Moab or Snowbird?

Neither place offers a beach vacation, and they don't differ much on that score. They differ in where you cool off. Around Moab that means the shallow pools of Mill Creek, Ken's Lake or a sandbar on the Colorado, although the river is fast and cold enough to need care. At Snowbird it means a heated resort pool, or an hour's drive to the cold reservoirs of the Heber Valley.

Both feed hungry, active people rather than food lovers, and Utah's liquor laws apply in both. The difference is choice. Moab's Main Street gives you several burger and taco places, brewpubs, early coffee shops for hikers and a few Southwestern dinner rooms within walking distance. Snowbird's restaurants are all in the resort lodges and on the plaza, apart from the dining room at the top of the tram, which has the better view. For variety, Snowbird guests drive down the canyon to Salt Lake City.

Moab has more for the curious, although most of it is older than the town. Ancestral Puebloan and Fremont petroglyph panels line the cliffs along Potash Road and Kane Creek, there are dinosaur trackways close by, and the small Museum of Moab is worth a morning.

Snowbird was built from scratch in 1971 as concrete lodges designed to stand up to avalanches. Almost nothing remains of the canyon's silver-mining past, so every museum or historic building you might visit means a drive down to Salt Lake City.

Evenings end early in both, and neither has a club. In Moab a night out means a brewpub on Main Street, full of rafters and riders swapping stories. At Snowbird the peak of the day is après-ski on a sunny deck around four o'clock, and the base is quiet by mid-evening. Moab's real after-dark draw is its very dark, star-filled desert sky.

Both are among the great outdoor bases in the American West, but the landscapes could hardly be more different. Moab is red sandstone: the arches and fins of Arches National Park, the canyon views from Island in the Sky and Dead Horse Point, the Slickrock and Whole Enchilada bike trails, and rafting on the Colorado.

Snowbird is high granite country, where the tram climbs to Hidden Peak at about 3,350m above deep powder, steep chutes and the open bowls of Mineral Basin. In summer the same slopes lead hikers into the Lone Peak and Twin Peaks wilderness and up to the wildflowers of Albion Basin.

Snowbird has far better outings. Salt Lake City, with Temple Square, the State Capitol and its museums, is about forty minutes down the canyon. Park City, a former silver town with Victorian shopfronts along its old Main Street, is about an hour away.

From Moab, nearly every worthwhile day out is more landscape. The nearby towns are small: Green River, Monticello and the stone houses of Bluff. The most rewarding trip is a long drive south to the ruins at Edge of the Cedars and the towers of Hovenweep.

Both suit active children better than toddlers, in different ways. Moab works for school-age kids who like to scramble: short walks to Sand Dune Arch, dinosaur tracks, gentle river floats and the Junior Ranger programmes. The downsides are the summer heat, unfenced drops and many hours in the car.

Snowbird's car-free base is easier to manage with children. It has a ski school, and in summer a mountain coaster and an alpine slide, but the mountain is built for strong skiers and the thin air tires small children.

Snowbird is easier once you are there. The lodges, lifts and tram are a short walk apart, and in winter ski buses come up from the Salt Lake valley. The catch is the single canyon road, which jams on powder mornings and is sometimes closed for avalanche control.

In Moab you can walk Main Street and cycle the paved path to the Arches entrance, but everything else needs a car. The parks are spread along long desert roads, many trailheads are reached by dirt track, and a high-clearance vehicle opens up much more of the backcountry.

Neither is a shopping destination, but Moab gives you a little more reason to browse. Alongside its bike, climbing and camping shops there are rock shops with geodes and fossils, and a few galleries selling Southwestern art and Navajo jewellery and weavings. At Snowbird you will find little beyond ski gear, rentals and resort-branded clothing, and the nearest boutiques are in Park City.

Moab is the cheaper of the two, although its motels charge resort rates in spring and autumn. The savings are real: a park pass that lasts the week, cheap public campsites, free dispersed camping and hikes that cost nothing. Winter is much cheaper still.

Snowbird is a major Western ski resort and is priced like one, from lift tickets and slopeside rooms to rentals and meals. You can save by sleeping in Salt Lake City and driving up each morning, or by coming in summer.

Moab has the more memorable night out, though only once a year. The long-established Moab Music Festival at the end of summer holds chamber concerts in town and in canyon grottoes reached by boat. Snowbird has summer concerts on the plaza and oompah bands at its Oktoberfest weekends, and anyone wanting the symphony, opera or theatre has to drive down to Salt Lake City.

Snowbird is clearly better for winding down. The big spa on top of the main lodge has a rooftop pool, hot tubs and steam rooms facing the canyon walls, and the warm mineral water inside the limestone crater at Homestead is about an hour away.

Moab is built around early starts and long hot days, and it has only a few small massage studios. Its rest comes from quiet desert evenings and watching the cliffs turn red at sunset. For a real retreat you would book a ranch or a cabin in the La Sals.