Palm Springs or Park City?

Neither town has a beach, and from Palm Springs the ocean is two hours west over the mountains. The swimming differs in kind. In Palm Springs the hotel pool is the centre of a long, hot day. In Park City you can swim and paddleboard in cool water at Jordanelle Reservoir for a short summer season, and the rest of the year you get in the water in a hot tub.

Both towns eat comfortably rather than memorably. The range is narrow and neither has a cuisine of its own, but the setting differs. Palm Springs means long brunches on shaded patios, date shakes from the Indio groves and plain Mexican taquerias further down the valley.

Park City cooks heartier mountain food: elk, bison, trout and steaks along Main Street, with après-ski drinks on the slopeside decks. When you want more variety, Salt Lake City is a drive down the canyon.

Palm Springs has more to see, and nearly all of it is architecture. There are Albert Frey's angular buildings, Neutra's Kaufmann House and the folded roofs of Twin Palms and Vista Las Palmas, enough for a day of self-guided touring. The Art Museum and the Agua Caliente Cultural Museum add depth.

Park City's heritage is its silver-mining past, visible in the wooden storefronts of Main Street and the old headframes on the slopes, and well told at the Park City Museum. With the Olympic museums added, an afternoon covers it.

Palm Springs has the livelier evenings. The long-established LGBTQ bars on Arenas Road offer patios and drag nights, Palm Canyon Drive has retro cocktail lounges, and in spring there are hotel pool parties. Real clubs are scarce in both towns.

Evenings in Park City begin with après-ski as the lifts close and then move to a short run of saloons and bars on Main Street. These can get rowdy on winter weekends, but the rest of the year the town goes to bed early.

Both towns sit at the foot of big mountains, but Park City is the more complete outdoor base. Two ski areas rise from town, with Alta and Snowbird over the ridge. Summer brings hundreds of kilometres of singletrack, fly fishing on the Provo and Weber rivers, and golden aspen in autumn.

Palm Springs has striking desert scenery: the tramway up to the pines of San Jacinto, the palm oases of the Indian Canyons, and the boulders and night skies of Joshua Tree about an hour away. Summer heat, though, limits hiking to the early morning.

Neither town is a strong base for excursions, and both need a car. The outings from Palm Springs are offbeat: the lived-in film set of Pioneertown, Salvation Mountain by the Salton Sea, and the pine village of Idyllwild.

Park City has a real city within reach. Salt Lake City, with Temple Square and its museums, is about 40 minutes down the canyon. Closer in are the Heber Valley steam railway and the Swiss-style chalets of Midway.

Park City is much easier with children. It has organised ski schools and gentle learning areas, a safe town and free buses to the slopes. The Olympic Park has coasters and ziplines, and in summer the resort bases add alpine slides and easy bike trails.

Palm Springs works as a pool vacation with a few outings, such as the Living Desert and the Air Museum. However, many boutique hotels are adults-only, and from late spring the midday heat keeps everyone indoors.

Park City works well without a car. Free buses link Old Town, both ski bases and Kimball Junction, and parking is awkward enough to leave the car behind. You only need wheels for the trip from the airport and for outings further afield.

The flat downtown strip in Palm Springs is easy on foot, and the airport is on the edge of town. But the tramway, the canyons and Joshua Tree all need a car, and in summer walking at midday is out of the question.

Palm Springs is the better place to shop, because it has a speciality of its own. The Uptown Design District on North Palm Canyon Drive deals in the mid-century modern furniture, lighting and vintage clothing that match the town's architecture, so a morning there feels like part of the sightseeing. The weekly Village Fest brings craft and food stalls downtown, and El Paseo in Palm Desert and the Cabazon outlets cover everything more mainstream.

Park City offers ordinary resort shopping by comparison. Main Street has galleries, Western boots, outdoor gear and ski fashion, and Kimball Junction has outlets and chain stores. That fills an hour after lunch, but nothing on sale is particular to the town in the way Palm Springs' design shops are.

Neither town is cheap, but Palm Springs is easier on a budget. Simple motels and supermarket picnics help at any time of year, and in summer room rates fall sharply for anyone who can bear the heat.

Park City sits at the top of the resort market in ski season, when lift tickets and ski school come on top of slopeside lodging. Budget visitors stay in Salt Lake City or the Heber Valley instead, and summer and autumn are easier on the wallet.

Each April the Coachella and Stagecoach festivals fill the polo grounds at Indio, half an hour east of Palm Springs, and draw crowds from around the world. Through the rest of the cooler season, the McCallum Theatre has touring shows and comedy, and the tribal casinos book well-known pop and rock acts. In town, drag cabaret and piano bars set the tone.

Park City has a smaller stage, the 1920s Egyptian Theatre on Main Street, and it is at its best in summer, when the Utah Symphony plays on the lawns at Deer Valley and free concerts fill the parks. The rest of the year the programme is thin, and for opera or ballet you have to go to Salt Lake City.

This is where Palm Springs stands apart. The town grew up around the Agua Caliente spring, where you can soak in mineral water at the bathhouse, and the spa motels of Desert Hot Springs fill their pools straight from the ground. Add the slow rhythm of the pool and the patio, and it is an easy place to switch off.

Park City relaxes in another way, with polished lodge spas and outdoor hot tubs after a day on the slopes. Its one natural hot spring is the Homestead Crater in Midway.