Palm Desert or Steamboat Springs?

Neither city is a beach destination, and the water each offers is very different. In Palm Desert the swimming pool replaces the sea: almost every resort has one, often heated in winter, and the Pacific is two hours away over the mountains.

In Steamboat, summer water means floating down the Yampa River on a tube through town, or a brave dip in the cold reservoirs at Steamboat Lake or Stagecoach in July and August.

Palm Desert has more variety, though neither town is a food destination. Beyond the polished steakhouses and patio bistros of El Paseo, it has family-run taquerias and bakeries in Indio and Coachella, date shakes from the groves, and Palm Springs twenty minutes away for more choice.

Steamboat's Lincoln Avenue and ski base keep to hearty western cooking, with Colorado lamb and beef, pizza, Mexican and local breweries. It is satisfying after a day on the mountain, but there is less to explore.

Neither town has much in the way of sights, but Palm Desert has a little more to offer. It has a branch of the Palm Springs Art Museum with a sculpture garden, galleries along El Paseo, and the mid-century modern houses and main museum of Palm Springs a short drive west.

Steamboat's culture is its own ranching and skiing story. The old storefronts on Lincoln Avenue, the Tread of Pioneers Museum and the historic Howelsen Hill jump can all be seen in a single afternoon.

Both are early-to-bed towns, but the evenings take different forms. Palm Desert's are slow patio wine bars and cocktail lounges, and a late night means driving to the valley's tribal casinos or to Palm Springs and its gay scene.

Steamboat's evening begins at après-ski by the gondola and moves to saloons and brewpubs on Lincoln Avenue. These are lively in the peak ski weeks and quiet the rest of the time.

Steamboat Springs lives and breathes the outdoors all year. Winter brings the dry Champagne Powder, tree skiing through aspen glades and backcountry at Rabbit Ears Pass. Summer turns the same slopes into bike and hiking trails, with the Mount Zirkel Wilderness, Fish Creek Falls, fly fishing on the Yampa, and moose and elk along the way.

Palm Desert's desert scenery is striking: trails climb straight into the Santa Rosa Mountains, palm oases fill the Indian Canyons, and Joshua Tree's boulders are an hour away. But summer heat closes it down for four months, so it can't match Steamboat's breadth.

For day trips, Palm Desert is by far the better base. Palm Springs is twenty minutes away, and Joshua Tree, Pioneertown, Idyllwild, Temecula's wine country and the painted Salvation Mountain all make easy outings.

Steamboat is isolated. The nearby ranching villages are barely worth a coffee stop, and Vail or Denver are hours of mountain driving away, so days out here mean heading up into the hills.

Palm Desert has one standout for children, the Living Desert zoo and botanical garden, which fills a morning. The Palm Springs tramway and the resort pools with slides add to it. Beyond those, the valley is built for golfers and adults, every outing means a drive, and summer middays are too hot for small children.

Steamboat Springs suits families better, as long as the children like being active. Its ski school and gentle beginner slopes fill the winter, and Old Town Hot Springs has pools, slides and a climbing wall. Summer brings tubing, the rodeo and walks to waterfalls. There is no zoo, aquarium, theme park or children's science museum, though, and the altitude can tire young children for the first day or two.

Steamboat is much easier to manage without a car. Downtown Lincoln Avenue is flat and walkable, the town bus links it to the ski base, and slopeside lodgings put the gondola on your doorstep, although the hot springs and trailheads up the mountain roads still need a car.

Palm Desert spreads out along wide boulevards and works only with a car. El Paseo is the only stretch you can walk, though parking is easy and the roads are clear.

Palm Desert is a real shopping destination. El Paseo's palm-lined boulevard of fashion boutiques, jewellers and galleries is a social outing in itself, and the designer outlet and Palm Springs vintage shops widen the choice.

Steamboat's shopping is mostly western character: boots, hats and saddle-blanket goods on Lincoln Avenue, led by the long-established outfitter F.M. Light & Sons, plus outdoor-gear shops.

Both are American resort towns, but Palm Desert leaves more room in the budget. Chain hotels and rentals give cheaper options all year, and in the summer heat resort rooms drop to a fraction of their winter rates, though the hire car is a constant expense.

Steamboat is expensive in every season. Ski weeks pile up lift access, equipment hire and slopeside lodging, and the Christmas and spring-break weeks cost the most. Summer and the shoulder seasons ease the costs without making it cheap.

Palm Desert has more to see on stage. Through the winter the McCallum Theatre brings touring Broadway shows, ballet and orchestras, casino stages add big-name concerts, and in spring the Coachella and Stagecoach festivals take place nearby in Indio.

Steamboat's season is summer, with the long-running Strings Music Festival, free outdoor concerts, and student theatre and dance at Perry-Mansfield. In winter there is little beyond bar bands.

Palm Desert's way of unwinding is made by its resorts, while Steamboat's comes up out of the ground. In Palm Desert that means massages, treatments and long dry afternoons by the pool, with golf and early nights. For natural mineral water you drive half an hour north to the spa hotels of Desert Hot Springs.

Steamboat takes its name from a spring, and soaking there is a habit, not a treatment. The spring-fed pools of Old Town Hot Springs are in town, and Strawberry Park's rock-lined pools lie up a mountain road in a wooded creek valley. They are at their best on a snowy evening.