Salt Lake City or Denver?

Neither city is a place for swimming, and Denver offers the least. There are sandy reservoir beaches at Cherry Creek and Chatfield on the city's edge, and otherwise hotel and public pools.

Salt Lake City has a little more to do in the water. Floating without effort in the Great Salt Lake off Antelope Island is a curiosity worth doing once. The Wasatch reservoirs, such as Jordanelle and Pineview, add paddleboards and sandy patches of shore on hot days.

Denver eats and drinks better. Its brewing culture is among the strongest in the country. Green chile, breakfast burritos and Colorado lamb and bison give meals a regional character, and there are chef-run places in Highland and LoHi and Vietnamese and Mexican cooking along Federal Boulevard.

Salt Lake City's own specialities, such as fry sauce, fried scones and drive-through dirty sodas, are fun rather than a reason to go. Its best meals come from the Mexican, Pacific Islander and Peruvian kitchens along State Street, and wine and cocktails are harder to find under Utah's rules.

The two are evenly matched, each worth about two days, but their sights are different in kind. Denver's are civic and artistic: the Denver Art Museum with its Native American collection, the Clyfford Still Museum, and the gold-rush brick buildings of LoDo and Larimer Square.

Salt Lake City's sights centre on its founding faith, with Temple Square, the Tabernacle and the Family History Library at the heart of the city, plus a natural history museum with dinosaur halls. Choose Denver for art and Salt Lake City for religious and pioneer history.

Denver is the better night out. Taprooms and cocktail bars in RiNo, game-night crowds in LoDo and the dive bars of East Colfax make for an easy, sociable evening, even if the club scene is small and bars close at 2am.

Salt Lake City has bars around Main Street and the Granary District and a long-standing gay bar scene. Utah's liquor laws and a city that goes to bed early keep evenings low-key.

Both cities have serious mountains close by, but Salt Lake City has the stronger claim. The Wasatch rises straight from the edge of town, and the powder resorts of Alta, Snowbird, Brighton and Solitude are well under an hour up the Cottonwood Canyons. The salt flats and the bison on Antelope Island add a desert side.

In Denver the high Rockies are further away. Red Rocks and the foothills above Golden are close, but Rocky Mountain National Park and the I-70 ski resorts take around two hours, and weekend traffic on I-70 is notorious.

Denver has far more within a day's reach. Boulder under the Flatirons, Golden, the Victorian mining towns of Georgetown and Idaho Springs, Manitou Springs with the Air Force Academy, and Estes Park are all easy outings by car.

From Salt Lake City, Park City is the standout, followed by Midway, Heber and Ogden's 25th Street, but the list runs out quickly. Arches, Zion and Bryce are too far for a day.

There is little between them for children, and the real difference is how a day fits together. Denver keeps its Children's Museum, an aquarium and an old amusement park side by side on the South Platte, a short hop from downtown. A family can fill a whole day there without getting back in the car.\n\nSalt Lake City has a little more for children, but it is spread across the valley, from Tracy Aviary in Liberty Park to Thanksgiving Point in the south, so you drive more between outings. In winter it is the easier place for young skiers. The Cottonwood Canyon resorts run good children's ski schools and are under an hour away, while Denver's I-70 resorts take around two hours.

Getting around works much the same way in both. Each has a walkable centre and a rail link to the airport, and you need a car for most things beyond. Denver's downtown is compact and flat, with a free shuttle bus along the 16th Street Mall. Salt Lake City's wide streets and long blocks make walking feel longer, though its grid of numbered addresses is easy to follow.

Salt Lake City's FrontRunner train reaches Ogden and Provo, and ski buses run up the canyons in winter. Public transport to Denver's ski areas is limited.

Denver offers more to browse. Cherry Creek pairs an upscale mall with blocks of boutiques and galleries, South Broadway has vintage clothes and records, and the city is good for Western wear as well as outdoor gear.

Salt Lake City's City Creek Center and Trolley Square cover the familiar brands, with independent shops around 9th and 9th. Its real strength is the local ski and climbing shops.

Neither city is cheap, though Salt Lake City is slightly easier on the wallet. Its downtown hotels are reasonable outside major events, and everything on Temple Square is free to visit. Denver's downtown hotels are expensive, especially during conventions and ski season.

In both, a hire car is part of the budget, and the season makes the biggest difference to cost. A summer hiking trip costs far less than a winter ski week.

Denver has more on stage. Red Rocks Amphitheatre, set between sandstone monoliths, is a concert venue people travel for. The Denver Center for the Performing Arts adds theatre, the symphony, opera and ballet, with jazz in Five Points and rock in the historic theatres on Colfax.

Salt Lake City's main draw is the Tabernacle Choir and the organ recitals at Temple Square, which are open to the public. The Utah Symphony, Utah Opera and Ballet West back it up, but there are fewer small live music venues.

Neither city has a bathing tradition, and in both the hot springs are out of town. From Denver, the historic mineral pools and steam caves of Idaho Springs are under an hour west. From Salt Lake City, the Homestead Crater in Midway lets you soak inside a limestone dome.

The ways to relax differ a little. Salt Lake City's resort spas suit a ski trip, while Denver's sunny parks and outdoor pace suit a gentler city stay.