Big Bear Lake or Snowbird?

Big Bear Lake at least offers a swim. In summer the lake warms to around 19°C, and Meadow Park has a small supervised swim beach. Elsewhere, granite outcrops and sandy patches make good spots for a quick dip between paddleboard sessions.

Snowbird has nothing like that. Swimming means the resort's heated pools, or an hour's drive to the cold reservoirs of the Heber Valley. The Great Salt Lake is somewhere you go to look at, not to swim in.

Both serve plain mountain fare with nothing local to seek out, but the set-up differs. In Big Bear you choose between log-cabin breakfast diners, barbecue, Mexican plates and brewpubs in the Village, or you cook in your cabin. At Snowbird you mostly eat at the resort: lodge restaurants, cafeterias and the dining room at the top of the tram with its view of the range. For variety, people drive down to Salt Lake City a night or two a week.

Neither place is visited for its sights. Big Bear has a little more to explore: the Discovery Center's forest exhibits and the 1860s gold rush, which you can trace on a dirt-road drive past mining remains in Holcomb Valley. Snowbird's silver-mining past has almost vanished, and its own buildings are the concrete lodges of 1971. Museums mean a trip down to Salt Lake City.

Both towns go quiet early, and neither has a club. Big Bear's evenings are spread among a few Village pubs, a brewpub and a sports bar. Snowbird's peak is the end of the ski day, on the lodge decks at the base, and by mid-evening everyone is thinking about the first tram. Anyone after a real night out has to drive the canyon road to Salt Lake City or Park City.

Snowbird is the bigger mountain by a wide margin. The tram climbs to Hidden Peak at about 3,350m, the canyon often gets more than 12m of dry snow in a season, and steep chutes and open bowls run through Mineral Basin and across to Alta. In summer the Twin Peaks and Lone Peak wilderness areas and the canyon's granite walls take over.

Big Bear's skiing is modest but reliable, and its strength is variety. The lake fills with kayaks, sailing boats and anglers, the ski runs become bike trails, and the Pacific Crest Trail and the San Gorgonio Wilderness are close by. In winter there are bald eagles around the shore.

Snowbird has the better outings, because a city is close. Salt Lake City, with Temple Square and the State Capitol, is about forty minutes down the canyon, and the Victorian Main Street of Park City is about an hour away. Further out are Midway, Sundance and Ogden's 25th Street.

From Big Bear, every outing starts on slow, winding mountain roads. Lake Arrowhead and the orchards of Oak Glen make pleasant half days, and Riverside's Mission Inn is about an hour and a half away. Los Angeles and Palm Springs make for a long day.

Big Bear Lake is built around family time. There are sledding hills and snow-play areas for children who have never seen snow, an Alpine Zoo of rescued bears and bobcats, and in summer an alpine slide, go-karts and pedal boats on the lake. Cabins with kitchens make the logistics easy.

Snowbird suits families with confident skiers. The mountain's reputation rests on expert terrain, and toddlers will find little there beyond the ski school and a few gentle runs. Its compact, car-free base is easier with children, though, and summer adds a mountain coaster and ropes course.

Once you are there, Snowbird is easier. Lodges, lifts and the tram are a short walk apart on a car-free base, and many rooms open onto the slopes. The catch is the single canyon road, which jams on powder mornings and is sometimes closed for avalanche control, keeping guests indoors for hours.

In Big Bear you will be driving almost constantly. Cabins are scattered on hilly forest roads, and in winter the highways up may require chains. The Village is walkable, and a bus and seasonal trolley reach the ski areas.

Big Bear's Village gives you a few blocks to wander, with fudge and candy shops, bear-themed souvenirs, antique and home-decor stores, and outfitters selling and renting lake and ski gear. Snowbird has only a handful of base-area shops selling goggles, outerwear and resort-branded clothing, handy if you forgot something but not a place to browse. For proper shopping, Big Bear sends you down to the valley stores, and Snowbird sends you to Park City's boutique main street or Salt Lake City's malls.

Big Bear Lake is noticeably kinder to the wallet. A group sharing a cabin midweek or in the shoulder seasons and cooking for itself can keep costs down, and sledding and hiking cost almost nothing, though winter weekends get expensive.

Snowbird is costly in every respect, from lift tickets and slopeside lodging to resort meals. The usual ways to save are a multi-resort pass, a summer visit, or a hotel in Salt Lake City, at the price of commuting up the canyon.

There is little on stage in either place, and both hold an Oktoberfest with oompah bands. Big Bear adds a community arts centre for local theatre and free summer concerts by the lake. Snowbird has plaza concerts in summer, but the symphony, opera and theatre of Salt Lake City are within an evening's drive.

The two are about level here, but they offer opposite kinds of rest. In Big Bear Lake you relax in private. Many rental cabins come with their own hot tub on a deck in the pines, so an evening soak and a fire in the wood stove need no booking and no strangers. The town's few day spas are small, and the calm depends on staying away on crowded winter weekends.

Snowbird puts its rest in one shared place: a large resort spa above the main lodge with a pool, steam and a full treatment menu, open to the mountain views. It suits skiers who want to be looked after at the end of the day more than a group that wants its own space. The car-free village and dark canyon nights add to the quiet, and for a soak with more character, the warm natural crater spring at Midway is about an hour's drive away.