Las Vegas or Salt Lake City?

Neither city is a place to swim, and the difference lies in what replaces the sea. Las Vegas relies on its resort pools, some with wave pools and lazy rivers, plus the gravel shore of Boulder Beach at Lake Mead in a shadeless desert basin.

Salt Lake City offers the novelty of floating without effort in the Great Salt Lake, muddy shore and brine flies included, and better summer swimming at mountain reservoirs such as Jordanelle and Pineview, with paddleboards and patches of sand.

Las Vegas is the stronger place to eat, mostly because of scale. The Strip gathers outposts of famous chefs, steakhouses and tasting menus, and the Chinatown along Spring Mountain Road runs for kilometres with Asian kitchens open late. Its weak points are resort prices and the lack of a cuisine of its own.

Salt Lake City is more modest, with fry sauce, fried scones and dirty sodas as its local quirks and its best meals in the Mexican, Pacific Islander and Peruvian places along State Street. Utah's drinking rules also leave wine and cocktails thinner on the ground.

Salt Lake City has more genuine history to see. Temple Square, laid out by the pioneers in 1847, holds the granite temple and the Tabernacle with its famous organ, and the Beehive House, the State Capitol and the painted Cathedral of the Madeleine fill out about two days.

Las Vegas offers spectacle instead: themed resorts, the fountain show and the light canopy over Fremont Street. The Neon Museum and the Mob Museum are well worth an afternoon, but after them a sightseer runs short much sooner than in Utah.

This is the widest gap between the two. Las Vegas runs all night, with casino bars that never close, drinks carried along the Strip, DJ residencies in the resort clubs and a cheaper, looser scene of dive bars and cocktail lounges around Fremont Street and the arts district.

Salt Lake City has breweries, a few dance clubs around the Granary District and a long-standing gay bar scene, but Utah's liquor laws and an early bedtime keep it to a drink after a day in the hills.

Both have striking landscapes within an hour, but Salt Lake City's are closer and usable for more of the year. The Wasatch rises at the edge of town, Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons lead to famous powder skiing in winter and alpine lakes and peak hikes in summer, and trails start almost at the doorstep above the Avenues.

Las Vegas has the sandstone cliffs and climbing of Red Rock Canyon, the flame-coloured rock of Valley of Fire and the pine forests of Mount Charleston, but its desert is dangerous in the summer heat and always needs a car.

Neither city is rich in outings, but Salt Lake City has more towns worth the drive: Park City's Victorian Main Street, Heber and Swiss-flavoured Midway, and Ogden's old railroad strip on 25th Street, with the Golden Spike site further north.

From Las Vegas the one classic is Hoover Dam with Boulder City. The Grand Canyon and Zion are sold as day tours but mean long journeys to landscapes, much as Utah's parks are an overnight trip from Salt Lake City.

Salt Lake City is built around children in a way Las Vegas is not. Families are large, restaurants and public spaces expect kids, and the zoo, aquarium, Discovery Gateway, planetarium and Lagoon amusement park make for a week of easy days, though a car helps to reach them across the valley.

Las Vegas can fill a day or two with its indoor rides, shark aquarium and fountain show, but children are steered across casino floors constantly, and summer heat makes walking with small ones hard going.

Both are hard on walkers in their own way, and both push visitors towards a car for anything beyond town. Las Vegas is essentially one 6km line of vast resorts linked by footbridges and casino interiors, with a monorail and round-the-clock buses, though most people end up in taxis.

Salt Lake City has TRAX light rail to the airport and the University and the FrontRunner train to Ogden and Provo, and its grid addresses are easy to read, but the wide streets and long blocks stretch distances, and the canyons rely on cars or winter ski buses.

Las Vegas is the better place to shop for fashion and jewellery. The Roman-themed arcade at Caesars Palace, the Venetian's canal-side shops and the luxury mall at the centre of the Strip hold the major houses and stay open late, and two outlet centres cater for bargain hunters.

Salt Lake City's City Creek Center and Trolley Square cover the familiar brands, and 9th and 9th and Sugar House add vintage and independent shops. Its real speciality is outdoor gear, where its local ski and climbing shops beat anything on the Strip.

In Las Vegas the bill follows the calendar. Midweek rooms on and near the Strip can be good value, but weekends and convention dates multiply them, resort fees come on top, and shows, clubs and Strip dining add up quickly. Staying downtown and eating away from the resorts help a great deal.

In Salt Lake City the season matters more than the day of the week. Downtown hotels are reasonable, Temple Square costs nothing and light rail is cheap, but a hire car is close to essential, and a winter ski week with lift passes and canyon lodging costs far more than a summer of hiking.

For a night's entertainment Las Vegas is the stronger draw: dozens of shows play nightly in purpose-built theatres, from water-based acrobatics to magicians and comedians, and big pop and country stars take residencies that rarely tour.

Salt Lake City is better for the formal arts, with the Utah Symphony, Utah Opera, Ballet West and the Tabernacle Choir with its great organ, which is a visit in itself. In Las Vegas that kind of evening comes down to the Smith Center downtown.

Resort spas against geothermal soaking is the real contrast here. Las Vegas has some of the largest hotel spas in the country, with thermal circuits, saunas and salt and ice rooms open to day visitors. They are calmest on a weekday morning, and a non-gaming hotel keeps the casino noise at a distance.

Salt Lake City sends you out of town to relax: to warm mineral water inside the limestone dome of the Homestead Crater near Midway, to smaller hot springs in the canyons, or to a ski resort spa after a day on the slopes. The city's unhurried pace does the rest.