Flagstaff or Park City?

Neither town is anywhere near a coast, so both are out of the question for a beach vacation. What differs is the kind of summer swim. Flagstaff's best option is a cold, rocky creek pool such as Slide Rock in Oak Creek Canyon. Park City's is the sandy shore of Jordanelle Reservoir, with lawns for a picnic and room to paddleboard.

Neither town is a food destination, but they eat differently. Flagstaff's strength is beer. Brewery patios in the downtown and Southside sit alongside diners, Mexican kitchens and the odd plate of Navajo frybread or green chile, and it is all casual.

Park City is a little more polished. Its ski money pays for proper sit-down restaurants on Main Street serving elk, bison and trout, and après-ski on the slopeside decks is a ritual of its own. It has less regional flavour, though, and cheap meals often mean the chains at Kimball Junction.

Flagstaff has much more to see. The Lowell Observatory on Mars Hill, where Pluto was discovered, is a real attraction, and the Museum of Northern Arizona holds a serious collection of Hopi, Navajo and Zuni work. Add the Riordan Mansion, the Route 66 downtown and the ancient pueblo sites nearby, and you have a couple of full days.

In Park City the main sight is the old silver-mining town itself. Walk up Main Street past the mine headframes, visit the museum with its basement jail cells, then head to the Olympic Park and its ski museums. An afternoon covers it.

Both towns go to bed early, and neither has a club scene. Flagstaff's evenings are a stroll between brewery taprooms and old Route 66 saloons, and term-time students keep weekends busier than you might expect. Park City's nightlife is seasonal. Après-ski decks and Main Street saloons get loud on winter weekends, then the town goes very quiet once the snow has gone.

Both are outstanding mountain bases at the same altitude, and the outdoors is the main reason to visit either. Flagstaff is about range and variety. There are volcanic peaks, the vast ponderosa forest, lava flows at Sunset Crater, Sedona's red rock and the Grand Canyon rim, all under some of the darkest skies anywhere.

Park City is the stronger ski town. Two large resorts start at the edge of the streets, the light Utah powder is famous, and Alta and Snowbird are just over the ridge. In summer it is built for mountain biking, with lift-served singletrack and fly fishing on the Provo and Weber rivers.

Flagstaff has the better outings. Sedona, the hillside mining town of Jerome, the Verde Valley cliff dwellings, the old railway to the Grand Canyon and the Hopi mesas give you a different kind of day each time, though every one of them needs a car.

From Park City, the obvious trip is Salt Lake City, with Temple Square and the State Capitol. The Heber Valley steam railway, Swiss-style Midway and railroad-era Ogden fill a few more days, and after that it is mostly scenic drives.

Park City is the easier town with children. The ski schools and gentle learning slopes are well run, the free buses do away with car seats, and the Olympic Park adds an alpine coaster, ziplines and freestyle skiers landing in a splash pool. Summer brings alpine slides and climbing walls at the resort bases.

Flagstaff works well for curious children, with telescope evenings, dinosaur displays, sledding on the mountain and the train to the Grand Canyon. The drives between outings are long, though. Altitude tires small children in both towns for the first day or two.

Park City is much easier without a car. Free buses link Old Town, both ski bases, the outlying lodging and Kimball Junction, and with hotel shuttles and awkward parking most visitors happily leave the car behind.

Flagstaff's downtown and Southside are pleasant to walk, and trains stop at the old station. But the Route 66 motels are spread out, and the mountain, the monuments, Sedona and the canyon are all beyond the buses, so here a hire car is close to essential.

Park City has more for a browser. Main Street has galleries, Western-wear and cowboy-boot shops, jewellers and upscale ski fashion, and there is an outlet centre at Kimball Junction. Flagstaff is smaller-scale, but it has the more meaningful buy: Navajo rugs, Hopi kachina carvings and silver and turquoise jewellery from galleries and trading posts, ideally bought from established dealers or the artists themselves.

Flagstaff is the much cheaper stay. Its chain motels along old Route 66 cost far less than rooms at the Grand Canyon rim or in Sedona, although summer weekends push prices up and a hire car and park fees add to the bill.

Park City is among the most expensive mountain resorts in North America in ski season, once you add slopeside rooms, lift tickets and ski school. It becomes noticeably cheaper in summer and autumn, and many budget travellers stay in the Heber Valley or Salt Lake City instead.

Both have a small but steady programme, and neither is worth planning a trip around. Flagstaff's comes from its university: a symphony orchestra, campus concerts and touring folk and indie acts at the restored Orpheum. Park City's is more seasonal. There are shows year-round at the 1920s Egyptian Theatre, and in summer the Utah Symphony plays on the lawns at Deer Valley.

Park City is the more restful choice if you want to be looked after. The large ski-lodge spas at Deer Valley and the Canyons offer massages aimed at sore legs, and outdoor hot tubs come with almost every stay. Nearby Midway has the Homestead Crater, a geothermal pool inside a limestone dome where you can swim at about 35°C.

Flagstaff has no springs and only a few spas, so its calm comes from cool pine-scented evenings and bright stars. For proper treatments you drive to Sedona.