Palm Springs or Salt Lake City?

Neither city is a beach destination, and both are a long way from the sea. In Palm Springs the water you will actually use is the hotel pool, which is central to any stay.

Salt Lake City offers the novelty of floating in the Great Salt Lake once. For proper swimming you drive to mountain reservoirs such as Jordanelle and Pineview, where summer brings paddleboards and patches of sandy shore.

The two eat at much the same level, but in different ways. Palm Springs means long patio brunches, poolside cocktails and date shakes from the groves around Indio, with honest taquerias in the towns further east.

Salt Lake City has more local character, with fry sauce, fried scones and dirty soda counters, and its best cooking comes from the Pacific Islander, Peruvian and Vietnamese kitchens along State Street. Utah's drinking rules are stricter, though, so anyone who wants a good cocktail with dinner will do better in the desert.

Sightseeing takes about the same time in each city, and each has one main theme. In Palm Springs it is architecture: Frey and Neutra houses and the Alexander homes in Twin Palms and Vista Las Palmas, best seen by bike or car, plus the art museum and the Cahuilla story at the Agua Caliente Cultural Museum.

Salt Lake City's main theme is religion and pioneer history, with Temple Square, the Tabernacle and the Beehive House, then the Capitol and the dinosaurs of the Natural History Museum. Design lovers should go south, while anyone curious about pioneer and church history, or researching their family tree, will get more from Utah.

Neither city is made for big nights out, but Palm Springs has the livelier evenings. The LGBTQ bars and drag nights on Arenas Road, the spring pool parties and the retro cocktail lounges give it a sociable, playful feel, at least in season.

Salt Lake City has a few dance clubs, breweries and a long-standing gay scene. Utah's liquor laws keep drinks and opening hours limited, though, and a typical evening is a quiet beer after a day in the mountains.

Both are superb for the outdoors, but Salt Lake City has the greater range. The Wasatch rises straight from the edge of town, and its canyons, less than an hour away, offer skiing, alpine lakes, peak hikes, climbing and fly-fishing. To the west are the Bonneville Salt Flats and the bison of Antelope Island.

Palm Springs has a spectacular setting of its own, with the tramway climbing to pine forest, palm oases in the Indian Canyons and Joshua Tree an hour away. Its limit is the summer heat, which stops most hiking for months, while Salt Lake City has mountain days in every season.

Outings are modest from both cities, and you need a car either way. From Palm Springs they are quirky: the pine village of Idyllwild, the lived-in film set of Pioneertown, and the eerie shore of the Salton Sea with Salvation Mountain.

Salt Lake City's are more traditional and historic, led by Park City's Victorian mining-town Main Street, with Midway and Ogden's 25th Street close by. Neither city has the big names of its region within a comfortable day, whether that means Los Angeles or Utah's national parks.

Salt Lake City is far better with children. Large families are normal here, and the city has a zoo, an aquarium, a children's museum, a planetarium, an aviary and Lagoon's roller coasters, plus ski schools in winter.

Palm Springs can work as a pool vacation with trips to the Living Desert, the tramway and the Air Museum. But many boutique hotels are adults-only, the social life revolves around cocktails, and from late spring the midday heat keeps children indoors.

Salt Lake City is easier to manage without a car. TRAX light rail links the airport, downtown and the University, and FrontRunner trains reach Ogden and Provo. The wide blocks make walks feel long, though, and the canyons still need a car or a ski bus.

Palm Springs has a compact, flat downtown and an airport on the edge of town. Beyond that the buses are slow and infrequent, and every major outing, from the tramway to Joshua Tree, means driving.

Palm Springs has the more distinctive shopping. The Uptown Design District is worth a trip in itself for mid-century furniture, lighting and vintage clothing, with El Paseo in Palm Desert for luxury and the Cabazon outlets twenty minutes away.

Salt Lake City's shopping is practical, centred on City Creek Center and Trolley Square. Its real strength is outdoor gear, with excellent local ski, climbing and camping shops.

Salt Lake City is easier on the budget. Downtown hotels are reasonably priced, Temple Square costs nothing and light rail is cheap, although a ski week with lift tickets and canyon lodging quickly adds up.

Palm Springs is costly in its winter and spring high season, when hotels and rental houses with pools charge resort rates. The bargains come in summer, when room prices fall sharply for anyone willing to face the heat.

Salt Lake City has the richer stage life. Hearing the Tabernacle Choir and the great organ on Temple Square is a rare experience, and the Utah Symphony, Utah Opera and Ballet West give the city a full season.

Palm Springs offers drag cabaret and piano bars in town, touring shows at the McCallum Theatre, and the Coachella and Stagecoach festivals in Indio each April. It has no resident orchestra or opera of note, and in summer the programme largely stops.

This is where Palm Springs leads by a wide margin. The town grew up around the Agua Caliente spring, Desert Hot Springs fills its spa motel pools with hot mineral water straight from the ground, and a stay settles into a rhythm of pool, late breakfast and sunset over San Jacinto.

Salt Lake City has one memorable soak, in the Homestead Crater at Midway about an hour away, plus the resort spas of Park City. Rest there is a pleasant by-product of a mountain trip rather than the reason to go.