Deer Valley or Laguna Beach?

This is where the two are furthest apart. Laguna Beach is made of beaches: Main Beach in the village, the snorkelling coves around Heisler Park and Shaw's Cove, and Thousand Steps and Aliso at the bottom of long stairways. The water is clear and runs over reefs, though it is cool outside late summer.

Deer Valley has no sea at all. A swim there means the sandy shore at Jordanelle Reservoir on a hot July afternoon, or more often the hotel pool.

The two are about level, and both have the same weakness: polished, pricey cooking without a local cuisine or markets behind it. The difference is in the setting. In Deer Valley you get lodge dining on the slopes, then steakhouses, sushi and après-ski grills along Park City's Main Street.

Laguna leans towards the sea, with fish tacos, poke and clifftop dining rooms at sunset. It also has an easy escape inland to Orange County's Vietnamese, Mexican and Korean kitchens, which Deer Valley can't match.

Neither is a sightseeing destination, but Laguna Beach has a clearer identity. Its history as a plein air art colony carries through to the Laguna Art Museum and the gallery rows on Coast Highway and Forest Avenue. Mission San Juan Capistrano is close by.

Deer Valley's heritage belongs to neighbouring Park City: the restored silver-mining Main Street, mine headframes on the hillsides, the town museum and the 2002 Olympic ski jumps. That is an afternoon, not a theme for the trip.

Both are quiet, but Deer Valley has the livelier evenings. In ski season, Park City's Main Street saloons and cocktail bars fill with people coming off the slopes, especially at weekends, even if Utah's liquor rules and early starts end the night early.

Laguna Beach offers a drink after dinner at a dive bar or an ocean-view hotel lounge, and the village is asleep well before midnight. A real night out means driving to Newport Beach or Costa Mesa.

Deer Valley is the stronger outdoor base, thanks to its mountains. It has first-rate skiing on its own slopes, Park City Mountain next door and Alta and Snowbird over the ridge. In summer there are hundreds of kilometres of aspen-lined bike and hiking trails, plus fly-fishing on the Provo River. The altitude of about 2,000m takes a day to get used to.

Laguna's outdoors is gentler and mostly at sea level: chaparral canyons in Aliso and Wood Canyons, a protected marine coast for tide pooling, kayaking and shore diving, and winter whale-watching from Dana Point.

Laguna Beach has far more within reach. The Capistrano mission is twenty minutes away, Huntington and Newport are along the coast, a ferry runs to Catalina, and San Diego's Balboa Park, Los Angeles and the Temecula vineyards are each an hour or two by car.

From Deer Valley, the main outing is Salt Lake City and Temple Square, about forty minutes away. Beyond that there are smaller places such as Midway, Sundance and Ogden's 25th Street. Most of what is impressive nearby is scenery rather than towns.

Laguna Beach works for more families. Children get lifeguarded beaches, rock pools full of crabs and easy snorkelling, and Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm are about forty minutes away. The catches are the steep beach stairways and the cost of family rooms.

Deer Valley is excellent for families who ski, with gentle groomed runs, good ski schools and no snowboarders. Off the slopes there is little beyond the Olympic Park's tubing and coaster, and lessons and lift access get expensive quickly.

Deer Valley is easier to manage without the car. Fare-free buses link its base areas with Main Street and Park City Mountain, and many lodges sit right on the slopes. Outings to Salt Lake City or the canyons still need a car, with snow tyres in winter.

In Laguna, a free trolley runs along Coast Highway, but almost everything else, including the airports and theme parks, means freeway driving. Parking runs out early on summer weekends.

Laguna Beach is the better shopping stop. Its galleries sell plein air paintings and glass, Forest Avenue has boutiques, and craft stalls appear at the summer art festivals. The big luxury malls of Newport Beach and Costa Mesa are half an hour away.

Deer Valley's shopping is Park City's Main Street, with its galleries, western boots and serious mountain gear, plus an outlet centre at Kimball Junction. Ski equipment is the one real reason to browse.

Both are expensive, but Deer Valley is in a different bracket. Lift access, slopeside lodging and ski school there are priced at the top of the market, and even summer is only somewhat cheaper. Staying in the Heber Valley is the usual way to save.

Laguna is costly too, with high room rates and paid parking. Its main attractions, the beaches, trails, tide pools and trolley, are free, so a day visit from a cheaper base inland goes a long way.

Laguna Beach has the more distinctive programme. The summer Pageant of the Masters, where live performers recreate famous artworks on stage, dates back to the 1930s. The Laguna Playhouse runs all year, and Costa Mesa's large performing arts centre is half an hour away.

Deer Valley's highlight is also outdoors and seasonal: the Utah Symphony's summer festival at Snow Park, with picnics on the grass. Plays and small concerts at the 1920s Egyptian Theatre on Main Street fill the rest of the year.

The two are about equal for relaxation, and both rely on resort spas rather than any bathing tradition. Deer Valley's version is alpine: fireside lounges, hot tubs on snowy terraces, massages for ski-weary legs, and the warm spring pool inside the Homestead Crater at Midway.

Laguna's calm comes from the sea instead, with clifftop walks, yoga studios in the village, bluff-top spas and long sunsets over the Pacific.