Palm Desert or Snowbird?

Neither place works for a beach trip. Palm Desert is two hours over the mountains from the Pacific, and Snowbird sits deep in the Wasatch, far from any coast.

What differs is the water you do get. In Palm Desert the pool is central to the stay, heated in winter and ringed by palms. At Snowbird swimming means a heated resort pool after skiing, or in summer a cold dip at the Heber Valley reservoirs about an hour away.

Palm Desert gives you more choice, even if the resort dining along El Paseo can feel predictable. Steakhouses and Californian patio dinners suit warm evenings, and the eastern end of the valley adds family-run taquerias in Indio and Coachella, plus date shakes from the groves.

At Snowbird you eat what the resort serves, from slopeside cafeterias to the dining room at the top of the tram, and it is solid rather than memorable. For variety, plan on driving about forty minutes down the canyon to Salt Lake City.

Neither is a culture trip, but Palm Desert gives you a little more to do: the art museum branch with its sculpture garden, public art along El Paseo, and the mid-century modern houses of Palm Springs twenty minutes away. At Snowbird, the 1970s concrete lodges and the faint traces of the canyon's mining past are all there is, so museums and Temple Square mean a trip down to Salt Lake City.

Both places go to bed early, but Palm Desert has more options. There are patio happy hours and wine bars around El Paseo, tribal casinos with lounges open late, and the bars of Palm Springs, with its well-known gay scene, a short drive away.

At Snowbird, the evening peaks at après-ski, when skiers crowd the lodge bars and the sunny deck at the base. After dinner the resort falls silent, and a proper night out means a mountain drive to Salt Lake City or Park City.

For the outdoors Snowbird is the stronger choice, and for skiers it is in another league. The tram to Hidden Peak at about 3,350m gives access to chutes, bowls and trees under some of the deepest, driest snow in North America. In summer the same slopes lead into wilderness trails and the wildflowers of Albion Basin.

Palm Desert's outdoors means desert scenery: trails climbing into the Santa Rosa Mountains from town, palm oases in the Indian Canyons, golf, and the boulders and night skies of Joshua Tree an hour away. It is a landscape for the cooler months, since summer heat leaves only the hours around dawn.

Both have one obvious nearby city and one other strong outing, and the choice thins out after that. From Palm Desert the outings lean towards the quirky and the leisurely: the mid-century streets of Palm Springs, Temecula's tasting rooms, the Western film set at Pioneertown and painted Salvation Mountain.

Snowbird's outings are more about pioneer history and old mining towns. There are Temple Square and the State Capitol in Salt Lake City and the Victorian Main Street of Park City, with the Heber Valley and Sundance as gentler extras.

For most families, Palm Desert is the easier choice. The Living Desert, with its giraffes and cheetahs, fills a morning right in town, and the resort pools, slides and lawns take care of the rest, though summer middays are too hot for small children.

Snowbird works mainly for families who ski, and its steep terrain suits teenagers and confident young skiers better than toddlers. The car-free base and summer extras such as the alpine slide and mountain coaster help, but the altitude can tire young children, and the zoo and museums are down in the city.

Snowbird is simpler once you have arrived. The lodges, tram and lifts are a short walk apart on a car-free base, and many rooms sit right on the slopes. The catch is the single canyon road, which jams on powder mornings and can close for avalanche control.

In Palm Desert, everything depends on a car. The town spreads along wide boulevards served by slow buses, and only a few blocks of El Paseo invite walking, though traffic is light and parking easy.

Palm Desert is far better for shopping. El Paseo's palm-lined boutiques, jewellers and galleries make browsing a social outing, a large designer outlet is half an hour west, and Palm Springs adds vintage and mid-century furniture. At Snowbird, the base stores are there for forgotten goggles and resort-branded clothing, so real shopping means Salt Lake City or the main street in Park City.

Palm Desert is the gentler bill of the two. The money goes on resort rooms in the winter and spring season, on golf and spa treatments, and on a hire car, but chain hotels and vacation rentals give a cheaper base whatever the month. Its low season is the scorching summer, when resort rates collapse for anyone happy to keep to the pool and the early mornings.

Snowbird costs more because the skiing itself is expensive: lift tickets and gear hire come on top of slopeside rooms and resort meals with no competition up the canyon. Its cheaper season is summer too, but here the off-season is mild hiking weather rather than punishing heat. Sleeping in Salt Lake City saves a good deal, at the price of a daily trip up the canyon road by car or ski bus, whereas in Palm Desert a car is part of the cost wherever you stay.

Palm Desert has a real stage in the McCallum Theatre, with touring Broadway shows, ballet, orchestras and comedians through the winter, plus casino and arena concerts and, each spring, Coachella and Stagecoach in nearby Indio. Snowbird has summer concerts on the plaza, Oktoberfest oompah bands and the odd après-ski band, and for the symphony, opera or theatre you drive down to Salt Lake City.

Palm Desert is built for unwinding. Resort spas, afternoons by the pool and a slow winter routine of golf and early nights set the tone, and Desert Hot Springs, half an hour away, fills its pools straight from natural mineral springs.

At Snowbird, relaxing centres on the rooftop spa above the main lodge, with hot tubs facing the canyon walls, at its best after a hard day on the slopes. Beyond that, the extras are quiet, dark nights and the warm crater at Homestead in Midway.