Deer Valley or Scottsdale?

Neither place has a coast, and swimming is a side activity in both. Deer Valley's version is a sandy state-park shore at Jordanelle Reservoir, warm enough only on July and August afternoons.

Scottsdale makes more of being landlocked in its own way. Resort pools with lazy rivers are central to a stay, and you can float the lower Salt River on a tube or go to the coves of Saguaro and Canyon Lakes, though summer heat makes the water a necessity rather than a choice.

Scottsdale eats better, mainly because it has a local cuisine. Sonoran-style Mexican, with carne asada, huge flour tortillas and green chile, runs through the wider Phoenix area, and there are farmers' markets and local wineries too. Phoenix's more characterful tables are a short drive away.

Deer Valley stays in the upscale resort tier. You get polished lodge cooking, the base-area turkey chili, and steakhouses, sushi and après-ski grills along Park City's Main Street. There are no markets or street food, and drinking happens with dinner or at a few distilleries rather than in a café or wine culture.

Scottsdale has much more to see. Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin West, part of his UNESCO listing, is a serious sight with excellent tours. The Museum of the West, a small contemporary art museum and the galleries add more, and the Heard Museum and the Musical Instrument Museum are within easy reach.

Deer Valley's heritage belongs to Park City next door. It has a restored silver-mining Main Street, old headframes on the hillsides, a town museum in the old city hall and the 2002 Olympic ski jumps. That fills an afternoon rather than a trip.

For a proper night out, choose Scottsdale. Old Town's few blocks of patio bars, dance clubs and rooftop lounges stay loud until the 2am close on weekends and through the spring baseball season, with dress codes and bottle service to match.

Deer Valley winds down when the lifts close. Evenings are fireside lounges in the lodges or a drink in the saloons and cocktail bars on Park City's Main Street. It is sociable in ski season, but it is a small-town scene under Utah's liquor rules, and most people are in bed early for first chair.

Deer Valley is one of the great mountain bases on the continent. It has groomed skiers-only slopes, one of North America's largest ski areas next door, and the deep powder of Alta and Snowbird over the ridge. Summer brings aspen-and-fir trails, lift-served biking, fly-fishing on the Provo River and the Uinta high lakes. Expect a day to adjust to the altitude.

Scottsdale's outdoors are desert. The McDowell Sonoran Preserve offers saguaro and granite trails, and Camelback and Pinnacle Peak are short, steep climbs, with balloon flights and the Superstitions further out. It is superb in winter, but the summer heat restricts hiking to dawn.

Scottsdale has the better range of outings. Sedona's red rock is about two hours north, with the cliff dwelling at Montezuma Castle and the hillside mining town of Jerome on the way. Tucson and the San Xavier mission lie to the south, and the Goldfield ghost town makes an easy half-day.

From Deer Valley the main trip is Salt Lake City, about forty minutes away, for Temple Square and the Capitol. Midway's Swiss-style village, the Heber Valley steam railway and Sundance are pleasant but small. Most of the grandeur nearby is mountain scenery rather than towns.

Both work well for families, but for different children. Deer Valley is easiest for families who ski, with strong ski schools, wide beginner runs free of snowboarders, ski-in lodging and the Olympic Park's tubing and alpine coaster. Zoos and museums are down in Salt Lake City, though, and lessons and lift access get expensive.

Scottsdale is a pool vacation, with resort water slides and kids' clubs, plus the miniature trains at McCormick-Stillman, the aquarium and butterfly house, and relaxed spring training games. The drawbacks are driving everywhere and midday summer heat.

Deer Valley is the easier place to manage without a car. Fare-free buses link its base areas with Main Street, Park City Mountain and Kimball Junction, many lodges are on the slopes, and historic Main Street is walkable. You will still need to drive to reach Salt Lake City or the Cottonwood Canyons, and snow tyres matter in winter.

Scottsdale is long, narrow and built around wide arterial roads, and the regional light rail does not reach it. Old Town and its free trolley cover a small area. Trailheads, resorts, the airport and Phoenix all need a hire car or ride-hailing, though the grid makes driving simple.

Scottsdale is a real shopping destination. A large luxury mall on Scottsdale Road holds the fashion houses and department stores, and the Old Town galleries on Main Street and Marshall Way sell southwestern painting and glass alongside high-quality turquoise jewellery and Pueblo pottery.

Deer Valley relies on Park City's Main Street, where you will find galleries, western boots and hats and upmarket boutiques in old mining-town buildings, plus the Kimball Junction outlets. Ski and outdoor gear is its one speciality, and for anything wider people drive to Salt Lake City.

Neither place is cheap, but Deer Valley is in a class of its own for cost. Mostly luxury slopeside lodging, lift access at the top of the North American market, and dear mountain meals and ski school make it one of the world's most expensive ski stays. Summer helps a little, and the usual saving is to sleep in the Heber Valley or Salt Lake City.

Scottsdale is expensive in its winter and spring peak, but it gives you more ways out. Resort rates fall sharply in the hot months, corridor motels and Mexican food keep daily costs down, and the desert trails cost nothing.

Scottsdale has more to choose from, and its best season is winter. You have the Old Town arts centre for jazz, chamber music and dance, world-music concerts at the Musical Instrument Museum, Phoenix's symphony, opera and ballet half an hour away, and touring Broadway at Tempe's Gammage.

Deer Valley's highlight comes in summer, when the Utah Symphony's outdoor festival brings picnics on the grass at Snow Park. Otherwise the restored 1920s Egyptian Theatre on Main Street offers plays and small concerts, and winter evenings are mostly about dinner.

Scottsdale is the place to go if relaxation is the point of the trip. It has an unusual concentration of large resort spas with desert treatments, many open to day guests, plus easy access to yoga and meditation retreats and a slow rhythm of pools, golf and long lunches in dry air.

Deer Valley does comfort well too, but as part of a ski stay. You get quiet lodges, hot tubs on snowy terraces and polished hotel spas for tired legs. Its one unusual soak is the warm spring inside the limestone dome of the Homestead Crater at Midway.