Bend or Park City?

Neither town has a coast, but Bend makes more of its water. Floating the Deschutes on an inner tube through the Old Mill District is a proper summer ritual, and Elk Lake and Sparks Lake add cold, clear swims in August. Park City has only the sandy swimming areas at Jordanelle Reservoir for a short high-summer season, so most visitors there get wet in a hotel pool or hot tub.

The two eat about equally well, in different styles. Bend's food scene is built around beer: brewpubs with big menus, food-cart pods with fire pits and taps, and days planned around cycling from one brewery to the next. Park City is more polished, with elk, bison and trout on Main Street and at the resort bases, and après-ski drinks on slopeside decks.

Neither has a local cuisine or much international choice. Bend gives you the more casual and cheaper evening. In Park City, when the menus start to repeat, Salt Lake City's restaurants are a drive down the canyon.

Neither town is a sightseeing destination, and an afternoon covers the heritage of either. Bend's best stop is the High Desert Museum, with live animals, Indigenous heritage and pioneer life, and it is worth half a day. Park City's history is in its streets instead: the wooden storefronts of Main Street, mine headframes on the slopes, the jail cells under the Park City Museum and the Olympic museums at the Utah Olympic Park.

Both towns go to bed early, and the difference is in the mood. Bend's evenings happen in taprooms and food-cart courtyards that fill up early with people still in their hiking gear, and downtown's few bars are busiest on summer weekends. Park City starts on the slopeside decks as the lifts close and then moves to the saloons of Main Street, where a few places with DJs or bands get rowdy on winter weekends.

So Bend is livelier in summer and Park City in ski season. For a proper late night, Park City has Salt Lake City within reach, and Bend has nothing comparable nearby.

Both are first-rate mountain bases, and the outdoors is the reason to go to either. Bend's setting is volcanic high desert: the Three Sisters on the skyline, lava canyons and waterfalls along the Deschutes River Trail, obsidian fields and caves at Newberry, and the sport climbing at Smith Rock. Mount Bachelor is half an hour away, so spring days can combine skiing and biking.

Park City is the purer ski destination. Two large ski areas rise straight from town, the dry Utah powder falls all winter, and Alta, Snowbird, Brighton and Solitude are within an hour. In summer it has lift-served singletrack, fly fishing on the Provo and Weber rivers, and aspen gold on the ridges in autumn.

Park City has the better outings, mainly because Salt Lake City is about forty minutes down the canyon, with Temple Square, the State Capitol, its museums and a city's choice of restaurants. The Heber Valley steam railway, Swiss-style Midway and Ogden's old railroad street give you more days out.

From Bend the excursions lead mostly into scenery. Sisters is a pleasant western main street under the mountains and the Warm Springs museum is worth the drive. Beyond those, you are looking at long days to Crater Lake or the Painted Hills.

Both are safe, outdoorsy places for children, and Park City is a little easier. Its ski schools and learning areas are right by town, and free buses spare you loading car seats. The Utah Olympic Park and the summer coasters and alpine slides give children ready-made thrills.

Bend's pleasures are simpler: floating the river, a lantern walk through the Lava River Cave and the otters at the High Desert Museum. It suits active families, but nearly every outing needs a car. In Park City, the altitude and the cost of a winter week are the drawbacks to plan for.

Park City is far easier without a car. Free buses link Old Town, both ski bases, the outlying lodging areas and Kimball Junction, and hotel shuttles fill the gaps, so a ski week works on foot and by bus.

Bend's walkable core is smaller: downtown and the Old Mill District, joined by the riverside path, with bikes the natural way around. The lakes, trailheads, Smith Rock and the lava lands all need a hire car, and those are what most people come for.

Park City has the more enjoyable browse. Main Street mixes galleries, Western-wear and cowboy-boot shops, jewellers and upscale ski fashion, and Kimball Junction adds an outlet centre. Bend's shopping is more practical: chain stores in the old mill buildings, a few independent boutiques downtown and very good gear shops, including consignment stores for used ski and bike equipment, with no sales tax on top.

Neither is cheap, but Bend is clearly easier on the wallet. Park City sits at the top of the North American resort market. Lift tickets, slopeside lodging and Main Street dinners add up fast, especially over Christmas and New Year, and many visitors on a budget sleep in Salt Lake City or the Heber Valley instead.

Bend's rates climb in summer and on ski weekends too, and a hire car is close to essential. Even so, food carts, free trails and rivers, and quieter midweek stays in spring and autumn keep a trip within reason.

The two are close, and both are at their best in summer. Bend's strength is touring rock, folk and country at the riverside amphitheatre in the Old Mill District, with the restored Tower Theatre showing comedy and film for the rest of the year. Park City's summer is more classical, with the Utah Symphony on the lawns at Deer Valley and plays and cabaret at the 1920s Egyptian Theatre, but opera or ballet means a drive to Salt Lake City.

Park City is the better place to unwind. The big lodges at Deer Valley and the Canyons base have polished spas aimed at sore ski legs, and most stays come with an outdoor hot pool in the snow. In Midway, the Homestead Crater lets you swim in warm spring water inside a limestone dome.

Bend has day spas in town and resort spas around Sunriver, but relaxing there mostly means a hot tub after a ride. The Paulina Lake hot springs are primitive pools you reach on foot. The town is calm, but people come to be active rather than to rest.