Park City or Telluride?

Neither town is a swimming destination, but Park City has the easier option. In high summer, Jordanelle Reservoir is a short drive down the valley, with sandy swimming areas and lawns for an afternoon by the water. Telluride's nearest real swimming spot is a cool reservoir near Ridgway, about an hour away, so most visitors there take to rafts, paddleboards or fishing rods instead.

The two eat at much the same level: polished modern American cooking of elk, trout and local produce, paid for by ski money, with little breadth beyond it. Park City's restaurants line Main Street and the resort bases, cheaper meals mostly come from the chains at Kimball Junction, and Salt Lake City's wider choice is a drive down the canyon.

Telluride's circle is smaller, along Colorado Avenue and up in Mountain Village. It has more casual places, such as taquerias, bakeries and burger counters, and wine lists deeper than you would expect. With no city nearby, a week there means going back to the same tables, which are hard to book on festival weekends.

In both towns the main sight is the old silver-mining town itself, and an afternoon covers most of it. Park City adds a second theme: as well as the mining museum in the old city hall, with its jail cells, the Olympic Park has its working ski jumps and Winter Games museum.

Telluride's historic town survives more completely. The whole district is a National Historic Landmark, with false-fronted streets, the 1913 opera house, a museum in the old miners' hospital and mill ruins on the canyon walls. It is the better place to stroll, although neither is somewhere to come for sightseeing alone.

Both towns' evenings are built around après-ski, and both go quiet early out of season. Park City has a little more: a short stretch of saloons and cocktail bars on Main Street, a few with DJs or bands on winter weekends, and the option of driving to Salt Lake City for a proper night out. Telluride's evenings happen in historic wooden saloons on Colorado Avenue. They can run late at the peak of winter and on festival weekends, but the town has no clubs at all.

This is the reason to visit either town, and both are outstanding, but in different ways. Park City is the bigger ski base. Two large ski areas rise straight from town, the powder resorts of Alta, Snowbird, Brighton and Solitude are within an hour, and summer brings hundreds of kilometres of mountain-bike singletrack, with lifts to carry bikes uphill.

Telluride is wilder and more dramatic, set in a box canyon under peaks above 4,000m. There are waterfalls a walk from the main street, a via ferrata on the canyon wall and old mining roads over high passes for four-wheel driving. Its ski area has steep hike-to terrain and grand views. Both towns are at high altitude, Telluride especially, so allow a day or two to adjust.

Park City has more within reach, and it is closer. Salt Lake City is about 40 minutes away, with Temple Square, the Capitol and real city museums. The steam railway in the Heber Valley, the Swiss-style town of Midway and old railroad-era Ogden fill out further days.

Telluride is remote. Ridgway, Ouray and Silverton are attractive mining and ranching towns, but they lie along long mountain roads, and passes can close in winter. Mesa Verde's cliff dwellings are the one major draw, and they are a long day there and back.

Park City is the more family-friendly town. As well as ski schools and beginner slopes, it has the Olympic Park's alpine coaster, ropes courses and freestyle jumpers splashing into the pool, plus summer slides and coasters at the resort bases. Salt Lake City's zoo and aquarium are close enough for a wet day.

Telluride suits active families who will hike, fish and ride the free gondola, which children love. But it has nothing like an attraction to fall back on indoors, and the higher altitude can hit young children harder in the first nights.

Once you have arrived, Telluride is the simpler town. You can walk across its compact grid in about a quarter of an hour, and the free gondola up to Mountain Village and the ski area means many visitors never need a car. Getting there is the catch: the local airport is often disrupted by weather, and the larger airports are one to two hours away on mountain roads.

Park City is the opposite. The airport is about 40 minutes away by shuttle, but the town is spread out, so you rely on free buses and hotel shuttles to get between Old Town, the two ski bases and Kimball Junction, and Main Street itself is steep.

Park City offers more shopping. Main Street's galleries, Western-wear and boot shops, jewellers and ski fashion boutiques make for a long browse, and the outlet centre at Kimball Junction covers practical needs. Telluride has a few blocks of galleries, boutiques, bookshops and gear stores, all pricey and pleasant enough, but nobody plans a trip there around shopping.

Neither town is cheap, and both are at their most expensive over Christmas and New Year. Park City has more ways to save: summer and autumn rates fall considerably, and staying in Salt Lake City or the Heber Valley is a realistic daily commute. Telluride's scarce rooms are priced for second-home owners, and summer festival weekends push them up further. The cheaper base, Ridgway, means a longer drive on mountain roads every day.

Telluride is the stronger choice for music, though only in summer. The Bluegrass Festival in Town Park, beneath the canyon walls, is one of the best known of its kind, and it is joined by jazz, blues and chamber music festivals and the Labor Day film festival. The Sheridan Opera House keeps something on through the year.

Park City's highlights are the Egyptian Theatre's comedy and cabaret and the Utah Symphony's summer concerts on the lawns at Deer Valley. These are pleasant evenings rather than a reason to plan a trip.

Park City has the better spas, and its most unusual soak is close by. The large spas at the Deer Valley and Canyons lodges specialise in treatments for tired legs, and the Homestead Crater in Midway, about 25 minutes away, lets you swim in warm spring water inside a limestone dome. Telluride's Mountain Village hotels have full spas too, but its open-air hot springs at Ouray and near Ridgway are an hour's drive away. The quiet of its shoulder seasons is restful, though the altitude can disturb sleep for the first nights.