Park City or Rapid City?

Neither city is a swimming destination, but Rapid City offers a little more. Sheridan Lake, Pactola and Sylvan Lake lie in the pine hills within half an hour and warm to around 21°C in high summer, which is enough for a swim on a driving day.

Park City has Jordanelle Reservoir down the valley, where the water is cooler and the season shorter, so most visitors do their swimming in a hotel pool or hot tub.

Park City eats better, thanks to the ski money behind its Main Street dining rooms and the restaurants at the resort bases. They serve elk, bison and trout as modern mountain cooking, and après-ski on the slopeside decks is part of the day.

Rapid City's food is plainer and more regional: chislic, bison burgers and Indian tacos on Lakota fry bread, plus brewpubs downtown. Those are dishes with local roots, which Park City lacks, but there are fewer meals worth planning a day around.

Rapid City has more to see, even before you reach the hills. The presidents' bronze statues downtown, the Journey Museum's story running from geology to Lakota history and the fossils at the School of Mines can fill a day, and Lakota history comes up again and again.

Park City's heritage tells one story, silver mining. You see it in the wooden storefronts of Main Street, the headframes on the slopes and the museum in the old city hall, and the Olympic Park adds its museums. An afternoon covers it all.

Both towns go quiet early, so the difference is one of character. Park City's evenings start on the slopeside decks when the lifts close and move to the saloons and cocktail bars of Main Street, which can get rowdy on winter weekends but fade in summer.

Rapid City's few downtown blocks lean towards brewpubs, sports bars and country-music bars. They stay low-key all year except during the Sturgis rally in early August, when bars across the region stay loud and open late.

Both are outdoor destinations first, but Park City has the edge for anyone who wants big mountains on the doorstep. Two major ski areas rise from the town at about 2,100m, Alta and Snowbird are within an hour, and in summer hundreds of kilometres of singletrack start straight from the streets.

Rapid City's Black Hills are gentler, with a different kind of variety: granite spires, bison and pronghorn in Custer State Park, cave tours underground and the Badlands an hour east. The appeal is wildlife, hiking and scenic roads rather than serious skiing.

Rapid City has a whole region of landmarks within reach. Mount Rushmore is half an hour away, and there are also the Crazy Horse Memorial, the gold-rush streets of Deadwood, the Mammoth Site at Hot Springs and the Minuteman Missile silo. You could fill a week without going the same way twice.

From Park City, the main outing is Salt Lake City for Temple Square and a wider choice of restaurants. The Heber Valley steam railway, Midway and Ogden make shorter extras, and after that the options are mostly scenery.

Both suit children well, in different ways. Park City is about ski schools, gentle learning slopes and the alpine coaster and ziplines at the Olympic Park, and the free buses mean no car seats to manage. On the other hand, winter costs mount quickly and the altitude can tire small children at first.

Rapid City offers the classic family road trip: the reptile park, the drive-through park with bears and wolves, Dinosaur Park, cave tours and bison stopping traffic. Motels with pools keep it relaxed, but expect long hours in the car.

Park City works without a car. Free buses link Old Town, both ski bases and Kimball Junction, and parking is awkward enough that leaving the car behind is the better choice anyway. You only really need one for excursions.

In Rapid City, a car is close to essential. Downtown is walkable, but the buses do not reach Rushmore or the parks, so you will drive every day. Traffic is light and parking easy, though the roads through the hills have hairpins and narrow tunnels.

Park City has the better street for browsing, with galleries, Western-wear shops, outdoor gear and ski fashion along Main Street and an outlet centre at Kimball Junction. Rapid City's range is narrower but more local: Black Hills gold jewellery, plus Lakota quillwork, beadwork and star quilts in the downtown galleries. Neither is worth the trip for shopping alone.

Rapid City is far easier on the wallet. Motels and casual meals are reasonable and several sights are free, though car hire, fuel and park entry add up, and rooms become very expensive during the August rally week.

In ski season, Park City is close to the top of North American resort pricing, from slopeside lodging to lift tickets and ski school. Summer and autumn are much cheaper, and travellers on a budget often sleep in the Heber Valley and drive up.

Park City has a little more on, mostly in summer. The Utah Symphony plays on the lawns at Deer Valley and free concerts are held in the plazas, while the 1920s Egyptian Theatre keeps comedy and plays going through the rest of the year.

Rapid City has its own symphony season and touring shows at the civic centre. Its most distinctive performances, though, are the powwows, above all the big autumn one, and the summer plays staged in the pines of Custer State Park.

Park City is the better place to unwind. It has the big lodge spas at Deer Valley and Canyons, outdoor hot pools under the snow, and the Homestead Crater in Midway, a warm spring inside a limestone dome where you can swim.

Rapid City's nearest equivalent is an hour away at Hot Springs, where a spring-fed indoor pool has drawn bathers since the 1890s. Otherwise, resting here means a slow stay in a cabin in the hills.