Napa or Snowbird?

Neither place is a beach destination, so the only difference is what stands in for one. From Napa, Lake Berryessa offers summer swimming and boating in the eastern hills, and the hot summers make a resort pool a real draw. At Snowbird the choice is the resort's heated pools or the cold reservoirs of the Heber Valley, about an hour's drive away.

Napa is one of America's great places to eat and drink. Tasting rooms line Highway 29 and the Silverado Trail, pouring Cabernet and Carneros sparkling wine. Yountville and St Helena have a run of celebrated restaurants, and the Oxbow Public Market in town is good for casual grazing.

Snowbird's food is resort food. It runs from the dining room at the top of the tram to slopeside cafeterias and burgers at après-ski, and it is competent but has nothing local about it. Visitors who care about eating usually drive down to Salt Lake City a night or two a week, which nobody in Napa would think of doing.

Neither is a sightseeing trip, but Napa fills a day: Victorian buildings along First Street, the 1880 opera house, the di Rosa art estate in Carneros and the old stone wineries up the valley. Snowbird is a 1970s resort of concrete lodges, and its mining past has left almost nothing to see, so culture means the drive to Salt Lake City.

Both go quiet early, but the evening takes a different shape. In Napa the night is a long dinner followed by a wine bar or cocktail bar on the riverfront, and it is livelier on summer weekends. Snowbird peaks at the end of the ski day with après-ski on a sunny deck, and by mid-evening skiers are heading to bed before the first tram.

For a later night, San Francisco is about an hour from Napa. From Snowbird it means a mountain road down to Salt Lake City or Park City.

Snowbird is the stronger choice by a distance. Its tram climbs to Hidden Peak at about 3,350m, and the canyon gets some of the deepest, driest snow in North America. The terrain runs from Mineral Basin across to Alta and keeps expert skiers busy from November into late spring. In summer the same mountain is good for hiking, climbing and mountain biking, with the Albion Basin wildflowers close by.

Napa's landscape is gentler and farmed: vineyards between the Mayacamas and Vaca ranges, dawn balloon flights, a cycling trail along the valley floor and redwood walks in Bothe-Napa Valley State Park. It is a pleasant backdrop rather than the reason for the trip.

Napa is far better placed for outings. Sonoma's plaza and mission, Healdsburg and the Russian River valleys, San Francisco by car or by ferry from Vallejo, and Sacramento all make full days out. A week here can easily take in two wine regions and a major city.

From Snowbird, the two strong outings are Temple Square in Salt Lake City and the Victorian Main Street of Park City. Midway, Sundance and Ogden are pleasant but minor, and most of the rest is open country.

Snowbird is the easier choice with children, mainly for families who ski. The car-free base keeps everyone close, and summer adds a mountain coaster, an alpine slide and a ropes course. The steep terrain and thin air suit teenagers and confident young skiers better than toddlers.

Napa is built for adults, and long summer drives between tasting rooms wear children out. A theme and animal park in Vallejo, the geyser near Calistoga and hotel pools help, but they are extras fitted around an adult trip.

At Snowbird almost everything is reached on foot. The lodges, tram and lifts sit along a car-free base, and many rooms are on the slopes. The catch is the single canyon road, which jams on powder mornings and can close for avalanche control. Anything off the mountain needs a car or a shuttle.

Napa's downtown is easy to walk, but the wineries are spread over some 50km of valley and the buses run too rarely to plan around. A tasting day therefore means hiring a driver or joining a tour, which makes Napa the harder of the two to manage without a car.

Napa gives you more reason to browse. You can ship home wine from the cellars, buy food gifts and kitchenware at the Oxbow Public Market, and find homeware boutiques downtown and design shops in St Helena, with an outlet mall for familiar brands. Snowbird's few base-area stores sell ski gear and resort clothing, and real shopping means Salt Lake City or Park City's main street.

Both are costly, and neither makes an easy budget trip. In Napa the money goes on luxury hotel rooms, estate tastings, celebrated restaurants and the driver a tasting day needs. At Snowbird it goes on lift tickets, slopeside rooms and rentals.

The ways to save differ too. In Napa you can stay in a chain hotel further south, eat at taquerias and visit smaller cellars. At Snowbird you can buy a multi-resort pass, sleep in Salt Lake City, or come in summer, which is noticeably cheaper than winter.

Napa has more to go to, though the programme is still thin. The restored opera house and an Art Deco theatre downtown host concerts and comedy. A summer classical festival plays in winery and resort venues, and a big rock and pop festival fills the fairgrounds in late spring.

Snowbird has summer concerts on the plaza, oompah bands at its Oktoberfest and the odd band at après-ski. For orchestras or opera, Napa visitors go to San Francisco and Snowbird visitors to Salt Lake City.

Napa is the more restorative base. Calistoga has drawn bathers to its volcanic mud baths and mineral pools since the nineteenth century, and nearly all the Carneros and hillside resorts have large spas. The day itself is built around late breakfasts and long lunches.

Relaxing at Snowbird centres on one large spa above the main lodge, with a rooftop pool and hot tubs facing the canyon walls, at its best after a hard day on the slopes. Beyond that, the canyon offers still, dark nights, and the warm crater at Homestead in Midway is about an hour away.