Palm Desert or Vail?

Neither place has a beach. Swimming in both comes down to a hotel pool.

The difference is that pool time is part of the appeal in Palm Desert, where you lounge under the palms in warm winter sunshine. The Pacific is a full day's round trip away. In Vail, summer means sunbathing beside small mountain lakes whose water stays cold, so a swim there is brief.

Both offer polished, rather predictable resort dining for a well-off crowd, so the difference is one of flavour rather than quality. Palm Desert does steakhouses and patio dinners along El Paseo. Its local character comes from the Mexican taquerias and bakeries of Indio and Coachella, and from date shakes bought straight from the groves.

Vail leans towards the mountains, with fondue rooms, elk, Colorado lamb, trout and craft beer, plus lodge lunches between ski runs. It has almost nothing cheap, and many kitchens close in the off-season weeks.

Neither place is a sightseeing destination, but Palm Desert has more within easy reach. It has its own branch of the Palm Springs Art Museum with a sculpture garden, galleries along El Paseo, and the mid-century modern houses of Palm Springs a short drive away, which together fill a couple of mornings.

Vail's mock-Tyrolean village dates only from the 1960s. Beyond the snowsports museum, with its story of the Tenth Mountain Division, and the alpine gardens in summer, there is little to visit.

Vail has the livelier evenings, at least in winter. Après-ski fills the slopeside terraces of Vail Village and Lionshead as the lifts close, and on ski-season weekends a few bars and a small club stay open past midnight. Off-season, the town is close to empty after dinner.

Palm Desert's patio wine bars and cocktail lounges suit a quiet drink with retirees and golfers, and they close early. A later night means driving to the valley's casinos or to the bars of downtown Palm Springs.

Both are scenic places, but Vail is a serious mountain destination. It has a huge ski area with the Back Bowls and Blue Sky Basin, and in summer there are high trails, fly fishing on Gore Creek and the wilderness of the Gore Range and Holy Cross. All of this sits at about 2,500m, so expect to feel the altitude at first.

Palm Desert has fine desert scenery: steep trails up the Santa Rosa Mountains, palm oases in the Indian Canyons and the boulders of Joshua Tree about an hour away. That season ends when the summer heat arrives.

The two are about equal here, and both need a car. From Palm Desert the outings are varied: Palm Springs, the Temecula wine country, the old film set at Pioneertown and the painted hillside of Salvation Mountain.

From Vail, almost every outing leads to another mountain town. Breckenridge's Victorian main street, silver-era Leadville and Glenwood Springs down the canyon are the highlights.

Both work for families, but for different trips. Vail is built for ski families, with large ski schools, gentle learning slopes and a car-free village. In summer there are ropes courses and a mountain coaster at the top of the gondola, but the altitude and cold make it hard work with toddlers.

Palm Desert's highlight is The Living Desert, with giraffes and cheetahs, and children can spend long resort days in the pool and on the slides. Every outing involves a drive, though, and summer middays are too hot for small children.

Vail is much easier to get around once you are there. The village and Lionshead are pedestrian, lifts leave straight from town and a free valley bus links everything, so many visitors spend a week without a car. Getting there is the hard part, especially when snow closes the pass.

Palm Desert is the opposite. It is a spread of resorts and shopping centres along wide boulevards, where only a few blocks of El Paseo are pleasant on foot. You will need a car for nearly everything, although the roads are quiet and parking is easy.

Palm Desert offers more. El Paseo is a palm-lined boulevard of fashion boutiques, jewellers and galleries, and a large mall and a designer outlet centre within half an hour add chains and bargains. Palm Springs adds vintage and mid-century furniture.

Vail's pedestrian lanes have a narrower range: ski and outdoor clothing, Western boots, furs and mountain-landscape art for a wealthy clientele, with nothing inexpensive and no department stores.

Palm Desert is expensive in high season, but it is the cheaper of the two by a wide margin. Chain hotels and rentals keep costs under control all year, and resort rooms fall sharply in the hot summer months.

Vail is expensive at almost every turn. Slopeside rooms, lift tickets, ski school, equipment hire and meals all cost well above normal American levels, and the peak winter weeks cost even more. Staying further down the valley helps a little.

The two are evenly matched, but at opposite times of year. Palm Desert's offer comes in winter: the McCallum Theatre hosts touring Broadway shows, ballet and orchestras, and Coachella and Stagecoach take over the polo grounds in Indio each spring.

Vail is a summer place for music and dance. Orchestras in residence play the Bravo! Vail festival at the open-air Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater, and the season also brings a dance festival and jazz. Winter offers little more than bands at après-ski.

Palm Desert is the more restful choice. The whole valley is set up for spa days, poolside afternoons and early nights, and Desert Hot Springs, half an hour north, has spa hotels filled straight from natural mineral springs.

Vail's spas are polished, with outdoor hot tubs under the peaks and massages after skiing, but they mostly serve as recovery from an active day. The nearest natural hot springs are an hour away in Glenwood Springs.