Flagstaff or Snowbird?

Neither place is anywhere near a beach, so the only difference is in the kind of swimming you can find. Near Flagstaff it means cold creek pools in Oak Creek Canyon such as Slide Rock, which are slippery and crowded on summer weekends. At Snowbird it means the resort's heated pools, or an hour's drive to the cold reservoirs of the Heber Valley. The Great Salt Lake is a place to look at, not to swim in.

Flagstaff gives you more choice, and its craft breweries are the highlight, gathered in the old downtown and the Southside with patios that fill on summer evenings. Around them are diners, Mexican and New Mexican kitchens and regional dishes such as Navajo tacos and green chile.

At Snowbird you eat at the resort: lodge restaurants, slopeside cafeterias and a dining room at the top of the tram where the view counts for more than the food. Most guests drive down to Salt Lake City for a night or two of variety, which is something Flagstaff visitors never need to do.

Flagstaff's sights are few but real. There is the observatory where Pluto was discovered, a serious museum of Hopi, Navajo and Zuni art, the Arts and Crafts Riordan Mansion and the brick downtown along Route 66. Allow a day or two for them.

Snowbird has nothing like this. It is a concrete resort from 1971, and the canyon's mining history has left almost nothing to visit, so museums and historic buildings mean a trip down to Salt Lake City.

A night out in Flagstaff is a walk between brewery taprooms, cocktail bars and old Route 66 saloons, all close together, with students adding some energy at weekends in term time. It is still small-town and ends early.

Snowbird's evening peaks at après-ski on the lodge decks and is mostly over by mid-evening. Anything more means driving the canyon road to Salt Lake City or Park City.

Both are outstanding mountain bases, but they offer different things. Snowbird is all about one great mountain: the tram to Hidden Peak, famously deep powder, steep chutes and bowls linked to Alta, and summer trails into the Lone Peak wilderness and the wildflowers of Albion Basin.

Flagstaff's strength is variety. Within a short drive you find volcanic peaks, a vast ponderosa forest, the lava fields of Sunset Crater, Sedona's red rock and the rim of the Grand Canyon, all under some of the darkest skies of any town.

From Flagstaff the outings are scattered but varied. There are Sinagua ruins at Walnut Canyon and Wupatki, cliff dwellings in the Verde Valley, the hillside mining town of Jerome, the historic railway to the Grand Canyon from Williams and the Hopi mesas further east. You will need a car and long days.

Snowbird has two strong outings, Salt Lake City's Temple Square and Park City's Victorian Main Street. After those the choice thins quickly to pleasant small places such as Midway, Sundance and Ogden.

Flagstaff is the easier choice with children. Telescope evenings, dinosaur displays, rope courses in the pines, winter snow play, the steam-era train and a drive-through wildlife park give younger children plenty to do, though the drives between them are long.

Snowbird suits families with confident skiers or teenagers better than toddlers, because its terrain is mostly steep. In its favour, the car-free base is easy to manage, and summer brings an alpine slide and a mountain coaster. Zoos and children's museums mean a trip to the city.

Once you are at Snowbird, you hardly need transport at all. Lodges, lifts and the tram are a short walk apart on a car-free base. The weak point is the single canyon road, which jams on powder mornings and is sometimes closed for avalanche control.

Flagstaff's downtown and Southside are pleasant to walk and cycle, and trains stop at the station. But the motels are spread out, and every major attraction lies beyond public transport, so a car becomes part of daily life in a way it does not at Snowbird.

Flagstaff has something worth buying: Navajo rugs, Hopi kachina carvings, pottery and silver and turquoise jewellery from downtown galleries, the museum shop and roadside trading posts, along with outdoor gear and bookshops. Snowbird's few base-area shops sell ski gear and resort-branded clothing and little else. The nearest browsing is Park City's main street.

Flagstaff is the cheaper stay. Chain motels along Route 66 keep the basics within reach, although summer weekends push rooms up and a hire car and park fees add to the bill.

Snowbird is expensive in the way big Western ski resorts are, with lift tickets, slopeside rooms, rentals and resort meals all adding up. Staying in Salt Lake City and driving up each day saves money, but you give up the ski-in convenience.

Flagstaff keeps up a modest year-round programme. There is the symphony and the university's music school, touring folk and indie acts at the restored Orpheum Theater downtown, community theatre and summer concerts in the pines. Snowbird offers summer plaza concerts, the oompah bands of its Oktoberfest and the occasional après-ski band. For anything more serious you drive down the canyon.

Snowbird has the better place to unwind. The large spa on top of the main lodge has a rooftop pool, hot tubs and steam rooms facing the canyon walls, and the geothermal crater at Homestead offers a warm mineral soak inside a limestone dome.

Flagstaff's calm comes from its setting rather than its facilities: cool pine-scented evenings and bright stars. For real spa treatments, visitors drive an hour down to Sedona.