Beaver Creek or Salt Lake City?

Neither place is for swimmers. At Beaver Creek the water is a heated hotel pool or the small sandy area at Nottingham Lake down in Avon, where the snowmelt keeps the water chilly.

Salt Lake City has slightly more to offer. You can float without effort in the Great Salt Lake off Antelope Island, though most people only do it once. On hot July days there is real lake swimming and paddleboarding at the Wasatch reservoirs such as Jordanelle and Pineview.

The two eat about as well as each other but in different ways. Beaver Creek is refined resort dining: elk, Colorado lamb and trout with long wine lists, and dinners at on-mountain lodges reached by chairlift or snowcat sleigh. Cheaper taquerias and diners are down in Avon.

Salt Lake City is humbler but has more local character, with fry sauce, pastrami burgers, fried scones and drive-through soda shops. The best meals come from the Mexican, Pacific Islander and Vietnamese kitchens along State Street. Utah's drinking rules mean a thinner wine and cocktail culture than Beaver Creek's polished bars.

Salt Lake City has far more to see. Temple Square, with the granite temple, the domed Tabernacle and its organ, is a sight of real weight, and the State Capitol, the Cathedral of the Madeleine and the Natural History Museum of Utah fill out two days.

Beaver Creek is a purpose-built ski village of stone and timber with some outdoor art around the plaza and no history of its own. For anything older you have to drive to the mining towns.

Neither is a party destination, but Salt Lake City at least has a downtown to go out in. There are bars, breweries and a few dance clubs around Main Street and the Granary District, a long-standing gay bar scene and the pubs of Sugar House, all within Utah's liquor rules.

At Beaver Creek, the evening is après-ski by a fire pit, dinner and a hotel lounge. Anything livelier means the short drive to Vail.

Both are first-rate mountain bases, and the difference is in the character of the terrain. Beaver Creek offers long groomed runs and famously uncrowded slopes linked to Bachelor Gulch and Arrowhead. In summer there are trails into the Holy Cross Wilderness, rafting on the Eagle and Colorado Rivers, and Glenwood Canyon an hour west.

Salt Lake City's draw is the deep, dry powder of Alta, Snowbird, Brighton and Solitude, with foothill trails starting right above the Avenues. It also has a desert side that Beaver Creek lacks: bison on Antelope Island and the white Bonneville Salt Flats.

Beaver Creek has the slightly better spread of outings within an hour. There is Vail's pedestrian village, Victorian Leadville at over 3,000m, gold-rush Breckenridge and the spa town of Glenwood Springs, although all of them are mountain towns of similar character.

From Salt Lake City, Park City's restored Main Street is the standout, with Midway and Ogden's 25th Street as shorter half days. Utah's famous national parks are tempting but need an overnight stay.

Salt Lake City offers children more. It has Hogle Zoo, the Living Planet Aquarium, the Discovery Gateway children's museum and Lagoon's roller coasters, all in a city that expects large families everywhere, though you need a car to get between them.

Beaver Creek is excellent for a ski-school vacation, with gentle learning terrain, a car-free plaza and warm cookies at the end of the day. On a stormy day, though, there is nothing comparable to fall back on, and the altitude can tire small children.

Both are easy at the centre and need a car beyond it. Beaver Creek is a compact pedestrian village with outdoor escalators and free shuttles. Eagle airport is half an hour away and Denver about two hours over passes that winter storms can close.

Salt Lake City has real public transport, with TRAX light rail from the airport and the FrontRunner train to Ogden and Provo. Its wide grid stretches every walk, though, and powder-day traffic in the canyons can be a trial.

Salt Lake City has the wider range. City Creek Center and Trolley Square cover the familiar brands, there are independent and vintage shops around 9th and 9th and Sugar House, and the local ski and climbing shops are excellent.

Beaver Creek has a small upmarket cluster on the plaza: luxury ski wear, western boots and galleries of bronze sculpture. It is fine for a rest-day browse but narrow and expensive.

The gap is wide. Beaver Creek is among the costliest vacations in North America. Luxury slopeside lodging, lift tickets, ski school and mountain dining all add up, and staying in Avon only softens the bill.

Salt Lake City is moderately priced for an American city, with reasonable downtown hotels, free sights on Temple Square and cheap light rail. Costs rise if you ski and stay in the canyons, but a summer trip here is far easier on the wallet.

Salt Lake City has a year-round arts calendar that Beaver Creek cannot match. You can hear the Tabernacle Choir and the great organ at Temple Square, and there is the Utah Symphony at Abravanel Hall, Utah Opera, Ballet West and touring Broadway shows at the Eccles Theater.

Beaver Creek has the intimate Vilar Performing Arts Center for touring acts. Its high point is summer, when Bravo! Vail and the Vail Dance Festival fill the amphitheatre twenty minutes away.

Beaver Creek is the better place to unwind. Its resort spas are among the largest in the Rockies, with outdoor hot tubs in the snow, and the car-free village stays calm. The historic hot springs pool at Glenwood Springs is an hour west.

Salt Lake City's highlight is soaking inside the limestone dome of the Homestead Crater in Midway. Otherwise relaxation means a ski resort spa, and rest comes as a side effect of the city's unhurried pace.