Park City or South Lake Tahoe?

Park City has no shore of its own. A summer swim means driving down to the sandy areas at Jordanelle Reservoir, and for most visitors the hotel pool and hot tub are the only water they get into.

South Lake Tahoe has real beaches on the edge of town: Pope, Baldwin and Kiva under the Jeffrey pines, Nevada Beach and Zephyr Cove across the state line, and the boulder coves of Sand Harbor round the east shore. The water is strikingly clear but cold even in high summer, so swimming is for July and August, and for the rest of the year the sand is for walking.

Park City eats better. Main Street and the resort bases have a run of polished restaurants serving modern American mountain cooking such as elk, bison, trout and steaks, and après-ski on the slopeside decks is a proper ritual. Salt Lake City's wider range is a drive down the canyon.

South Lake Tahoe's food is plainer. There are casino steakhouses and buffets on the Nevada side, and brewpubs, taquerias and pizza places along Highway 50. Local craft beer is the most distinctive thing on offer. Quality is uneven and weekend waits are long, so many visitors end up cooking in the cabin.

Neither town is a culture trip, and in both the heritage fills an afternoon at most. What differs is the story. Park City's is silver mining, told by its wooden storefronts, the headframes on the slopes and the museum in the old city hall, with the Olympic legacy on show at the Utah Olympic Park.

South Lake Tahoe's story is the lake as a summer retreat for wealthy San Franciscans. You see it in the early 20th-century estates at the Tallac Historic Site and at Vikingsholm, reached by a steep walk down to Emerald Bay. Its sights are out in the landscape rather than in a historic centre.

Both towns are small after dark, and anyone wanting a big night out drives to a city, Salt Lake City from one and Reno from the other. The shape of the evening differs. Park City has a short, walkable strip of saloons and cocktail bars on Main Street that gets lively on winter weekends and winds down well before the small hours.

South Lake Tahoe has fewer places to wander between, but it stays up later. The casino towers at Stateline keep their bars and gaming floors open all night, with a club or two filling up on busy weekends, while the California side goes to bed early.

Both are first-rate mountain bases, so the choice comes down to which kind of mountain trip you want. Park City is the skier's town: two big ski areas rise straight from its streets, Utah's dry powder falls all winter, and in summer hundreds of kilometres of singletrack and lift-served biking start from the door.

South Lake Tahoe's landscape is built around water. The lake, Emerald Bay and the granite basins of the Desolation Wilderness make it the stronger base for hiking, paddling and views. In winter, Heavenly's gondola rises straight from Stateline.

Park City has one strong outing, Salt Lake City, about forty minutes down the canyon. Beyond that there is the Heber Valley steam railway, Midway's Swiss-style chalets and Ogden's railroad-era street, and after those it is mostly scenery.

South Lake Tahoe has more to fill extra days. Virginia City's boardwalks, Carson City and Genoa lie over the mountains, Coloma and the Amador wine country are down Highway 50, and Reno and a loop round the lake through Truckee add variety. None of these is grand on its own, but together they cover much more Gold Rush and silver-boom history.

Park City is the easier family base. Free buses take children and their kit to well-run ski schools, and the Utah Olympic Park adds an alpine coaster, ziplines and freestyle skiers flipping into a splash pool. In summer the resort bases add alpine slides and climbing walls, though the altitude can tire small children for the first day or two.

South Lake Tahoe gives families the lake's shallow sandy beaches and bike paths in the pines in summer, and sledding hills and snow play areas in winter. But most outings need a car, storms can close roads, and the casino corner at Stateline is no place to linger with children.

Park City works well without a car. Free buses link Old Town, Main Street, both ski bases and Kimball Junction, and Main Street is walkable if steep. Parking is awkward enough that a car is more burden than help, and you only need one for the valleys and the other ski areas.

In South Lake Tahoe, only the core around Stateline and the gondola base works on foot. Beaches, trailheads and Emerald Bay are spread out, so a car is close to essential. Weekend summer traffic and winter chain controls slow it down.

Park City's Main Street is good for browsing, with art galleries, Western-wear and cowboy-boot shops, jewellers and upscale ski fashion, plus an outlet centre at Kimball Junction. South Lake Tahoe's shops are practical: gear and rental stores, souvenirs by the gondola and a few galleries selling lake photography, with nothing worth planning a day around.

Both towns are costly at peak times, but Park City is among the most expensive resorts in North America. Slopeside lodging, lift tickets and ski school are all priced high, and the Christmas and New Year weeks cost more still. Summer and autumn bring prices down, and visitors on a budget often sleep in Salt Lake City or the Heber Valley.

South Lake Tahoe leaves more room to save. Casino hotels on the Nevada side discount heavily midweek and in the shoulder seasons, cabins with kitchens cut the food bill, and the beaches and trails cost nothing.

Neither town has a serious arts season, and both come alive in summer. Park City leans towards theatre and classical music, with plays and cabaret at the 1920s Egyptian Theatre, touring shows at the Eccles Center and the Utah Symphony playing outdoors at Deer Valley.

South Lake Tahoe's offer is louder and more commercial. The casino showrooms bring touring rock, country and comedy acts all year, and summer adds Shakespeare on the beach at Sand Harbor and concerts at the Tallac estates.

Park City is the more pampering stay. The big lodges at Deer Valley and the Canyons base run large spas with massages aimed at tired skiing legs, and outdoor hot tubs come with nearly every stay. The Homestead Crater in Midway lets you swim in warm geothermal water inside a limestone dome.

South Lake Tahoe's spas are mostly add-ons at casino hotels and ski lodges, so the calm comes from quiet mornings by the lake and cabins in the pines. For a soak you drive further out, to the meadow pool at Grover Hot Springs or the hot spring resorts in the Carson Valley over the pass.