Deer Valley or Napa?

Neither place is a beach destination, and in both, summer swimming mostly means a hotel pool. Where they differ is distance. Deer Valley has Jordanelle Reservoir just below the resort, with a sandy state park shore for hot July afternoons. From Napa, the nearest lake swim is at Lake Berryessa in the eastern hills, and the Sonoma coast is more than an hour away, with cold, rough water that people go to look at rather than swim in.

Napa is in a different league. Its tasting rooms along Highway 29 and the Silverado Trail, Carneros Pinot Noir and sparkling wine, and the celebrated kitchens of Yountville and St Helena are the reason many people make the trip. The Oxbow Public Market and the taquerias that serve vineyard workers cover the more casual end.

Deer Valley eats well, but within a narrower range: lodge food on the mountain, the base-area chili ritual and a run of steakhouses, sushi and bistros on Park City's Main Street. There is no local cuisine to discover, and drinking means a beer from a local brewery rather than a day among the vines.

Both are thin on sightseeing, and either can be covered in an afternoon or a day. The heritage differs in kind. Deer Valley's comes from Park City's silver-mining past, with its wooden storefronts, old headframes and town museum, plus the Olympic Park from the 2002 Winter Games. Napa offers Victorian streets and the 1880 opera house downtown, the stone winery buildings up the valley and contemporary art at di Rosa in Carneros.

Deer Valley gives you the livelier evenings, though only by the standards of small towns. In ski season, Park City's saloons, cocktail bars and après-ski spots fill up after the lifts close, especially at weekends, even if most people head to bed early to catch first chair.

In Napa, an evening usually means a long dinner and perhaps a glass at a downtown wine bar, and the valley is quiet by late evening. Anyone in either place who wants clubs is looking at a drive, and from Napa that means San Francisco.

Deer Valley sits in proper high mountains. Its own slopes, Park City Mountain next door and the powder bowls of Alta and Snowbird make it a first-rate ski base. Summer brings lift-served biking, aspen trails, fly-fishing on the Provo and the Uinta lakes. The base area sits at about 2,000m, so expect a day to adjust.

Napa's landscape is gentler and more pastoral: a vineyard floor between two low ranges, dawn balloon flights, a flat cycle trail, redwoods at Bothe-Napa and the climb of Mount St Helena. It is lovely for easy outings, but it is scenery to enjoy rather than terrain to test yourself on.

Napa has much more within a day's reach. Sonoma, Healdsburg and the Russian River make a second wine country next door. San Francisco is about an hour away by car or by ferry from Vallejo, and Sausalito, the Marin towns and Sacramento's old town widen the choice further.

From Deer Valley, the main outing is Salt Lake City for Temple Square and the Capitol. After that come smaller places: Midway, the Heber Valley steam railway, Sundance and Ogden's 25th Street. The grander things within reach there are landscapes rather than towns.

Deer Valley is far easier with children, at least for families who ski. It has well-run ski schools, wide beginner runs without snowboarders and slopeside lodging, while the Olympic Park adds tubing, an alpine coaster and ziplines. Mountain coasters and lift rides keep summer busy too.

Napa is mainly a place for adults. Families end up stringing together the animal park in Vallejo, the geyser near Calistoga and hotel pools between long, hot drives past tasting rooms where children have little to do.

Deer Valley is the easier place to leave the car. Free buses link the base areas with Main Street, Park City Mountain and Kimball Junction, and many lodges are ski-in, though the Cottonwood Canyons and Salt Lake City still mean a drive.

In Napa, only the compact downtown is walkable. The wineries spread along some 50km of valley, buses are too infrequent to rely on, and tasting and driving do not mix, so a tasting day usually means hiring a driver or joining a tour.

Napa offers a little more to buy, mostly because of the wine. Many visitors ship cases home from the cellars they visited, and the Oxbow market and St Helena's cookware and design shops add food gifts and kitchenware.

Deer Valley's shopping is Park City's Main Street, with its art galleries, western boots and hats, and very good ski and outdoor gear. Each has an outlet centre on the edge of town for the familiar brands.

Neither is cheap, but Deer Valley is the harder one to do on a budget. Its slopeside lodging is almost all luxury, and lift access, ski school and rental add up to some of the highest skiing costs in the world. Summer is easier, and so is staying in the Heber Valley or Salt Lake City.

Napa leaves a little more room for saving. Chain hotels further south, taqueria lunches, the market hall and smaller family cellars can bring a trip down to merely expensive, though a weekend at a resort with famous dinners is priced for special occasions.

The two have a similar amount on, much of it in summer, but the occasions differ. Deer Valley's highlight is picnicking on the lawn at Snow Park while the Utah Symphony plays its outdoor season, with plays and comedy at the 1920s Egyptian Theatre the rest of the year. Napa has the 1880 opera house and an Art Deco theatre downtown, a summer classical festival held at wineries, and a large rock and pop festival at the fairgrounds in late spring.

Napa is the more restorative place. Calistoga has a bathing tradition going back to the nineteenth century, built on volcanic mud baths and mineral pools, and the resort spas in Carneros and the hills match the valley's slow days of tastings and long lunches.

Deer Valley's comforts are mostly found inside its hotels: polished spas, fireside lounges and hot tubs on snowy terraces that suit tired skiing legs. Its one unusual soak is the warm spring inside the Homestead Crater at Midway.