Deer Valley or Moab?

Neither place has a beach worth the name, so on swimming the two are level. The difference is in the kind of water. Deer Valley has Jordanelle Reservoir just below the resort, where a state park has a sandy shoreline that is pleasant on hot afternoons in July and August.

Moab offers the shallow pools of Mill Creek, Ken's Lake and sandbars on the Colorado. The river is fast, silty and cold, though, so it is somewhere to cool off with care, not to lie in the sun. In both places, most swimming happens in the hotel pool.

Deer Valley eats noticeably better. Park City's Main Street has steakhouses, sushi, modern American bistros and après-ski grills, more than a town that size would usually support, and the mountain lodges serve polished resort food. The upscale end is where the depth lies.

Moab feeds hungry hikers: burgers, tacos, pizza, a couple of brewpubs, early-opening coffee shops and only a few more ambitious dinner restaurants. Choice thins out in winter. Utah's alcohol rules apply in both, but a drink with dinner is easier to find in Park City.

Neither is a sightseeing destination, and each offers a morning or an afternoon at most. What differs is the era. Deer Valley borrows its history from Park City: a restored silver-mining Main Street, old mine headframes on the slopes and the ski jumps built at the Olympic Park for the 2002 Winter Games.

Moab's history is far older and lies outside town. Ancestral Puebloan and Fremont petroglyphs line the cliffs along Potash Road and Kane Creek, and dinosaur trackways sit close by. The small Museum of Moab explains both.

Deer Valley has more going on after dark, though only because it has Park City's Main Street a few minutes away. In ski season, especially at weekends, the saloons, cocktail bars and après-ski spots fill up. The resort's own lodges offer fireside lounges and little more.

Moab winds down earlier still. A couple of brewpubs fill with bikers and rafters, there are no clubs, and the town is mostly asleep by eleven. Its best evening entertainment is a very dark sky full of stars.

Both are outstanding outdoor bases, Moab by a narrow margin, but the landscapes could hardly be more different. Deer Valley is alpine. It has groomed ski runs, Park City Mountain next door and Cottonwood Canyon powder an hour away, and in summer the ski runs become trails through aspen and fir, with fly-fishing on the Provo River.

Moab is red-rock desert. More than two thousand arches lie in the park minutes from town, with Canyonlands' maze of canyons, the Slickrock Trail and rafting on the Colorado beyond. It is at its finest in spring and autumn, when Deer Valley is between seasons.

Deer Valley has more within easy reach. Salt Lake City is about forty minutes away, with Temple Square, the State Capitol and good museums. Closer still are the Heber Valley's Swiss-styled Midway, a historic steam railway and the arts village at Sundance.

From Moab, the outings are mostly further landscape. The towns are small, and the rewarding cultural trip is a long drive south to Ancestral Puebloan sites such as Edge of the Cedars at Blanding and the towers of Hovenweep. Bluff and Grand Junction each take around two hours.

Deer Valley is the easier family base, especially for families who ski. It has well-run children's ski schools, wide beginner runs free of snowboarders, and tubing, an alpine coaster and ziplines at the Olympic Park. The cost of lessons and lift access is the catch.

Moab is wonderful for school-age children who like scrambling on rocks. Sand Dune Arch, dinosaur tracks, gentle river floats and Junior Ranger programmes all keep them busy. Summer heat, unfenced drops and long drives make it hard work with toddlers, though.

At Deer Valley you can leave the car parked much of the time. Fare-free buses link the base areas with Main Street, Park City Mountain and Kimball Junction, and a lot of the lodging sits right on the slopes. You will still want a car for Salt Lake City, the Heber Valley and the Cottonwood Canyons.

In Moab a car is essential. Only Main Street is walkable, with a bike path running out to the Arches entrance. There is no useful public transport, and many trailheads lie along dirt tracks, where a high-clearance vehicle opens up much more of the country.

Deer Valley has the better shopping, via Park City's Main Street. Its old mining-town façades hold art galleries, western boots and hats, upmarket boutiques and ski shops, and there is an outlet centre at Kimball Junction.

Moab sells what its visitors need: bike, climbing and camping gear, along with rock shops full of geodes and fossils. Its most distinctive buys are the Navajo jewellery and weavings in a few Southwestern galleries.

Moab is the far easier place on the wallet. Its motels charge resort rates for simple rooms in spring and autumn, but the landscape itself is nearly free. One park pass lasts a week, there is cheap camping on the public land around town, and winter costs much less.

Deer Valley is priced at the very top of North American skiing, for lodging, lift access and mountain meals alike. Summer is a little gentler. The usual way to save is to stay in the Heber Valley or Salt Lake City and drive in.

Deer Valley has more to offer. In summer the Utah Symphony holds its outdoor festival at the Snow Park amphitheatre, where people picnic on the grass. All year round, the restored 1920s Egyptian Theatre on Main Street stages plays, comedy and small concerts.

Moab's one big moment is the Moab Music Festival at the end of summer. Its chamber concerts are sometimes held in canyon grottoes reached by boat, which makes for an unforgettable evening. For the rest of the year there is little beyond a weekend band in a brewpub.

If rest is the goal, Deer Valley is built for it. Fireplaces, hot tubs on snowy terraces and polished hotel spas are part of the routine, and the warm spring inside the limestone Homestead Crater is half an hour away.

Moab has only a few small massage studios, and its days are energetic, not restful. The calm it offers is of a different kind: quiet desert evenings, dark skies and the cliffs turning red at sunset. Those who want real seclusion book a ranch or a cabin in the La Sals.