Salt Lake City or Santa Fe?

Neither city is a place to swim, but Salt Lake City at least offers a curiosity: floating without effort in the brine of the Great Salt Lake off Antelope Island, and sandy reservoir shores at Jordanelle or Pineview on hot days. Santa Fe has less still, with Abiquiu Lake an hour north and floats on the Rio Grande as occasional outings, so most visitors settle for the hotel pool.

Santa Fe has a cuisine of its own, and that is the difference. Red or green chile, blue corn, posole and carne adovada are served in old adobe dining rooms around the Plaza, there is a fine-dining tier unusual for a town this small, and the Railyard farmers' market is worth a morning.

Salt Lake City's own specialities, fry sauce, fried scones and dirty sodas, are fun rather than memorable. Its best meals come from the Mexican, Pacific Islander, Peruvian and Vietnamese kitchens along State Street, which gives more variety than Santa Fe but less character, and Utah's drinking rules keep wine and cocktails thin.

In Santa Fe the townscape is itself the sight: low adobe walls and portals around a Plaza founded in 1610, the Palace of the Governors, the Loretto Chapel's spiral staircase, then Museum Hill and the O'Keeffe Museum. It is a place to linger.

Salt Lake City's interest is concentrated on Temple Square, with the granite temple, the domed Tabernacle and the Family History Library, plus the State Capitol and the dinosaur halls of the Natural History Museum. It is distinctive, but a couple of days is plenty, whereas Santa Fe rewards a third.

Both cities go to bed early, but Salt Lake City offers a little more to do after dark: a few dance clubs downtown, breweries in the Granary District, a long-standing gay bar scene and the neighbourhood pubs of Sugar House. In Santa Fe the evening usually ends with a margarita on a rooftop watching the sun set over the Jemez Mountains, clubbing barely exists, and anyone wanting a late night drives to Albuquerque.

Salt Lake City has the edge because of how close and how big its mountains are. The Wasatch climbs above 3,000m right behind the city, with four ski resorts up the Cottonwood Canyons and Park City beyond, and in summer there are foothill trails starting from the Avenues. To the west there are bison on Antelope Island and the white expanse of the Bonneville Salt Flats.

Santa Fe's landscapes are just as striking but different in kind. Piñon foothills lead up to aspen forest and the Pecos Wilderness, and to the west lie the red cliffs of Abiquiu, the volcanic grassland of Valles Caldera and rafting in the Rio Grande Gorge. Its skiing is a smaller affair.

This is where Santa Fe pulls far ahead. The High Road to Taos runs through Chimayo and Truchas to the thousand-year-old Taos Pueblo, Bandelier has cliff dwellings with ladders to climb, and Los Alamos, Pecos, Ghost Ranch and the Turquoise Trail's mining villages each make a good day out.

From Salt Lake City, Park City's Victorian Main Street, the village of Midway and Ogden's 25th Street are pleasant, and the Golden Spike site appeals to railway buffs. After that, the list runs out, because Utah's famous national parks are too far for anything less than an overnight stay.

Salt Lake City is built around large families, and visitors with children feel it. Hogle Zoo, the Living Planet Aquarium, Discovery Gateway, the Clark Planetarium, Lagoon's roller coasters and Thanksgiving Point's museum of ancient life give a week of options, and the ski schools are good. The catch is that these are spread across the valley.

Santa Fe is safe and relaxed but aimed at adults. The children's museum, the toys in the folk art collection and Bandelier's ladders help, yet gallery browsing, long dinners and the 2,100m altitude suit older, hiking-minded children far better than toddlers.

Getting around is about equally easy, but for different reasons. Salt Lake City has real rail, with TRAX running from the airport to the University and FrontRunner to Ogden and Provo, but its huge blocks and wide streets make walking feel longer than it looks.

Santa Fe has the more walkable centre, with the Plaza, Canyon Road and the Railyard all within about twenty minutes of one another, though the thin air makes the hills harder work. Local buses are sparse there. In both places, a car is the realistic way to reach the mountains and the outlying sights.

Santa Fe is one of the few small American towns worth visiting for its shopping, provided you want art and craft. Native American artists sell silver, turquoise and pottery under the portal of the Palace of the Governors, Canyon Road and the Railyard are lined with galleries, and the summer Indian Market and Spanish Market draw collectors from far away.

Salt Lake City is more practical. City Creek Center and Trolley Square cover the familiar brands, while 9th and 9th has independent shops. Its real strength is ski, climbing and camping gear.

Salt Lake City is the easier city on the wallet. Downtown hotels are reasonable, light rail is cheap, and everything on Temple Square is free, although lift tickets and canyon lodging make a ski week costly. Santa Fe charges resort prices around the Plaza, and restaurants and galleries are aimed at well-off visitors. Staying out on Cerrillos Road saves something, but in both cities the hire car adds to the bill.

Both cities punch above their size here, but they suit different times of year. Salt Lake City's arts life runs all year: the Tabernacle Choir's open rehearsals and broadcasts, daily organ recitals, the Utah Symphony, Utah Opera and Ballet West.

Santa Fe's arts life is concentrated in summer. Performances at the open-sided opera house start as the sun sets over the desert, and there is also a chamber music festival and a tradition of flamenco. In winter the calendar shrinks to the Lensic theatre and church concerts.

Santa Fe is built for slowing down. There are onsen-style soaking tubs among the pines on the road to the ski area, the historic pools of Ojo Caliente an hour north, and plenty of spas and yoga studios, and quiet adobe courtyards help too. Salt Lake City's best soak is the warm crater pool at Homestead in Midway, an hour away, and otherwise relaxing mostly means a resort spa after skiing.