edge of town: Pope, Baldwin and Kiva under the pines, and Sand Harbor's boulder coves further round the shore. The water is strikingly clear but cold, so swimming is for midsummer, and for the rest of the year the sand is for walking.

Neither is a place to travel for food, but South Lake Tahoe gives you more choice. In Alta most dinners are set meals at long communal tables in the lodge where you sleep, lunch is a slopeside cafeteria, and for variety you drive down to Salt Lake City.

South Lake Tahoe has a whole strip of places along Highway 50, from brewpubs and taquerias to skier breakfasts, plus casino steakhouses and late diners on the Nevada side. Local craft beer is the highlight. Quality varies, but you can pick somewhere different each night.

There are few sights in either place, though South Lake Tahoe has enough for an afternoon. The Tallac Historic Site preserves old estates by the lake, Vikingsholm stands at the head of Emerald Bay, and a small museum covers the Washoe people and logging. Alta's silver-mining past survives only as old mine workings on the slopes, and there are no museums at all, so culture there means a day in Salt Lake City.

Alta goes to bed early on purpose: a drink in the lodge bar after skiing, then lights out well before the lifts open. South Lake Tahoe can at least keep you up late. The casino towers at Stateline keep bars and gaming floors open all night, and their lounges and the odd club fill on long weekends.

It is still a small scene. The California side has brewpubs and ski bars, there is no bar district to wander, and après-ski at the gondola base is the liveliest hour of a winter day.

Both are first-rate mountain bases, and the difference is in what the mountains are for. Alta is a winter specialist, with steep, deep-snow skiing in the Wasatch, slopes kept for skiers and serious backcountry touring. In summer it has Albion Basin's wildflowers and the walk to Cecret Lake.

South Lake Tahoe gives up some of that snow reputation for more range. The lake, Emerald Bay and the granite lake country of the Desolation Wilderness make summer as strong as winter. You can kayak, paddleboard or ride the Flume Trail, and in winter ski at Heavenly or at two other resorts within an hour.

South Lake Tahoe has more places within reach, even if none is grand. Virginia City's boardwalks, Carson City and Genoa lie over the mountains, Coloma and the Amador wine country are down Highway 50, and Truckee and Tahoe City make a loop round the lake.

From Alta there are fewer choices, but the main one is a real city. Salt Lake City, with Temple Square and the State Capitol, is under an hour away, and Park City's old Main Street is about an hour. In winter every outing depends on the canyon road staying open.

South Lake Tahoe is the easier place to bring children. Summer brings shallow, sandy beaches, bike paths and short walks at Taylor Creek. Winter adds sledding hills and snow play areas as well as ski schools, and cabins with kitchens keep the practical side simple.

In Alta, what works for children ends with the ski school and the beginner slopes near the base. Children who don't ski have little to do, the altitude can wear them out, and on storm days everyone may have to stay indoors.

Both depend on mountain roads, but in different ways. Alta is self-contained: the lodges sit at the lifts and a shuttle links the village. Salt Lake City's airport is about 50km away, but the single canyon road clogs on powder mornings and closes for avalanche control.

South Lake Tahoe has a walkable centre at Stateline and free shuttles. The beaches, trailheads and other ski areas are spread out, though, so you need a car much more of the time, and weekend traffic round Emerald Bay moves very slowly.

Alta's shops stop at ski rental and tuning, while South Lake Tahoe has enough to browse for an hour. Up the canyon there is a little outdoor gear and some branded souvenirs, but no boutiques or markets, so anyone who wants to shop heads down to Salt Lake City or Park City.

South Lake Tahoe adds a cluster of souvenir and clothing shops around the gondola base and a few galleries selling local lake photography. There is still no shopping street of note, though, and nothing worth setting aside a day for.

Both are expensive, but South Lake Tahoe gives you more ways to save. Alta has only a handful of lodges, priced high in season and usually with dinner included, so visitors on a budget sleep down in the Salt Lake valley and travel up each day.

In South Lake Tahoe, peak weeks are expensive and lift tickets at the big resorts are steep. Even so, the Nevada casino hotels discount midweek and in spring and autumn, a cabin with a kitchen cuts food costs, and the beaches and trails are free.

Alta has no stage of any kind, and evenings are spent in the lodge. South Lake Tahoe has a modest programme. Touring rock and country acts and comedians play the casino showrooms all year, and summer brings a Shakespeare festival on the beach at Sand Harbor and concerts at the Tallac estates. Neither has a theatre company or a classical season.

Neither has a bathing tradition, and in both places the spas belong to lodges or hotels, so the difference is in kind. In Alta the restful part is the quiet: a tiny village, hot tubs steaming in the snow and early nights after hard skiing.

South Lake Tahoe has natural hot springs within reach. Grover Hot Springs, with its mineral pool in an alpine meadow, and the resorts of the Carson Valley each make an easy afternoon's soak. There are also quiet mornings by the lake once you get away from the casino corner.