Anaheim or Deer Valley?

Anaheim is inland, but the Southern California coast is about half an hour away by car. You can choose the long surf beach and pier at Huntington, the harbour at Newport or the rocky coves of Laguna. The Pacific stays cool, though, so treat it as a half-day break from the parks.

Deer Valley has no sea at all. Its swimming comes down to the sandy shore of Jordanelle Reservoir on hot July and August afternoons, or the hotel pool.

Anaheim eats better once you leave the resort district. You can have Lebanese and Yemeni grills and bakeries in Little Arabia on Brookhurst Street, pho and banh mi in nearby Little Saigon, and taquerias across the county, which gives it a range of cheap, authentic cooking.

Deer Valley's food is upscale and narrow. There is polished lodge dining on the mountain, and Park City's Main Street has a surprising number of steakhouses, sushi bars and bistros, but there is little street food and few markets below that level.

Neither place is a culture trip, and the heritage in each is of a different kind. Anaheim's landmark is Disneyland itself, the park Walt Disney saw completed. Beyond it, the Bowers Museum, the Nixon Library and the glass Christ Cathedral are all a drive away.

Deer Valley borrows its history from Park City. It has a restored silver-mining Main Street with mine headframes on the slopes, the Park City Museum and the Olympic park from 2002, which together make a single afternoon out.

Both are quiet places at night, quiet in different ways. In Anaheim, the evening usually ends with the park fireworks, followed by a drink on the promenade or a brewpub in the centre, and the bars fill up near the stadiums on game nights. Deer Valley's après-ski crowd heads to the saloons on Park City's Main Street, which are busy on winter weekends but close early under Utah's liquor rules.

This is where Deer Valley clearly leads. It has its own immaculate slopes, Park City Mountain next door and the Cottonwood Canyons' famous powder within an hour. In summer the same mountains turn into aspen trails, lift-served biking and fly-fishing on the Provo River.

Anaheim's outdoors is gentler and has to be reached by car. You can walk the chaparral trails in the Santa Ana Mountains or the tide pools at Crystal Cove, or take a whale-watching boat out of Newport. All of it is pleasant rather than dramatic.

Anaheim's central position in Southern California gives it the far longer list. Los Angeles and the Getty are about an hour away, Catalina Island is a ferry ride from Long Beach, and you can also reach the mission at San Juan Capistrano, Temecula's wineries and San Diego. Traffic is the price of all this.

From Deer Valley, the main outing is Salt Lake City and Temple Square, and beyond that the options are small places like Midway, Sundance and Ogden.

Anaheim is one of the world's classic family destinations. Two Disney parks and Knott's Berry Farm stand within minutes of hundreds of family hotels, so a week can pass without the car. Queues at busy times are the main drawback.

Deer Valley suits families who ski, with good ski schools, gentle groomed runs and no snowboarders. Away from the snow there are tubing and coasters at the Olympic park, but most attractions made for children are down in Salt Lake City.

Deer Valley is the easier of the two once you arrive. Free buses link its base areas with Main Street and Park City Mountain, and much of the lodging is ski-in, though trips into the canyons or Salt Lake City still need a car.

Anaheim's resort district is walkable, and shuttles serve the parks. Beyond that, Orange County is a freeway grid with slow buses, so beaches, restaurants and day trips mean hiring a car, apart from the trains to Los Angeles and San Diego.

Anaheim has the bigger choice, all of it in malls. Disney merchandise fills the resort, the luxury mall in Costa Mesa holds most of the major fashion houses, and there are outlets and open-air centres for the mid-range.

In Deer Valley, shopping is one street. Park City's Main Street has galleries, western boots and outdoor gear, and there is an outlet centre at Kimball Junction. It is good for ski kit and little else.

Neither is cheap, but Anaheim gives you more room to save. Park tickets and hotels by the gates are expensive, while motels a short drive away and the Vietnamese and Middle Eastern districts charge ordinary prices.

Deer Valley sits at the very top of the ski market. Lift access, slopeside lodging, mountain meals and ski school all cost a lot, and the usual way to save is staying in the Heber Valley or Salt Lake City. Summer is gentler on the budget.

Anaheim offers somewhat more. Beyond the well-made park shows, the Segerstrom Center in Costa Mesa has the Pacific Symphony, ballet and touring Broadway, and major tours play at the arena.

Deer Valley's highlight is seasonal: the Utah Symphony's summer festival at the Snow Park amphitheatre, with picnics on the lawn. The 1920s Egyptian Theatre on Main Street stages plays and small concerts all year.

Deer Valley is the more restful stay. It has quiet slopeside lodges, hot tubs on snowy terraces, polished spas for tired legs and a warm spring pool inside the limestone dome of the Homestead Crater in Midway.

In Anaheim, the rhythm of early starts and crowded parks works against rest. The resort hotel pools and a few Korean day spas help, but real calm means a drive to the clifftop resorts at Laguna or Dana Point.