Jackson Hole or Moab?

Neither is a place to come for swimming, but Jackson Hole has a little more to offer in the water. By late summer String Lake, with its sandy bottom, warms enough for a proper swim, and the other Teton lakes give a cold, clear dip at the end of a hike.

In Moab, cooling off means Mill Creek's pools, Ken's Lake or a careful wade from a sandbar on the Colorado. For most visitors the motel pool does the job.

Jackson Hole eats noticeably better. The wealth in the valley supports chef-led dining rooms, serious wine lists and a regional menu of elk, bison, trout and huckleberries, though very little of it is cheap.

Moab's Main Street is about refuelling: burgers, tacos, pizza and brewery food in big portions, plus a few more ambitious kitchens with Southwestern touches. Utah's alcohol rules also make a glass of wine with dinner more formal than many visitors expect.

Neither town is somewhere you go for sights, but Jackson Hole has a little more, and of a different kind. What it has was built or collected: a serious art museum devoted to animals in paint and bronze, a small history museum on the trappers and homesteaders, and the old barns and log chapel inside the park, which most people visit for the way they frame the Tetons. Together they make one unhurried day, and the museums give you something to do indoors.

Moab's past is much older and lies almost entirely in the open. The draw is the rock art left by Ancestral Puebloan and Fremont peoples on cliffs just outside town, along with dinosaur tracks, all reached by a short walk from the car. That is a morning's outing rather than a day, and the town itself adds little more than one modest museum.

Jackson Hole has the livelier evenings, especially in ski season. The après-ski bars in Teton Village fill up as the lifts close, and the saloon in town, with saddles for bar stools, has country dancing. Brewpubs and cocktail bars around the square stay open a little later.

Moab is quieter still, with a couple of brewpubs full of bikers and rafters and a town mostly asleep by eleven. Neither place has clubs, and Moab's best night out is its dark, star-filled sky.

Both are among the world's great outdoor bases, and the difference is the kind of landscape. Jackson Hole is alpine. The Tetons rise sheer from the valley, Grand Teton park is minutes away and Yellowstone is within reach. You can see moose, bison and bears, and in winter there is steep lift-served skiing.

Moab is red-rock desert. The arches and fins start a few minutes from town, and the overlooks at Island in the Sky and Dead Horse Point look down into the canyons. There is slickrock mountain biking, canyoneering and rafting on the Colorado. Choose Jackson for wildlife and snow, and Moab for stone and riding in spring or autumn.

From both towns the best days out go into the landscape rather than to other towns, but Moab has a more rewarding cultural outing. A drive south into Ancestral Puebloan country makes a full day with real substance: the museum and ruins at Edge of the Cedars in Blanding, the stone towers of Hovenweep, and the old stone houses of Bluff on the way.

From Jackson, the drive over Teton Pass to Victor and Driggs shows the quieter western face of the range. Still, neither those towns nor the ranch country to the south is worth a whole day for its own sake.

Jackson Hole is the easier place to bring children. Younger ones get plenty from spotting moose and elk from the car, flat lakeside walks, a float on the Snake, a winter sleigh ride through the elk herd, the summer rodeo and the staged shootout on the square. In winter there is the ski school.

Moab works best for active school-age children who like scrambling on rock, with short walks to Sand Dune Arch, dinosaur tracks and calm river floats. Summer heat and long unfenced drops make it harder with toddlers, and neither place has much for children indoors.

Both have centres you can walk and both need a car for the parks, but Jackson Hole gives you a little more help. A local bus links the town with Teton Village, and the airport is a short drive away inside the park.

Moab has no useful public transport at all, though a paved path lets cyclists ride to the entrance of Arches. Many trailheads lie at the end of dirt tracks, so a high-clearance vehicle opens up far more. In Jackson the challenge is winter roads, which call for good tyres.

Jackson Hole has more to browse. The boardwalks around the Town Square hold many galleries of Western and wildlife art, along with handmade cowboy hats and boots, turquoise jewellery, high-end ski gear and a few upscale boutiques.

Moab's Main Street is practical: well-stocked bike, climbing and camping shops, rock shops selling geodes and fossils, and a few galleries with Navajo jewellery and weavings. You go there to replace a tyre rather than to shop for pleasure.

Both are costly for what you get, but Jackson Hole is among the most expensive places to stay in the United States. Rooms, meals, lift tickets and guided trips all cost resort prices in summer and ski season. Staying over the pass in Idaho, or coming in late spring or autumn, helps.

Moab's simple motels also charge resort prices in spring and autumn. The difference is that public campgrounds and free dispersed camping give you a real way round them, and winter is much cheaper. In both places the trails and viewpoints cost little or nothing.

Jackson Hole has the fuller summer programme. For several weeks the Grand Teton Music Festival brings players from leading American orchestras to a timber concert hall in Teton Village, and the arts centre, chuckwagon dinner shows and saloon bands add more.

Moab has a single highlight, its chamber music festival at the end of summer, with some concerts held in canyon grottoes reached by boat. Outside those weeks, both towns offer little beyond bar bands and community events.

Jackson Hole is the better place to rest. South of town there are hot springs pools in a forested canyon, reached by snowmobile or dog sled in winter, and a soaking park sits beside the Snake River. Resort spas and massage add to these.

Moab has no hot springs worth the trip and only a few small day spas. Its calm comes from quiet desert evenings and dark skies, and visitors who want real rest tend to book a ranch or a cabin in the La Sal Mountains.