Moab or Palm Desert?

Neither town has a beach, and both are a long way from the sea. Moab's swimming is improvised: the shallow pools of Mill Creek, Ken's Lake south of town and sandbars on a cold, fast-flowing Colorado, plus the motel pool after a hike.

In Palm Desert the pool is at the centre of the stay. Resort pools under the palms are often heated in winter, and anyone who needs real surf can make a full day of it on the Orange County coast, about two hours away.

Palm Desert eats better, although neither town is a food destination. Its resort dining along El Paseo is polished and suits a long outdoor dinner on a winter evening. The taquerias of Indio and Coachella and the surrounding date groves add the valley's one true speciality, the date shake.

Moab's food is about refuelling: burgers, tacos, pizza and brewery food on Main Street, in generous portions and with dusty boots welcome. Choice thins out in winter, and Utah's alcohol rules make a glass of wine with dinner more of a formality.

Palm Desert gives you more to see, though neither town is a sightseeing destination. Moab has something Palm Desert lacks, and it is far older: Ancestral Puebloan and Fremont rock art on the canyon walls just outside town, and dinosaur footprints set in stone. You find these from the roadside or on short walks rather than behind glass, and the town itself adds only a small local museum.

Palm Desert's interest is modern art and architecture. It has a satellite of the Palm Springs Art Museum with sculptures in the open air, and galleries along El Paseo. Next door, Palm Springs has whole streets of mid-century modern houses that architecture lovers travel to see. That fills a couple of mornings with art and buildings, where Moab's heritage is something you come across on the way to a trailhead.

Palm Desert has more going on after dark, though it is still mostly wine bars and patio cocktails around El Paseo that close early. For a later night, people head to the tribal casinos or to the downtown bars of Palm Springs, which has a well-known gay scene. Moab's evenings end with a beer among mountain bikers and rafters, and the town is asleep by eleven. Its consolation is an exceptionally dark, starry sky.

Both are desert bases where the landscape is the main draw, but Moab is in another league. Arches begins minutes from town and Canyonlands and Dead Horse Point are under an hour away. Few places anywhere can match its mix of hiking, world-famous mountain biking, Colorado River rafting, canyoneering and climbing.

Palm Desert's outdoors are gentler and more spread out. Trails climb into the Santa Rosa Mountains from the edge of town, the Indian Canyons have fan-palm oases, and the tramway rises to pine forest at about 2,600m. Joshua Tree is an hour away, and golf plays a bigger part here than adventure does.

Palm Desert offers far more variety within a day's reach. Palm Springs is twenty minutes away, and further out are Temecula wine country, cool mountain Idyllwild, the old Western film set at Pioneertown and the painted hillside of Salvation Mountain.

Day trips from Moab are mostly more landscape, plus small towns such as Green River, Monticello and pioneer Bluff. The most rewarding is the long drive south to the Ancestral Puebloan ruins at Edge of the Cedars and Hovenweep.

Palm Desert has the edge, mainly because of the Living Desert, a zoo and botanical garden in town with giraffes and cheetahs. The tramway and the resort pools with slides help too. Moab suits school-age children who love scrambling on rocks, with short walks to Sand Dune Arch, dinosaur tracks, gentle raft floats and Junior Ranger programmes.

Both places mean a drive for every outing, and in both the summer midday heat is unwise for small children. Moab's long, unfenced drops make it the harder choice with toddlers.

You need a car in both places, but for different reasons. Moab's Main Street is compact and walkable, and a paved path takes cyclists to the Arches entrance. The parks and the trailheads at the end of dirt tracks need a vehicle, ideally a high-clearance one.

Palm Desert is a low-density spread along wide boulevards, and only a few blocks of El Paseo are made for walking. In return, the roads are uncongested, parking is easy and ride-hailing covers evenings out.

Palm Desert is a real shopping destination by comparison. El Paseo is a palm-lined street of boutiques, jewellers and galleries, a large mall covers the familiar chains, a designer outlet centre sits half an hour west and Palm Springs adds vintage and mid-century furniture.

Moab's Main Street meets practical needs, with well-stocked bike and climbing shops and rock shops selling fossils and geodes. Its few galleries selling Navajo jewellery and weavings offer the most memorable souvenirs.

Both cost about what American resort towns cost, and neither is cheap. In Moab you save through the landscape: one park entry covers a week, the best hikes are free, and campgrounds and dispersed camping cut the cost of a bed. Guided rafting and jeep tours are what push the bill up.

In Palm Desert the saving is in the timing. Resort rooms fall to a fraction of their winter rates in the summer heat, while golf and spa treatments are where budgets stretch fastest. Moab's cheap season, by contrast, is winter.

Palm Desert has a proper stage in the McCallum Theatre, with touring Broadway shows, ballet, orchestras and comedians through the winter. The casinos add big-name concerts, and each spring Coachella and Stagecoach take over the polo grounds in nearby Indio.

Moab's one highlight is the Moab Music Festival at the end of summer, with chamber concerts in canyon grottoes reached by boat. For the rest of the year there is little beyond a weekend band in a brewpub.

This is one of the clearest differences between the two. Palm Desert was made for slowing down, with resort spas, lazy afternoons by the pool and the natural hot mineral pools of Desert Hot Springs half an hour north.

A trip to Moab is energetic, with early starts and only a few massage studios for tired legs. Its restful side is quieter: still desert evenings, dark skies, red cliffs at sunset, or a cabin up in the La Sal Mountains.