Deer Valley or Palm Desert?

Neither is a place for sand and sea, so the question is what you swim in instead. Deer Valley has Jordanelle Reservoir a short drive below the resort, with a sandy state-park shore that is pleasant on hot July and August afternoons.

Palm Desert has no open water worth swimming in, since the Salton Sea is too salty. It does have a pool at nearly every resort, heated in winter, and lounging beside one is much of the point of a stay. The real Pacific coast is a full day out, about two hours over the mountains.

Both towns eat well at the upscale end and offer little below it, so the difference is in character. In Deer Valley you eat in lodges on the mountain, have the base-area turkey chili, then go to Main Street in Park City for sushi, steak and après-ski grills. Drinks come from local distilleries and breweries.

Palm Desert has the one food that belongs to its region: Medjool dates and date shakes from the groves near Indio. Further east, family-run taquerias and Mexican bakeries offer something the mountain has no equivalent for. Dinner on a patio along El Paseo on a warm winter evening is the other typical meal here.

Palm Desert has slightly more to offer, mostly because of what is nearby. Its own branch of the Palm Springs Art Museum has an outdoor sculpture garden. Twenty minutes west, Palm Springs adds mid-century modern neighbourhoods and the main museum, which together fill a couple of mornings.

Deer Valley's heritage belongs to Park City next door: a restored Main Street from the silver-mining era, mine headframes on the hillsides, the Park City Museum in the old city hall, and the ski jumps at the Olympic Park built for 2002. That adds up to roughly one afternoon.

Both are early-to-bed towns, but the crowds are different. Deer Valley's evenings move down to Park City's saloons and cocktail bars, which fill with skiers on winter weekends and then empty early because everyone wants the first chair.

Palm Desert's patio happy hours and wine bars attract golfers and retirees. For a later night, people drive to the tribal casinos or to Palm Springs, which has the valley's liveliest bars and a well-known gay scene.

Deer Valley has the stronger outdoors, and it offers it in two full seasons. In winter you have its own groomed slopes, the huge Park City Mountain next door and the light powder of Alta and Snowbird about an hour away. In summer come hundreds of kilometres of aspen-lined trails, fly-fishing and the high lakes of the Uintas. The one drawback is the altitude of about 2,000m.

Palm Desert's landscape is impressive in its own way: steep trails into the Santa Rosa Mountains, fan-palm oases in the Indian Canyons, and Joshua Tree's boulders and night skies about an hour away. However, the desert heat closes it down for the summer months.

Palm Desert has the more varied list of outings. Within reach are Palm Springs, the tasting rooms of Temecula, the cool mountain village of Idyllwild, the old film set at Pioneertown and the painted folk-art hillside of Salvation Mountain, each quite different from the next.

From Deer Valley, the main outing is Salt Lake City, about forty minutes away, for Temple Square and the State Capitol. Closer by are Midway, the Heber Valley steam railway and the small arts village at Sundance. These are pleasant but modest, and the grander sights within reach are mostly landscape.

For families who ski, Deer Valley is the easier choice. It has well-run children's ski schools, wide beginner runs without snowboarders, lodging on the slopes, and tubing, ziplines and an alpine coaster at the Olympic Park. The drawbacks are the cost of lessons and lift access and a day or two of adjusting to the altitude.

Palm Desert's main attraction for children is the Living Desert, a zoo and botanical garden in the town itself that easily fills a morning. Add the Palm Springs tramway and the resort pools and slides, and there is enough for a short stay, as long as you avoid midday in summer.

Deer Valley is much easier without a car. Fare-free buses connect its base areas with Park City's walkable Main Street, Park City Mountain and Kimball Junction, and slopeside lodging means the car can often stay parked. You will only really need to drive to reach the Cottonwood Canyons or Salt Lake City, and in winter that means snow tyres.

In Palm Desert a car is essential from the start. Resorts and shopping centres are spread along wide boulevards, the buses are slow, and El Paseo is the only stretch that works on foot. Roads are uncongested and parking is easy, though.

Palm Desert is the better place to shop. El Paseo is a landscaped boulevard of fashion boutiques, jewellers and galleries where browsing is a social outing in its own right. A large indoor mall, a major designer outlet half an hour west and the mid-century furniture shops of Palm Springs add depth.

In Deer Valley, shopping means Park City's Main Street: galleries, western boots and hats, and very good mountain gear, plus a smaller outlet centre at Kimball Junction. For a wider range, people drive to Salt Lake City.

Neither is cheap, but Deer Valley belongs in a more expensive category. Lift access, mostly luxury slopeside lodging, mountain meals and ski school all sit at the top of the North American market. Summer is easier on the budget, and the usual way to save is to sleep in the Heber Valley and drive in.

Palm Desert is expensive in its winter high season, and a hire car adds a daily cost. Chain hotels and vacation rentals keep things manageable all year, though, and resort rooms drop sharply in the hot months for anyone willing to put up with the heat.

Palm Desert has more to see, and its season is in winter. The McCallum Theatre puts on touring Broadway shows, ballet, orchestras and well-known singers through the cooler months, and the casinos and an arena add big concerts. Every spring Coachella and Stagecoach take over the polo grounds in nearby Indio.

Deer Valley's highlight comes in summer, when the Utah Symphony holds its outdoor festival at Snow Park and audiences picnic on the grass. All year, the restored Egyptian Theatre on Main Street stages plays and small concerts, but winter evenings mostly revolve around dinner.

Palm Desert does relaxation more completely, because unwinding is the whole reason for the place. The resort spas, late breakfasts, early nights and dry, sunny winters set the pace. Desert Hot Springs, about half an hour away, has small spa hotels whose pools are filled from natural mineral springs.

Deer Valley's comfort is more of a reward after an active day: polished hotel spas, massages for tired legs and hot tubs on snowy terraces. Its one unusual soak is the warm spring inside the limestone dome of the Homestead Crater in Midway.