Aspen or Deer Valley?

Neither place is a swimming destination, and in practice both come down to a hotel pool. They differ in what the summer water offers. At Aspen it means cold alpine lakes and small reservoirs, or a raft trip down the Roaring Fork River rather than a swim.

Deer Valley has a little more for anyone set on swimming outdoors. The state park at Jordanelle Reservoir, just below the resort, has a sandy shoreline where the water is comfortable on hot July and August afternoons.

Aspen has the stronger dining scene. Its downtown grid holds chef-led restaurants, Italian places and wine lists aimed at well-off winter guests, and the Food & Wine Classic brings visiting chefs to town every June. In summer there is also a Saturday farmers' market.

Deer Valley eats well too, but more simply. Up on the mountain it is lodge food and the famous turkey chili, and in Park City below it is steakhouses, sushi and après-ski grills. Drinking happens mostly with dinner or at local breweries and distilleries rather than over wine. Neither place has a cuisine of its own, and neither is cheap.

Neither resort is a sightseeing trip, but Aspen has more to look at. The Wheeler Opera House and the red-brick Victorian blocks, the painted cottages of the West End, the timber-latticed Art Museum and Herbert Bayer's modernist Institute campus fill a good afternoon, and the Ashcroft ghost town adds some mining history.

Deer Valley is a purpose-built resort, so its heritage is borrowed from Park City. That means the wooden storefronts of Main Street, the Park City Museum in the old city hall and the Olympic history at the 2002 ski-jump site.

Aspen has a real party season. Après-ski moves from the decks at the base of Aspen Mountain into downtown lounges, and around Christmas, New Year and the X Games the hotel bars and small clubs stay busy late with a glamorous, free-spending crowd. In summer evenings slow down to drinks on patios.

Deer Valley's lodges go quiet once the lifts close, with little more than a drink by the fire. For a night out you go to Park City's Main Street, where the saloons and cocktail bars close early, there are few clubs and Utah's liquor laws apply, and most guests want to be up for first chair.

Both are first-rate mountain bases, and the difference lies in the kind of terrain. Aspen offers four separate mountains joined by free shuttles, from Buttermilk's gentle slopes to Highlands' steep expert runs, with a gondola that starts at the edge of downtown. Its summer is the more dramatic: the Maroon Bells, wilderness routes up to summits above 4,000m and the drive over Independence Pass.

Deer Valley's draw is perfect grooming and runs kept for skiers only, with the huge Park City Mountain next door. Alta, Snowbird and the other Cottonwood Canyons resorts, famous for light Utah powder, are about an hour away. In summer, choose it for mountain biking, with hundreds of kilometres of linked trails and lift-served downhill routes.

Deer Valley has the better range of outings because a city is close. Salt Lake City is about forty minutes away, with Temple Square, the State Capitol and proper museums. Nearer by are the Swiss-style village of Midway, the Heber Valley steam railway and the canyon arts village at Sundance.

From Aspen the choice is small mountain towns: Glenwood Springs and Carbondale down the valley, and Redstone and Marble up the Crystal River. Leadville can only be reached in summer, because the pass over to it closes in winter.

Both work well for skiing families, each in its own way. Aspen has the gentle slopes and ski schools of Buttermilk and Snowmass, nature programmes at the environmental centre and fountains in the parks downtown. It is also a small, safe town that is easy to walk with children, though at about 2,400m the altitude hits young children harder at first.

Deer Valley makes the ski days easier. There are no snowboarders on the beginner runs and the lodging is often ski-to-door. It also has more within reach for days off: tubing and ziplines at the Olympic Park, and Salt Lake City's zoo and museums or the Lagoon amusement park within an hour.

Aspen is far easier to manage without a car. The downtown is flat and compact, the Aspen Mountain gondola leaves from the edge of it, and free buses run to all four mountains and, in summer, to the Maroon Bells. The local airport is only a few minutes from town.

Deer Valley also has free buses, linking it to Main Street and Park City Mountain, but the resort is spread over steep hillsides that are hard to walk between. The airport in Salt Lake City is about forty minutes away, and the Cottonwood Canyons or the Heber Valley really need a car with snow tyres.

Aspen is much the stronger shopping town if your taste runs to luxury. Its few pedestrian blocks hold international designer boutiques, jewellers, Western leather and fur, and a cluster of commercial galleries, and window-shopping is part of an evening out.

Park City's Main Street, the shopping street for Deer Valley, keeps to galleries, ski and outdoor gear, Western boots and some upmarket clothing. Its one advantage is the outlet centre at Kimball Junction, which suits bargain hunters better than anything in Aspen.

This is a choice between two of the most expensive ski destinations in North America, and there is no real saving either way. Lodging, lift access, ski school and meals are all priced for a wealthy crowd, and in both summer is noticeably cheaper than winter.

The ways round it are similar too. At Aspen, budget-minded visitors stay in Glenwood Springs or Carbondale and take the valley bus in. At Deer Valley, they stay in the Heber Valley or Salt Lake City and drive up.

Aspen is clearly the better choice for music. For about eight summer weeks the Music Festival puts on orchestral, chamber and opera performances with leading soloists, and you can listen for free from the lawn outside the Benedict Music Tent. Ballet, jazz festivals and a year-round programme at the Wheeler Opera House fill out the calendar.

Deer Valley's equivalent is the Utah Symphony's outdoor summer festival at the Snow Park amphitheatre, which is enjoyable but smaller. The 1920s Egyptian Theatre on Main Street adds plays and comedy year round.

The two are about equal for unwinding, but they offer different kinds of soak. Aspen's are further away: big mineral pools and cave vapour baths at Glenwood Springs about an hour down the valley, and Conundrum Hot Springs at the end of a long wilderness hike. The town is quietest in summer, and the full ski-season calendar makes it less restful in winter.

Deer Valley has relaxation built into the stay, with hot tubs on snowy terraces, fireplaces and very polished lodge spas. Because its evenings are quiet, it stays calm even in ski season. The Homestead Crater's warm spring inside a limestone dome is about half an hour away.