Alta, Utah or Telluride?

Neither town has a beach, so a sun-and-sea trip rules out both. In Alta, swimming means a lodge pool or hot tub. The Great Salt Lake below the canyon is too shallow and salty for bathing.

Telluride's only option is a cold reservoir swimming area near Ridgway, about an hour's drive away. Its summer water is mostly the active kind, with rafting, paddling and fly fishing in place of a swim.

Alta's food is lodge food. Most guests eat set dinners at long communal tables on half board and have lunch in slopeside cafeterias. For any variety you drive down the canyon to Salt Lake City, if the road allows.

Telluride eats noticeably better. The small circle of ambitious kitchens on Colorado Avenue and in Mountain Village cooks with Colorado lamb, elk, trout and Western Slope produce, and there are taquerias, bakeries, local craft beer and good wine lists besides. A week there can feel repetitive, but you will not miss Alta's dining rooms.

Telluride gives you something to look at between outdoor days. The whole town is a National Historic Landmark of clapboard houses and false-fronted storefronts, and its mining story is told in the historical museum, the Sheridan Opera House and the mill ruins on the canyon walls. That makes for a pleasant couple of hours.

Alta has only the traces of its silver-mining past scattered over the ski slopes, and no museums or buildings to tour. For sights you go down to Salt Lake City.

Alta is built for early nights: one drink in a lodge bar after skiing, then bed before the lifts open. Regulars like it that way, and a livelier après scene is just down the road at the neighbouring resort.

Telluride has more of an evening. The Victorian saloons on Colorado Avenue fill with skiers, locals and seasonal workers, and in peak winter weeks and on festival weekends the main street stays busy late. There are still no clubs, and in the shoulder seasons the town goes quiet.

Both are first-rate mountain destinations, and the difference is in emphasis. Alta is about snow. It gets some of the deepest, driest powder in North America, often well over 12m in a winter, with steep terrain reserved for skiers and serious backcountry touring. In summer the wildflowers of Albion Basin and the walk up to Cecret Lake are the highlights.

Telluride offers a wider range under more dramatic walls. Bridal Veil Falls and Bear Creek Falls are within reach of the main street, and summer brings a via ferrata, fly fishing on the San Miguel River, jeep roads over Imogene Pass and gold aspens in autumn. Its skiing comes with some of the finest views in America.

Alta's great advantage is a real city below it. Salt Lake City, with Temple Square, the State Capitol and its museums, is under an hour away, and Park City's old Main Street is about the same distance. The catch is the single canyon road, which closes after big storms.

Telluride's day trips are all small mountain towns: ranching Ridgway, Ouray in its narrow canyon and Silverton over Red Mountain Pass. The cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde are a major site, but at two and a half hours each way they make for a very long day.

Alta really only suits families who ski. There is a ski school with children's lessons and gentle terrain near the base, and summer brings easy wildflower walks. Beyond that, very little is made for children, and storms can keep everyone indoors during avalanche control.

Telluride works for a wider range of families. Children enjoy the free gondola for its own sake, there are beginner slopes around Mountain Village, and summer adds town parks, the river path, easy waterfall walks and fishing. It has no zoos, aquariums, theme parks or science museums, though, and in both towns the altitude can tire young children for the first few days.

Telluride is easier once you have arrived. The historic grid takes a quarter of an hour to cross on foot, and the free gondola and town buses link it with Mountain Village, so many visitors never use a car. Getting there is harder: the local airport is often hit by weather, and the bigger ones are one to two hours away.

Alta is only about 50km from Salt Lake City's airport, and its lodges sit at the lifts with ski-in, ski-out access. Everything depends on the Little Cottonwood Canyon road, though, which jams on powder mornings and closes after storms.

Telluride has a few blocks of Colorado Avenue worth browsing, with art galleries, Western clothing and jewellery boutiques, a couple of good bookshops and outdoor gear, all at high prices. Alta has ski rental and tuning shops and some branded souvenirs, and nothing else. Anyone who wants to shop drives to Park City or Salt Lake City.

Neither is cheap, but Alta leaves more room to save. Its lodges charge high rates and often include dinner, yet lift tickets are moderate for a major American resort. Staying in the Salt Lake valley and taking the ski bus up cuts the cost a good deal.

Telluride is priced for second-home owners. Rooms, lift tickets, guiding and restaurant meals all sit at the top of the market, and prices go up again over the Christmas and New Year weeks and on festival weekends. Staying in Ridgway helps, but it means a daily drive through the mountains.

This is one of the widest gaps between the two. Telluride's summer is built around music. The Bluegrass Festival has filled Town Park beneath the canyon walls since the 1970s, and there are jazz, blues and chamber music festivals and the film festival over Labor Day weekend. The Sheridan Opera House hosts concerts, theatre and comedy all year round.

Alta has no stage at all. For a concert, a play or the symphony you go to Salt Lake City.

Alta's wellness is the restful kind: hot tubs steaming in the snow, a sauna and a massage in a lodge's small spa, then a silent night in a tiny village. That suits a tired skier more than anyone looking for treatments.

Telluride has more to offer. Mountain Village hotels have full spas, and the San Juan hot springs are about an hour away, both the large public pool in Ouray and the springs near Ridgway, for an afternoon soak with mountain views.