Salt Lake City or Scottsdale?

Neither city has a beach, so water time is a side trip in both. In Salt Lake City the novelty is floating effortlessly in the Great Salt Lake once, then driving up to Jordanelle or Pineview for proper summer swimming and paddleboarding.

In Scottsdale the hotel pool does most of the work, with Saguaro and Canyon Lakes for coves and boat hire and tubing on the Salt River on hot summer days. Choose Salt Lake City for mountain reservoirs and Scottsdale for lounging by the pool.

Scottsdale eats a little better, mainly because it does comfort well: steakhouses, patio grills, long brunches and good Sonoran Mexican food, with the deeper restaurant scene of Phoenix next door.

Salt Lake City is more homespun and quirkier, with fry sauce, honey-butter scones and dirty sodas. Its most rewarding meals are in the Mexican, Pacific Islander, Peruvian and Vietnamese kitchens along State Street. Utah's drinking rules also make wine and cocktails thinner here than in Scottsdale.

Each city has about two days of sights, and they are very different kinds. Salt Lake City's sightseeing centres on its founding faith: Temple Square's granite temple, the Tabernacle and the Family History Library, plus the Capitol and the dinosaur halls of the Natural History Museum.

Scottsdale's highlight is architectural. Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin West is the standout, and the frontier art museum and galleries add to it. The Heard Museum and the Musical Instrument Museum just over the city line round things out with Native American heritage and world music.

Scottsdale is much the stronger choice for going out. Old Town's few blocks of rooftop lounges, dance clubs and patio bars fill up at weekends and through spring, with a glossy, party-minded crowd until closing time.

Salt Lake City is a place for a craft beer after a day in the canyons rather than a late night. Its breweries, Sugar House pubs and long-standing gay bars are pleasant, but liquor laws and an early-to-bed city keep things modest.

Salt Lake City has the more remarkable outdoors. Peaks over 3,000m rise straight from the city's edge, and four ski resorts lie within an hour up the Cottonwood Canyons. Summer brings wildflower meadows, alpine lakes and trails starting above the Avenues, and the Salt Flats and Antelope Island add a completely different landscape to the west.

Scottsdale's desert is beautiful in its own way: saguaro trails in the McDowell Sonoran Preserve, scrambles up Camelback, and riding and kayaking in the Tonto National Forest. But it offers no snow, and the summer heat confines hiking to dawn for months at a time.

Scottsdale has the better range of outings. Sedona's red rocks, the cliff dwelling at Montezuma Castle and the hillside mining town of Jerome make a full day to the north, and Tucson and the San Xavier mission lie in the other direction.

From Salt Lake City, Park City's Victorian Main Street, Midway and Ogden's 25th Street are pleasant but quickly exhausted. Both cities sit far from their famous national parks: the Grand Canyon, Zion and Arches all need an overnight stay.

Salt Lake City is the more rewarding family base. It is a city built around large families, with a zoo, an aquarium, the Discovery Gateway museum, a planetarium, the Lagoon roller coasters and good children's ski schools in winter.

Scottsdale works best as a resort stay, with lazy rivers and kids' clubs, the miniature trains at McCormick-Stillman and the OdySea Aquarium nearby. However, summer heat drives children indoors from midday. Both cities spread out, so expect a lot of driving with children either way.

Salt Lake City is easier without a car, though only up to a point. TRAX light rail runs from the airport to downtown and the University, and the FrontRunner train reaches Ogden and Provo. Still, the wide streets make walking slow, and the canyons are best reached by car or winter ski bus.

Scottsdale is built entirely around driving. The light rail does not reach the city, and only Old Town and its free trolley work on foot. A hire car or ride-hailing is needed for the airport, the trailheads and Phoenix, although driving there is simple and parking easy.

Scottsdale is the real shopping destination of the two. It has a luxury mall with big fashion houses, open-air centres further north, and Old Town galleries selling southwestern painting, glass, Pueblo pottery and fine Navajo and Hopi jewellery.

Salt Lake City offers City Creek's familiar brands, the converted streetcar barns of Trolley Square and some vintage shops around 9th and 9th. Its genuine strength is outdoor gear, with excellent local ski, climbing and camping shops.

Salt Lake City is the somewhat gentler bill. Temple Square costs nothing to visit, light rail is cheap and a summer hiking trip is good value, although a winter ski week with lift tickets and canyon lodging gets expensive quickly.

Scottsdale is an upmarket resort city where high-season rooms, golf, spa treatments and Old Town dinners all add up. The best way to save is to come in the hot summer months, when resort rates fall sharply, or to stay in a business hotel and eat Mexican food.

Salt Lake City has the richer stage. The Tabernacle Choir and the great organ can be heard at Temple Square, and the city supports its own symphony, opera, Ballet West and a resident theatre company. That is a fuller programme than its size would suggest.

Scottsdale's own offer is its Old Town arts centre and the world-music concerts at the Musical Instrument Museum's theatre. For symphony, opera or ballet you drive into Phoenix, and touring Broadway shows play in Tempe.

Scottsdale is built for rest. It has an unusual concentration of large resort spas with desert-inspired treatments, palm-lined pools and day passes for guests from elsewhere, and its slow rhythm of golf, long lunches and early nights is the whole appeal.

Salt Lake City offers relaxation mostly as a bonus. The memorable outing is the warm mineral soak inside the limestone dome of the Homestead Crater in Midway, and otherwise there are ski-resort spas for tired legs after the slopes.