Aspen or Salt Lake City?

Neither is a place to swim, but Salt Lake City has slightly more to offer in the water. You can float effortlessly in the brine of the Great Salt Lake once for the novelty. The Wasatch reservoirs, such as Jordanelle and Pineview, have paddleboards, boats and sandy patches of shore on hot days.

Aspen's alpine lakes and reservoirs stay cold even in July. Its water is better for rafting the Roaring Fork than for swimming, and a hotel pool is the realistic choice.

The two are broadly level, but they eat in very different ways. Aspen has chef-led dining rooms, sushi and steak counters, serious wine lists and the après-ski ritual on the terraces at the base of Aspen Mountain. It has almost nothing cheap, and many kitchens close in spring and autumn.

Salt Lake City is humbler and more varied. You will find fry sauce, scones with honey butter and the drive-through soda shops. The best meals come from Mexican, Peruvian, Pacific Islander and Vietnamese kitchens along State Street. Utah's drinking rules make the wine and cocktail culture thinner.

Salt Lake City has clearly more to see. Temple Square alone fills a morning, with the granite temple, the domed Tabernacle and its organ, and Brigham Young's Beehive House nearby. The State Capitol, the painted Cathedral of the Madeleine and the dinosaur halls of the Natural History Museum fill out two days.

Aspen's culture is an afternoon's stroll. You pass the red-brick Victorian blocks around the Wheeler Opera House, the miners' cottages of the West End, the timber-latticed art museum and Herbert Bayer's modernist Aspen Institute campus.

Aspen has the livelier nights, at least in ski season. Après-ski spills from the slopeside decks into downtown lounges and hotel bars. Around Christmas, New Year and the X Games, a well-dressed crowd keeps a few small clubs busy late. In spring and autumn, though, much of it shuts.

Salt Lake City is steadier through the year but quieter. It has breweries, a long-standing gay bar scene, a few dance clubs around Main Street and the Granary District, and pubs in Sugar House. Liquor laws and an early bedtime keep it modest.

Both are outstanding, and the difference is one of setting. Aspen sits inside the Elk Mountains at about 2,400m. Four linked ski mountains, the Maroon Bells and wilderness routes to summits above 4,000m all start more or less from town.

Salt Lake City lies at the foot of the Wasatch. Alta, Snowbird, Brighton and Solitude, with their famous dry powder, are under an hour up the canyons. The city also has landscapes Aspen cannot match: bison on Antelope Island and the white Bonneville Salt Flats to the west.

The two are much alike here: small historic towns within reach, and little more. From Aspen you can go down the valley to Glenwood Springs, Carbondale and the quarry village of Marble. In summer you can cross Independence Pass to Victorian Leadville. The pass closes in winter, which cuts the choice.

Salt Lake City's best outing is Park City's steep Victorian Main Street, open all year. Ogden's 25th Street and the Golden Spike site add railroad history. The famous national parks are too far for a day.

Salt Lake City is clearly the easier place with children. Families are large here and expected everywhere. There is a zoo, an aquarium, the Discovery Gateway museum, a planetarium, an aviary and Lagoon's roller coasters, though you need a car to reach most of them.

Aspen works well for a ski week, with gentle slopes at Buttermilk and Snowmass, good ski schools, and summer alpine coasters and ropes courses. Beyond that it is aimed at adults, and the altitude can tire young children at first.

Aspen is far simpler to get around. The flat downtown grid takes minutes to cross. Free buses link all four ski mountains, a summer shuttle runs to the Maroon Bells, and the airport is just outside town. The catch is getting anywhere beyond the valley, which means mountain passes and long drives.

Salt Lake City's TRAX light rail and FrontRunner trains help, but the wide streets and long blocks stretch walks. The valley sprawls, so the zoo, the canyons and the nearby towns are all far easier with a hire car.

Aspen is the better place to shop if you want luxury. A few pedestrian blocks hold international designer boutiques, high-end ski wear, jewellers, Western leather and commercial galleries, which is remarkable for a town this small.

Salt Lake City is practical. City Creek Center and Trolley Square cover the familiar brands, and 9th and 9th has vintage shops. Its real strength is its excellent, often local, ski, climbing and camping stores.

This is where the two differ most. Salt Lake City is moderately priced for an American city, with reasonable hotels, fair casual food, cheap light rail and free sights on Temple Square. The bill climbs only when you add lift tickets, canyon lodging and a hire car.

In Aspen almost everything, from condos to drinks, is priced for a very wealthy clientele. Staying down the valley in Glenwood Springs helps, but only so much.

The two are evenly matched, but the timing differs. Aspen's arts life peaks in summer, when the Music Festival fills the Benedict Music Tent with orchestras, chamber music and opera, and picnickers listen free on the lawn. The rest of the year rests on the Wheeler Opera House and a club in ski season.

Salt Lake City offers something every season. The Tabernacle Choir and its organ are open to the public, and the Utah Symphony, Utah Opera, Ballet West and the Pioneer Theatre Company all perform here.

Aspen is the more restful choice, at least away from peak ski weeks. Clear air, riverside paths and yoga in the parks set the pace, and the resort spas offer altitude-recovery treatments. Glenwood Springs, with its big mineral pools and cave vapour baths, is an hour away, and Conundrum Hot Springs rewards a long hike.

Salt Lake City's best soak is in the warm water of the Homestead Crater dome at Midway. Beyond that, relaxation mostly means resort spas after skiing.