Bend or Snowbird?

Neither place is a swimming destination, but Bend at least has a summer water life. People tube the Deschutes through town and swim in cold, clear Cascade lakes such as Elk Lake in August.

At Snowbird swimming means the resort's heated pools, or a drive of about an hour to the Heber Valley reservoirs. The Great Salt Lake is somewhere to look at rather than swim in.

Bend gives you far more choice. Dozens of breweries, food-cart courtyards and a decent run of Pacific Northwest restaurants downtown and in the Old Mill District mean you can eat somewhere different each night, even if international cooking and fine dining are thin.

At Snowbird you eat at the resort, in lodge restaurants, slopeside cafeterias and the dining room at the top of the tram, all priced for guests who have nowhere else to go. Variety means driving forty minutes down to Salt Lake City.

Culture is a sideline in both places, but Bend has an afternoon's worth. The High Desert Museum, with its Indigenous heritage, pioneer history and live animals, is a real half-day, and the brick downtown and Tower Theatre add a little more. Snowbird is a 1971 resort of concrete lodges, and its canyon's mining past has left almost nothing to see, so anything cultural means a trip to Salt Lake City.

Bend has more of an evening. Taprooms and food-cart courtyards fill early, and downtown keeps a short strip of cocktail bars, pubs and dive bars busy on summer weekends.

Snowbird's night out is après-ski on a lodge deck that empties by mid-evening. Neither has clubs, but in Bend you can at least move from bar to bar on foot, while at Snowbird a late night means driving the canyon road.

Both are outstanding, and the difference is one of breadth against depth. Bend sits where high desert meets volcanic peaks, so a single trip can take in skiing on Mount Bachelor, mountain biking from the edge of town, sport climbing at Smith Rock, lava caves at Newberry and paddling on alpine lakes.

Snowbird is narrower and more extreme. The tram climbs to about 3,350m, and the snow is among the deepest and driest in North America, with chutes and bowls that reach across to Alta and a season into late spring. Its summer brings wilderness hiking and the wildflowers of Albion Basin.

Snowbird has the better outings because two real places lie within an hour. Salt Lake City offers Temple Square, the State Capitol and its museums, and Park City has a Victorian silver-mining Main Street, with Midway, Sundance and Ogden as gentler extras.

From Bend most excursions go into landscape. Sisters and Sunriver are pleasant small stops, and the Warm Springs museum is worth the drive, but Crater Lake and the Painted Hills are long days to scenery rather than towns.

Bend is the easier family base. Children can float the river, explore the Lava River Cave and see otters and raptors at the High Desert Museum, and Mount Bachelor has a good beginner area for winter.

Snowbird's car-free base and summer coaster, alpine slide and ropes course help, but the mountain favours confident skiers. The altitude can wear out small children, and the zoo and children's museums are down in the city.

Snowbird is simpler once you have arrived. The lodges, tram and lifts are a short walk apart along a car-free base, and many rooms open straight onto the slopes. The catch is the single canyon road, which jams on powder mornings and can close for avalanche control.

Bend's compact centre is pleasant to walk and good for cycling, but the lakes, trailheads, Smith Rock and lava lands that bring you here all need a hire car.

Bend has something to browse. There are good outdoor-gear and consignment shops, independent boutiques downtown and chain stores in the old mill buildings, all without sales tax. Snowbird's few base-area stores are for rentals and forgotten goggles, and a proper shopping trip means Salt Lake City's malls or Park City's main street.

Neither is cheap, but Bend is easier on the budget. Free trails and rivers, food-cart meals and quieter midweek prices in spring and autumn all help, although a hire car is close to essential.

Snowbird carries full major-resort costs for lift tickets, slopeside rooms, rentals and captive-audience meals. The usual way to save is to sleep in Salt Lake City and drive up each morning, which gives up the ski-from-your-door appeal.

Bend has a real summer season. Touring rock, folk and country acts play the riverside amphitheatre in the Old Mill District, and the Tower Theatre, a community symphony and local bands carry on through winter. Snowbird manages plaza concerts and Oktoberfest oompah bands, and for anything else you drive down to Salt Lake City.

Snowbird does this a little better because one place does it well. The large spa on top of the main lodge has a rooftop pool, hot tubs and steam rooms facing the canyon walls, and the Homestead crater's warm mineral water in Midway is about an hour away.

Bend spreads relaxation more thinly, across day spas, resort spas around Sunriver and the primitive hot springs at Paulina Lake reached on foot. Its sunny riverside lawns and unhurried mornings are a gentler pleasure of their own.