Park City or Taos?

Neither town is anywhere near a coast. Park City at least has Jordanelle Reservoir down the valley, with sandy swimming areas and picnic lawns for a short, cool summer season. In Taos the Rio Grande is for rafting and the mountain lakes stay cold, so the realistic swim is a hotel pool there and a hot tub after skiing in Park City.

The two towns eat about equally well for their size, but in very different ways. Park City serves polished modern American mountain cooking, such as elk, bison, trout and steaks, along Main Street and at the resort bases, with après-ski decks as a ritual of their own. Its cheaper meals tend to come from the chains at Kimball Junction.

Taos has a regional kitchen to discover. Red and green chile, posole and carne adovada are served in old family-run places around the plaza and towards Ranchos, and horno bread is baked at Taos Pueblo. For variety beyond that, Park City can lean on Salt Lake City down the canyon, while Taos's range stays narrow.

Taos is far richer here. Taos Pueblo is a UNESCO-listed adobe village that has been lived in for around a thousand years, and the buttressed San Francisco de Asís church at Ranchos was painted by O'Keeffe. The Harwood, Millicent Rogers and Fechin collections add the story of the art colony. Together they make two or three unhurried days.

Park City's heritage is its silver-mining past. You can walk up the restored Main Street, spot the headframes on the slopes, visit the Park City Museum with its old jail cells and see the Olympic exhibits at the Utah Olympic Park. It is pleasant, and an afternoon covers it.

Park City has more going on after dark. In winter, its Main Street saloons and cocktail bars, a few with DJs or bands, fill up on weekends and can get rowdy at the height of the ski season. Salt Lake City is close enough for a proper night out.

Taos offers a margarita in an adobe hotel bar, a brewery taproom or a saloon band, and most nights end soon after dinner. Neither town stays open into the small hours, especially outside ski season.

Both are serious mountain bases at the same altitude, and Park City has the edge for sheer access. Two big ski areas rise from town, including one of the largest in North America, with dry Utah powder and Alta and Snowbird within an hour. In summer, hundreds of kilometres of singletrack and lift-served biking start from the streets.

Taos offers a wilder, more varied landscape rather than more terrain. Taos Ski Valley, half an hour up the canyon, is steep and demanding, and trails climb Wheeler Peak at 4,013m. The Rio Grande gorge brings spring rafting through the Taos Box and rim walks across the sagebrush plateau.

Taos has much better outings. The High Road to Santa Fe passes Truchas, the old adobe church at Las Trampas and the sanctuary at Chimayó. Santa Fe itself has its plaza, Canyon Road and the O'Keeffe Museum, and Abiquiu and Ghost Ranch lead into O'Keeffe country.

Park City's best outing is Salt Lake City, under an hour away, for Temple Square and the Capitol. The Heber Valley steam railway, Swiss-style Midway and railroad-era Ogden round out a shorter list.

Park City is much easier with children. Both ski areas run organised ski schools, and the free buses take the strain out of getting to the slopes. The Olympic Park has an alpine coaster, ziplines and freestyle skiers splashing into a pool, and summer brings alpine slides and climbing walls to the bases.

Taos works for outdoorsy families who enjoy gentle Rio Grande float trips, horse riding and the recreation centre pool. Beyond that, nothing is made for children, and every outing means time in the car. Altitude can tire young children for the first days in both towns.

Park City is far simpler without a car. Free buses connect Old Town, Main Street, both ski bases and Kimball Junction, and the airport is about 40 minutes away by shuttle. You only really need wheels for trips to other valleys.

Taos is a car town. The plaza and Kit Carson Road are walkable, but the Pueblo, the gorge bridge, the ski valley and the High Road are spread across a wide valley. Most visitors also drive about two and a half hours from Albuquerque.

The two are close, but they sell very different things. Park City is resort shopping: galleries, cowboy boots, ski fashion and outdoor gear along Main Street, with an outlet centre at Kimball Junction.

Taos is for art and craft collectors. Look for turquoise and silver, micaceous pottery, Rio Grande weaving and carved santos, some of it bought directly from makers at Taos Pueblo. Outside that niche, there is less than in Park City.

Taos is noticeably kinder to the wallet. Simple motels and casual New Mexican diners are fairly priced there, though historic inns and ski-valley lodging charge resort rates, and a hire car adds to the total.

Park City's slopeside lodging, lift tickets and ski school are at the top of the North American market, especially over Christmas. Many budget visitors sleep in Salt Lake City or the Heber Valley instead. Both towns get cheaper outside ski season.

Neither has much of a programme, but what they offer differs in kind. Park City has conventional entertainment: plays, comedy and cabaret at the 1920s Egyptian Theatre all year, and Utah Symphony concerts on the Deer Valley lawns in summer.

The most memorable events in Taos are the traditional dances at Taos Pueblo on feast days such as San Gerónimo in late September. Visitors watch under strict rules, with no photography. A summer chamber music festival adds serious classical concerts.

Taos is the better place to slow down. Ojo Caliente's historic mineral pools sit under the cliffs within an hour, primitive hot springs lie beside the Rio Grande at the bottom of the gorge, and yoga studios and retreat centres draw on the valley's spiritual reputation.

Park City's relaxation is more polished and more tied to skiing. It means big spas in the Deer Valley and Canyons lodges, outdoor hot tubs in the snow and a swim in the Homestead Crater's warm limestone dome at Midway.