Jackson Hole or Snowbird?

Neither place is for swimming, but Jackson Hole has more to offer. Below the Tetons, sandy-bottomed String Lake warms enough by late summer for a proper swim at the end of a hike.

At Snowbird, swimming means the resort's heated pools or an hour's drive to the chilly reservoirs of the Heber Valley. The Great Salt Lake nearby is something to look at, not to swim in.

Jackson Hole has a real town to eat in. Around the square there are chef-led restaurants, steakhouses and saloons serving elk, bison and Rocky Mountain trout, huckleberries in almost everything, and a farmers' market in summer.

Snowbird's food is resort food: lodge restaurants, slopeside cafeterias and a dining room at the top of the tram with a fine view. Nothing on the menu is local to the place. Most guests drive forty minutes down to Salt Lake City a night or two a week for some variety.

Jackson Hole has a little culture, which is more than Snowbird has. The National Museum of Wildlife Art looks out over the elk refuge, and the antler arches and boardwalks give the centre its Western look. In the park, the barns of Mormon Row and the log chapel framing the peaks make a moving half-day.

Snowbird is a resort built from nothing in 1971, and its concrete lodges are its only buildings. The canyon's mining past has left almost nothing to see, so any museum visit means going down to Salt Lake City.

Neither is a late-night place, but Jackson Hole gives an evening more to work with. There are loud après-ski bars at Teton Village, then a historic saloon in town with saddles for bar stools and country dancing, plus brewpubs and cocktail bars around the square.

At Snowbird the evening peaks on the sunny deck when the lifts close. After that people go to dinner or to bed. A proper night out means driving the mountain road to Salt Lake City or Park City.

Both are among the great mountain bases in North America, and both have a tram up to steep, demanding terrain. What sets them apart is what surrounds the skiing. Jackson Hole sits beside two national parks, with the Tetons rising sheer from the valley floor, and it is full of wildlife: grizzlies, moose, bison, eagles along the Snake and thousands of wintering elk. Summer brings rafting, fly fishing and climbing.

Snowbird is about the snow itself. The canyon often gets more than 12m in a season, the terrain reaches through Mineral Basin to Alta, and the skiing lasts into late spring. In summer there are wildflower meadows in Albion Basin and granite walls to climb, but much less wildlife to watch.

This is where Snowbird has the advantage. Salt Lake City is forty minutes away, with Temple Square, the domed Capitol and its museums. Park City's Victorian Main Street is about an hour off, and Sundance, Midway and Ogden's 25th Street fill another day or two.

From Jackson, nearly every outing goes into the parks rather than to another town. Victor and Driggs over Teton Pass make a pleasant drive, but the real Western towns of the region are too far away for a day trip.

Jackson Hole is better for children who like the outdoors. They can spot bison from the car, earn Junior Ranger badges, float the Snake, ride a sleigh through the elk herd in winter and go to the summer rodeo, and the ski school is good. The town is small and safe, though rainy days are hard to fill.

Snowbird's mountain is known for its steep, expert runs, so it suits teenagers and confident young skiers better than toddlers. Its car-free base is easy to manage, and summer adds an alpine slide and a ropes course. Zoos and children's museums are down in Salt Lake City.

At Snowbird you can leave the car parked for most of a ski stay. The lodges, tram and lifts are a short walk apart on a base with no traffic, and many rooms open onto the slopes. The catch is the single canyon road, which jams on powder mornings and can close for avalanche control.

Jackson's town centre is easy to walk, and a bus runs out to Teton Village. Beyond that, the parks, trailheads and the best wildlife hours at dawn and dusk all need your own car.

Jackson Hole is the only one of the two where shopping is worth an afternoon. Its boardwalks are lined with galleries of Western and wildlife art, along with handmade cowboy hats and boots, turquoise jewellery and serious mountaineering gear.

Snowbird has a few base-area shops for rentals, goggles and resort-branded clothing. For browsing, the nearest real high street is Park City's.

Both are expensive, with resort prices for rooms, lift tickets, rentals and meals in peak season. They differ in how you can spend less. In Jackson that means staying over the pass in Idaho or coming in the quiet months of late spring and autumn, and the parks' trails and roadside wildlife cost almost nothing once you are there.

At Snowbird the usual saving is a hotel in Salt Lake City and a drive up each morning, though you lose the slopeside stay. Multi-resort passes help regular skiers, and summer is cheaper than winter.

Jackson Hole has more live performance, mostly in summer. The Grand Teton Music Festival has been running since the 1960s and brings orchestral players to a timber hall in Teton Village. The town also has an arts centre, chuckwagon dinner shows and country bands in the saloons.

Snowbird has outdoor concerts on the plaza and oompah bands at its Oktoberfest. For the symphony, opera or theatre you drive down to Salt Lake City.

Both places give you a good place to rest after a day outdoors, but the two experiences are different. Jackson's comes from nature: a hot-spring pool in a forested canyon, reached in winter by snowmobile or dog sled, and soaking pools on the banks of the Snake.

Snowbird puts its effort into one large spa on top of the main lodge, with a rooftop pool and hot tubs facing the canyon walls at dusk. For a natural soak, the geothermal crater at Homestead in Midway is an hour away.