Deer Valley or San Francisco?

Neither is a swimming destination, but San Francisco at least has a coastline worth the trip. Ocean Beach, Baker Beach under the Golden Gate Bridge and the small cove at China Beach are good for sunset walks and bonfires, even though the cold Pacific and the rip currents keep almost everyone out of the water.

Deer Valley has only the reservoir beaches at Jordanelle and Deer Creek. These are boating lakes with a short summer swimming season, so in both places a warm swim really means a hotel pool.

On food the two are far apart. San Francisco has a cooking tradition of its own: sourdough, cioppino, Dungeness crab and the Mission burrito. Add Cantonese cooking in Chinatown and the Richmond, Italian bakeries in North Beach, the farmers' market at the Ferry Building and Napa and Sonoma wines on every list.

Deer Valley eats well at the top end, with lodge dining on the mountain and steakhouses, sushi and bistros along Park City's Main Street. But there are no markets, no street food and little below the upscale tier. A drink here goes with dinner or a visit to a local distillery, not with wine from vineyards an hour away.

San Francisco gives several full days of sightseeing. There is the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, the cable cars on Nob Hill and the painted Victorians of Alamo Square, and museums such as SFMOMA, the de Young and the Asian Art Museum. Deer Valley has to borrow its heritage from Park City: the restored silver-mining Main Street, the museum in the old city hall and the ski jumps at the Olympic park. Together they fill a single afternoon.

San Francisco's nights are spread across districts, each with its own style: cocktail and mezcal bars in the Mission, old saloons in North Beach, the Castro's gay bars and the warehouse clubs of SoMa. Deer Valley goes quiet when the lifts close. The going out happens on Park City's Main Street, where saloons and après-ski bars fill up on winter weekends and close early. One is a proper city night out, the other a drink after skiing before an early start.

Deer Valley comes out ahead because here the mountains are the whole point. In winter there are its own groomed runs, the huge Park City Mountain next door, and Alta, Snowbird, Brighton and Solitude about an hour away. In summer the ski runs become a network of biking and hiking trails, with fly-fishing on the Provo River and the Uinta lakes beyond.

San Francisco's setting is still remarkable for a city. It has the cliffs at Lands End, the woods of the Presidio, the redwoods of Muir Woods and the Marin Headlands half an hour away. It offers the sea, whale watching and sailing on the bay, which Deer Valley lacks. But fog and wind are frequent companions, and there is no snow sport at all.

San Francisco wins clearly on day trips. Napa and Sonoma are about an hour north, ferries cross to Sausalito and Tiburon, and the coast leads south to Santa Cruz, then Monterey and Carmel.

From Deer Valley the outings are Salt Lake City's Temple Square and State Capitol, the Swiss-styled village of Midway, the Heber Valley steam railway and the arts village at Sundance. They are pleasant but small, and the region's grandeur lies in its landscape rather than its towns.

Both work for families, but in different ways. Deer Valley is at its best for children who ski, with good ski schools, wide beginner runs free of snowboarders and lodging you can ski to. The Olympic park adds tubing and an alpine coaster. Away from the slopes, though, the zoo and museums are in Salt Lake City, and lessons and lift access add up quickly.

San Francisco has the broader choice for children. There is the Exploratorium, the aquarium and planetarium at the California Academy of Sciences, the zoo by the ocean, the sea lions at Fisherman's Wharf and the playgrounds of Golden Gate Park. The drawbacks are steep hills for pushchairs, a sea too cold for paddling and some downtown streets that parents may prefer to avoid.

San Francisco is compact and easy without a car. Muni, BART out to the airport, the cable cars and the ferries all work on one Clipper card, though the hills make some walks a real climb.

Deer Valley manages well within its own bounds, thanks to Park City's free buses and lodging on the slopes. But the resort is spread over steep hillsides, and Salt Lake City, the Cottonwood Canyons and the Heber Valley all realistically need a car, with snow tyres in winter.

San Francisco offers far more varied browsing. There are department stores and flagships around Union Square, design boutiques in Hayes Valley and vintage and bookshops on Valencia Street and in the Haight. Park City's Main Street is good for galleries, western boots and outdoor gear, with an outlet centre at Kimball Junction, but mountain kit is its one real speciality.

Neither is cheap, but Deer Valley is harder on the wallet. Slopeside lodging is mostly luxury, lift access is among the most expensive in North America, and ski school and rental come on top. Visiting in summer, or staying in the Heber Valley and driving in, softens the cost.

San Francisco is costly too, with expensive hotels and tax and tipping added to every meal. Yet much of the best of it is free, from the coastal trails to walking across the bridge, and Mission taquerias and Chinatown dim sum keep meals affordable.

San Francisco is a real arts city. It has opera and ballet at the War Memorial Opera House, the Symphony at Davies Hall, drama at the American Conservatory Theater, jazz at SFJAZZ and rock history at the Fillmore. Deer Valley's highlight is seasonal: the Utah Symphony's summer festival on the lawn at Snow Park. The Egyptian Theatre on Main Street is the year-round stage, and in winter the evenings mostly belong to dinner.

Deer Valley is the easier place to unwind. The whole resort runs on comfort, with fireplaces, hot tubs on snowy terraces and polished hotel spas. The warm spring pool inside the Homestead Crater at Midway is half an hour away.

San Francisco has a Japanese-style communal bathhouse in Japantown and plenty of day spas, but the city moves at a working pace. Its nearest real hot springs are at Calistoga, about two hours away.