Rapid City or Snowbird?

Neither place is for a beach vacation, but Rapid City at least offers a real summer swim. Sheridan Lake, Pactola Reservoir and Sylvan Lake lie in the pines within about half an hour. They have small shores and clear water that reaches roughly 20°C to 22°C in high summer.

At Snowbird, swimming means the resort's heated pools or an hour's drive to the cold reservoirs of the Heber Valley. The Great Salt Lake is something to look at, not swim in.

Rapid City has more to eat, and more of it is local: steakhouses, bison, chislic and Indian tacos on Lakota fry bread. Around Main Street there are also brewpubs and a few more ambitious kitchens. It is hearty food after a day outdoors rather than a reason to come.

Snowbird's dining is limited to the resort's lodges, the dining room at the top of the tram and slopeside cafeterias. The food is competent but generic and priced for guests with nowhere else to go, so for variety you drive down to Salt Lake City.

Rapid City has a modest but real set of sights. You can walk past the bronze presidents on the downtown corners, follow Lakota and gold-rush history at the Journey Museum, and see Badlands fossils at the School of Mines.

Snowbird has essentially none. It is a resort of concrete lodges built in 1971, its silver-mining past has left almost nothing to see, and museums mean a trip to Salt Lake City.

Neither is a place for a big night out, but Rapid City has a downtown to go out in. There are brewpubs, sports bars and country-music bars around Main Street Square, and the Sturgis rally makes early August loud and late.

At Snowbird the evening peaks with après-ski on the lodge decks and is over by mid-evening. Anything more means a mountain drive to Salt Lake City or Park City.

Both are outdoor destinations first, and the difference is the kind of landscape. Snowbird is high alpine country. The tram climbs to about 3,350m, the snow is famously deep and dry, and the steep terrain draws serious skiers. In summer it offers wilderness hiking and the wildflowers of Albion Basin.

Rapid City's Black Hills are lower but more varied: granite spires, ponderosa forest, bison herds in Custer State Park, Wind Cave and Jewel Cave, and the Badlands an hour east. They make a superb summer road trip, but for sheer mountain scale Snowbird has the edge.

Rapid City has more famous places within reach. Mount Rushmore is about half an hour away, with the Crazy Horse Memorial, gold-rush Deadwood, the Mammoth Site at Hot Springs and the Minuteman Missile silo all a drive away too.

From Snowbird the clear outings are Salt Lake City, for Temple Square and the State Capitol, and Park City's Victorian Main Street. Beyond those, Midway, Sundance and Ogden are pleasant rather than compelling.

Rapid City is made for family road trips. It has a reptile park, a drive-through park with bears and wolves, Storybook Island, cave tours, gold panning and the dig at the Mammoth Site. The catch is long hours in the car.

Snowbird works mainly for families who already ski with confidence, because the mountain leans steep and expert. The car-free base and the summer coaster and alpine slide help. But the thin air can tire small children, and the zoo and children's museums are down in Salt Lake City.

Snowbird is easier from day to day. The lodges, tram and lifts are a short walk apart on a car-free base, so a ski stay can involve no driving at all. Its weak point is the single canyon road, which jams on powder mornings and can close for avalanche control.

In Rapid City you need a car from the first day, because the buses do not reach Mount Rushmore, the parks or the hill towns. The compensation is easy driving, and roads such as the Needles Highway and Iron Mountain Road are part of the sightseeing.

Neither is a shopping destination, but Rapid City has things worth taking home. Its downtown galleries sell Black Hills gold jewellery with grape-leaf designs, Lakota quillwork, beadwork and star quilts, and there are Western boots and hats too.

Snowbird's base shops are for ski gear, goggles and resort-branded clothing. For browsing you go to Park City or Salt Lake City.

Rapid City is the cheaper trip by a wide margin, and the money goes on different things. The fixed cost is the car: rental, fuel and park entry fees add up over days of driving between the hills, the caves and the Badlands. Rooms are what varies. They climb in high summer and become very expensive for miles around during the Sturgis rally week in August.

At Snowbird the calendar runs the other way, with peak winter weeks the dearest and summer stays noticeably cheaper. In winter the bill is driven by the skiing itself, with equipment rental on top, though a season pass covering several resorts softens it for frequent skiers. Sleeping in a Salt Lake City hotel and driving up the canyon each morning saves a good deal, but you give up waking on the slopes.

Rapid City has a little more to offer. There is the Black Hills Symphony Orchestra, and the civic centre hosts touring shows and rodeos. In summer a playhouse stages plays in the pines of Custer State Park, and the most distinctive event is the large autumn powwow.

Snowbird's live music comes down to summer concerts on the plaza, Oktoberfest oompah bands and the occasional après-ski band. Anything more serious is in Salt Lake City.

Snowbird is the better place to unwind after an active day. The large spa on top of the main lodge has a rooftop pool and hot tubs facing the canyon walls, and the nights are quiet and dark once the lifts close. The geothermal crater at Homestead in Midway, about an hour away, adds a warm mineral soak.

Rapid City has little spa life of its own. Its best option is the historic spring-fed pool at Hot Springs, an hour south, and otherwise the calm comes from cabins and lodges in the hills.