Las Vegas or Snowbird?

Neither place is a swimming destination, and both fall back on pools. Las Vegas does slightly better. Its Strip resorts have sand-lined wave pools and lazy rivers, and Boulder Beach on Lake Mead has a gravel shore and warm summer water, though there is no shade around it.

Snowbird offers its heated resort pools and, an hour's drive away, the small beaches of the Heber Valley reservoirs, where the mountain water stays cold. The Great Salt Lake nearby is something to look at, not somewhere to swim.

Las Vegas is by far the better place to eat. The Strip has steakhouses, French dining rooms, tasting menus and the famous buffets. Spring Mountain Road's Chinatown runs for kilometres with Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai and Vietnamese kitchens, many of them open late, and the suburbs add good Mexican cooking.

At Snowbird you eat at the resort: lodge restaurants, a dining room at the top of the tram, cafeterias and après-ski burgers. The view from the summit is the most memorable part. Most guests drive down to Salt Lake City for a night or two of variety.

Neither will satisfy a sightseer, but Las Vegas at least has an evening's worth. You can walk among the themed resorts and the fountains, see the light canopy over Fremont Street, and visit two museums that tell the city's story well: the Neon Museum's yard of old signs and the Mob Museum in the former federal courthouse.

Snowbird has nothing of this kind. It is a 1971 resort of concrete lodges, and the canyon's mining past has left almost nothing to see. Museums and historic buildings mean a drive down to Salt Lake City.

This is the biggest gap between the two. Las Vegas runs around the clock, with casino bars that never close, drinks carried along the Strip, and big-name DJs at the resort clubs after a day of pool parties. Downtown's Fremont Street and the arts district offer cheaper dive bars and cocktail lounges.

At Snowbird the night out is après-ski on a sunny deck at the end of the afternoon. By mid-evening the base is quiet, because the first tram leaves early. Anything later means driving the canyon road to Salt Lake City or Park City.

Snowbird is the stronger outdoor destination. It has deep, dry snow, often more than 12m in a season, and steep chutes and bowls served by the tram to Hidden Peak. Skiing often lasts into late spring. In summer there are trails into the Twin Peaks and Lone Peak wilderness, wildflowers in Albion Basin and climbing on granite.

Las Vegas has good desert scenery within reach: the sandstone cliffs of Red Rock Canyon, the flame-coloured rock of Valley of Fire, and the cooler pine forest of Mount Charleston. But you need a car for all of it, and from June to September the heat limits desert hiking to the early morning.

Snowbird has more varied outings. Salt Lake City, with Temple Square, the State Capitol and its museums, is about forty minutes away, and Park City's Victorian Main Street is about an hour. Midway, Sundance and Ogden's 25th Street are pleasant extras.

From Las Vegas, the one classic half day is Hoover Dam with Boulder City, the town built for its workers. After that you are looking at long drives to the Grand Canyon, Zion or Death Valley, which are journeys to landscapes rather than to towns.

Snowbird suits families better, as long as they ski. The base is compact and car-free, there is a ski school with children's programmes, and in summer there is a mountain coaster, an alpine slide and a ropes course. The steep terrain and thin air suit teenagers better than toddlers.

In Las Vegas, children have to cross the casino floors to get through almost every resort, and adult advertising is everywhere. An indoor amusement park, a shark aquarium, the tower thrill rides and the Discovery Children's Museum can fill a day or two, but most families treat the city as one stop on a national parks road trip.

Both are about equally awkward, in very different ways. The Las Vegas Strip looks walkable but isn't. Resorts are huge, footbridges and casino interiors take you the long way round, and summer heat makes walking hard work. The monorail and buses help, but most people use taxis and ride-hailing.

At Snowbird the car-free base puts the lodges, tram and lifts a short walk apart. The problem is the single canyon road, which clogs on powder mornings and is sometimes closed for avalanche control. You need a car or shuttle for anything beyond the resort.

Las Vegas is the shopping destination of the two. The Roman-themed arcade at Caesars Palace, the Venetian's canal-side shops and the Fashion Show mall hold most major brands, and two outlet centres draw bargain hunters. What it lacks is markets, independent shops or local crafts.

Snowbird's few base-area stores sell ski gear, outerwear and branded clothing. For real shopping you need Salt Lake City's malls or Park City's boutique main street.

Neither is cheap, but Las Vegas is the easier place to keep costs down. Midweek rooms on and near the Strip can be good value, downtown is cheaper again, and Chinatown meals cost far less than resort dining. Weekends, resort fees, clubs and shows push the bill up quickly.

Snowbird is expensive throughout a ski trip, with lift tickets, slopeside rooms, rentals and resort meals all adding up. Multi-resort passes, staying in Salt Lake City and visiting in summer are the main ways to save.

Live entertainment is one of the main reasons to go to Las Vegas. It has acrobatic water shows, aerial productions, magicians and comedians in purpose-built theatres, and pop and country stars on long residencies. The Smith Center downtown adds touring Broadway musicals, the Philharmonic and ballet.

At Snowbird, live performance means summer concerts on the plaza, oompah bands at its Oktoberfest and the occasional band at après-ski. For the symphony, opera or theatre you have to drive down to Salt Lake City.

Both rely on big resort spas, and neither has a bathing tradition of its own. The difference is the setting. The Las Vegas spas offer thermal circuits, salt and ice rooms and long treatment menus, but the noisy, brightly lit casinos around them work against rest, so a non-gaming hotel and a morning booking help.

Snowbird's rooftop pool and hot tubs face the canyon walls, and the village goes quiet once the morning rush is over. For something different, the warm mineral water inside the limestone crater at Homestead in Midway is about an hour away.