Page, Arizona or Park City?

Page wins easily here. Lake Powell warms to swimming temperature in summer, and the best of it is reached by boat or kayak: you jump off sandstone into deep water in the side canyons. Lone Rock Beach adds open sand you can drive right down to.

In Park City, swimming is a summer extra rather than a reason to come. Jordanelle Reservoir has sandy swimming areas, but the water is cool. Most visitors only get wet in a hotel pool or hot tub.

Park City eats noticeably better. Its Main Street and resort bases have polished restaurants serving elk, bison, trout and steaks, and après-ski on the slopeside decks is an occasion in itself. For more variety, Salt Lake City is close by.

Page feeds road-trippers with diners, barbecue, Mexican food and chains, and it stops serving early. Its one real find is the Navajo taco on frybread, which you are more likely to get at a reservation roadside stand than anywhere in Park City.

Neither town is a place for museums, and in both an afternoon covers the sights. What differs is the kind of history. Park City has a mining past you can walk through: wooden storefronts climb Main Street, old headframes stand on the slopes, and the Park City Museum has jail cells in its basement.

Page was only built in the 1950s, so its sight is engineering: the Glen Canyon Dam and its visitor centre. The deeper interest is the Navajo Nation all around it, which you meet on canyon tours rather than in town.

Park City has the livelier evenings, though only in a small way. Après-ski drinks move on to the saloons and cocktail bars of Main Street, and on winter weekends some have bands or DJs. Outside ski season it all goes quiet early.

Page has a brewpub and a handful of bars, and most people are in bed early for a sunrise canyon tour. Its best night out is the very dark desert sky full of stars.

Both are superb, but for different landscapes. Around Page it is desert and canyon: light falling into the slot canyons of Antelope, the Colorado looping at Horseshoe Bend, Lake Powell's red maze reached by boat, and rafting from Lees Ferry. The Wave and Buckskin Gulch are close enough for a day out.

Park City is alpine. It is a ski town in winter with famously light powder, and in summer it becomes a base for mountain biking and hiking, with trails leaving straight from the streets. Fly fishing and the autumn aspens round it off. Choose by whether you want red rock and water or mountains and snow.

Park City has more towns within easy reach. Salt Lake City, with Temple Square and the State Capitol, is about 40 minutes down the canyon. Nearer still are the Heber Valley steam railway and Midway's Swiss-style chalets, and Ogden's old railroad street is not much further.

From Page, the drives are longer and there is less to stop for. Lees Ferry's pioneer buildings and Kanab's film-set past are easy enough, and the cliff dwellings at Navajo National Monument are about two hours away. Most other outings are landscape rather than places.

Park City is the more child-friendly base. It has organised ski schools, a safe and compact town, and free buses that save carrying gear and car seats. At the Utah Olympic Park, children can ride the coaster, try the ziplines and watch freestyle jumpers land in the pool, and in summer the resort bases add slides and climbing walls. The main drawbacks are the cost and the altitude for the first day or two.

Page works for outdoorsy families who will enjoy a lake beach day and a short canyon tour. Parents should allow for the summer sun, the unfenced drops at viewpoints, the ladders on some canyon tours and many hours in the car.

Park City is far easier without a car. Free buses link Old Town, both ski bases and Kimball Junction, Main Street can be walked, steep as it is, and the airport is about 40 minutes away by shuttle. A car still helps for trips into the valleys.

In Page, a car is essential. The main strip is walkable, but Horseshoe Bend, the marinas and the wider parks are all a drive away, and the nearest big airports are hours off, so most people arrive on a road trip.

Park City is better for browsing: Main Street has galleries, Western-wear and cowboy-boot shops, ski fashion and gear, and there is an outlet centre at Kimball Junction.

Page's shops mostly sell supplies and souvenirs, but they have one thing Park City lacks. Navajo silver and turquoise jewellery, rugs and pottery are sold at trading posts and roadside stalls, often by the people who made them.

Neither is cheap, but Page is the less painful of the two. Meals and fuel cost what they would in any small American town. What adds up are the guided Antelope Canyon tours and boat hire, and camping at Lone Rock or Wahweap brings the cost down a lot.

Park City sits at the top end of the North American resort market. Lift tickets, ski school and slopeside rooms are all expensive, especially over Christmas. Summer and autumn are much cheaper, and staying in Salt Lake City or the Heber Valley is the usual way to save.

Park City has a small but real programme. The 1920s Egyptian Theatre on Main Street puts on plays, comedy and cabaret all year, and in summer the Utah Symphony plays outdoors at Deer Valley and there are free concerts in the parks.

In Page, the nearest thing is a Navajo dance presentation or dinner show staged for visitors. There is nothing you could plan an evening around.

Page has little in the way of pampering: a few hotel treatments, motel pools and the quiet of the open desert. Most stays are built around canyon tours before dawn and long hours on the highway, so they leave little time for slowing down.

Park City is the place to recover. The big lodges at Deer Valley and the Canyons base have full spas with massages for tired legs, and most stays come with an outdoor hot tub in the snow. In Midway, about 25 minutes away, you can swim in warm spring water inside the Homestead Crater's limestone dome. Out of season, the quiet aspen trails make the town restful even without booking a spa.