Deer Valley or Telluride?

Neither place is for swimmers, and the difference is only in how far you go to find water. From Deer Valley, the sandy state-park shore at Jordanelle Reservoir is a short drive downhill and is pleasant on hot midsummer afternoons. From Telluride, the nearest proper swimming spot is a reservoir near Ridgway, about an hour away, where the water stays cool even in July, so most visitors raft or paddle instead.

The two eat at much the same level and fill the same niche: upscale resort dining with no local cuisine or market culture behind it. Deer Valley borrows Park City's surprisingly wide spread of steakhouses, sushi and bistros, and adds its own famous base-area turkey chili. Drinking there revolves around restaurants, local distilleries and breweries.

Telluride's kitchens lean more on the region, with Colorado lamb, elk, trout and Western Slope produce, and its wine lists are deeper than the town's size would suggest. Its circle of restaurants is smaller, though, and on festival weekends tables are hard to come by.

Each offers an hour or two of mining history rather than a reason to visit. Telluride's version is more complete: the whole town is a protected landmark district of clapboard houses and false-fronted blocks, with ruined mills on the canyon walls above. Deer Valley relies on neighbouring Park City's restored Main Street and its museum in the old city hall. What it adds is the Olympic Park, where you can see the ski-jump towers from the 2002 Games.

Both are early-to-bed resorts where the evening means après-ski and a drink, not clubs. Deer Valley's own lodges go quiet, and the action moves a few minutes down to Park City's Main Street, which has a wider choice of cocktail bars and saloons, though Utah's liquor rules shape the night. In Telluride the scene is a handful of Victorian saloons on Colorado Avenue. They can stay lively late in peak ski weeks and on festival weekends, but the town falls very quiet in the shoulder seasons.

Both are top-tier mountain bases, but the setting is different. Deer Valley's strength is reach. Its immaculately groomed slopes sit next to Park City Mountain, and the powder of Alta, Snowbird, Brighton and Solitude is about an hour away. In summer the lift-served bike trails run through aspen and fir.

Telluride is the more dramatic place to stand in. Peaks above 4,000m, Bridal Veil Falls and trails to Blue Lake rise straight from the town, and the ski area adds steep hike-to terrain with some of the best views in American skiing. It is also higher, at about 2,670m, so allow a little longer to adjust.

Deer Valley has more within reach. Salt Lake City's Temple Square, capitol and museums are about forty minutes away. Nearer still are the Heber Valley's steam railway and Swiss-styled Midway, and the arts village at Sundance.

Telluride's outings mean long mountain drives to small places: Ouray's canyon setting, Silverton at the end of the narrow-gauge line, and Mesa Verde's cliff dwellings, about two and a half hours each way. Winter passes can slow or close all of these routes.

Deer Valley is the better fit for children. Its ski schools are well run and its beginner runs are wide and free of snowboarders, and the Olympic park's coaster, ziplines and tubing fill the days off the slopes. Salt Lake City's zoo, planetarium and children's museum are close enough for a rainy day.

Telluride suits active families who are happy with gondola rides, easy waterfall walks and fishing. With no museums or attractions for children and little to do indoors, a wet day is hard to fill, and its greater altitude can trouble young sleepers.

Once you have arrived, Telluride is the easier place to get around. The historic grid takes a quarter of an hour to cross on foot, and the free gondola to Mountain Village means many visitors never drive. Getting there is harder, though, because the local airport is prone to weather delays.

Deer Valley is the opposite case. Salt Lake City airport is only about forty minutes away, and fare-free buses link the bases with Main Street. But the resort is spread over steep hillsides, so walking between lodges is impractical, and most outings mean driving.

Neither is a shopping destination, and both offer galleries, Western wear and outdoor gear behind old mining-town façades. Deer Valley has the outlet centre at Kimball Junction for bargains, and Salt Lake City is close for anything else. Telluride's few blocks of Colorado Avenue offer jewellery boutiques and a couple of good bookshops, but there is nothing larger within easy reach.

Both are among the priciest mountain resorts in North America, and neither makes a sensible budget choice. What differs is how you cut costs.

At Deer Valley, summer is noticeably cheaper, and staying in the Heber Valley or Salt Lake City puts only a short drive between you and the slopes. In Telluride, the scarce rooms climb even higher over Christmas, New Year and the summer festival weekends, and the cheaper beds in Ridgway mean a longer daily commute.

Summer is the season in both, but the music differs. At Deer Valley, the Utah Symphony's outdoor festival brings picnics on the grass at Snow Park for classical and pops concerts, and the 1920s Egyptian Theatre stages plays and comedy all year.

Telluride's summer calendar is more of a draw in itself. It includes the long-running bluegrass festival in Town Park, jazz and chamber music, and the film festival over Labor Day weekend, with the Sheridan Opera House hosting smaller shows in between.

Deer Valley is a little more geared to unwinding. Its quiet slopeside lodges have fireplaces, hot tubs on snowy terraces and some of the most polished spas in the mountain West. The warm spring inside the Homestead Crater is half an hour away.

Telluride has good hotel spas in Mountain Village and calm shoulder seasons. Its best soaks are the hot springs at Ouray and near Ridgway, about an hour's drive, and its higher altitude leaves some guests sleeping poorly at first.