Salt Lake City or Tucson?

Neither city is a swimming destination, but Salt Lake City at least has open water. You can float once in the dense brine of the Great Salt Lake off Antelope Island for the novelty. On hot summer days, the Wasatch reservoirs such as Jordanelle, Deer Creek and Pineview have sandy patches of shore, paddleboards and boats.

Tucson has nothing comparable. The sea is four hours away in Mexico, the creek pools in Sabino Canyon come and go with the rains, and cooling off means the hotel pool.

Tucson has a real regional cuisine, and Salt Lake City largely does not. Mesquite-grilled carne asada, flour tortillas so thin they are almost see-through and the bacon-wrapped Sonoran hot dog, eaten in the long-running family kitchens of South 12th Avenue and the old barrios, give a trip a clear food theme. Desert ingredients such as tepary beans and prickly pear add to it.

Salt Lake City's own specialities, fry sauce, pastrami burgers and dirty sodas, are fun but not a reason to travel. Its best meals come from the Mexican, Pacific Islander and Vietnamese kitchens along State Street. Utah's liquor rules also keep wine and cocktail culture thinner than in Tucson, which has wineries of its own nearby at Sonoita and Willcox.

You can see both cities in two or three days, but they tell very different stories. Salt Lake City's sights centre on its founding faith: Temple Square with the granite temple and the domed Tabernacle, Brigham Young's Beehive House and the Family History Library, with the Capitol and the dinosaur halls of the Natural History Museum beyond.

Tucson's history is Spanish, Mexican and Native American. Its highlights are the painted, gilded interior of Mission San Xavier del Bac, the adobe rows of Barrio Viejo and the collections of the Arizona State Museum. The vast aircraft displays at the Pima Air & Space Museum add a distinctive extra.

In Salt Lake City, evenings come after a day outdoors rather than being the point of the trip. There are bars and breweries around Main Street and the Granary District, a long-standing gay bar scene and the neighbourhood pubs of Sugar House, but Utah's liquor laws and an early bedtime keep things low-key.

Tucson gives a night out more to work with. Fourth Avenue's dive bars and student patios are within walking distance of the cocktail bars, rooftops and dance floors of Congress Street, and warm night skies make drinking outdoors part of the appeal. Term time is the liveliest, and summer is quieter.

Both are outdoor cities, but Salt Lake City's mountains are on another scale. The Wasatch climbs past 3,000m straight from town, and the Cottonwood Canyons reach four ski resorts famous for dry powder in under an hour. Summer brings wildflower meadows, alpine lakes, climbing and fly-fishing, and to the west lie Antelope Island's bison and the white Bonneville Salt Flats.

Tucson's answer is the desert: saguaro forests in the national park on both sides of town, canyon trails at Sabino and Catalina State Park, the drive up Mount Lemmon from cactus to pine, serious road cycling and well-known birding. Its outdoor season runs from autumn to spring, while Salt Lake City's lasts all year.

Tucson has the better range of outings. Bisbee's steep copper-mining streets, Tombstone's Wild West, the artists' village of Tubac with the Tumacácori mission ruins nearby, the Sonoita wineries and Biosphere 2 can fill several days by car.

From Salt Lake City, Park City's Victorian Main Street makes a fine outing, and Midway and Ogden's 25th Street add a little more. The list runs out quickly after that, and Utah's famous red-rock parks are too far for a day.

Salt Lake City is the easier family choice, and it works in every season. Children are expected everywhere, and the zoo, the aquarium, Discovery Gateway, the planetarium, Lagoon's roller coasters and the resort ski schools make a long list for all ages.

Tucson has good things for children too, especially the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum with its mountain lions and javelinas, the giant planes at the air and space museum and a western film set with stunt shows. Summer heat makes outdoor sights hard on small children, though, so it really suits families from October to April.

Both cities need a car once you leave the centre, but Salt Lake City lets you do more without one. TRAX light rail runs from the airport to downtown and the university, FrontRunner trains reach Ogden and Provo, and ski buses climb the canyons in winter. The wide streets and long blocks do make walks feel longer than they look.

Tucson's single Sun Link streetcar line covers only downtown, Fourth Avenue and the university. The national park, the Desert Museum, the mission and Mount Lemmon all lie beyond it, although traffic and parking are easy.

The difference comes down to outdoor gear against regional crafts. Salt Lake City's local ski, climbing and camping shops are excellent. City Creek Center, with its creek running through the mall, and Trolley Square, in old streetcar barns, cover the familiar brands.

Tucson is the place to buy Native American jewellery, Tohono O'odham baskets and Mexican folk art, from galleries around the old town and in Tubac. Each winter its gem and mineral show fills hotels and tents across the city with dealers. Neither city has a luxury shopping street.

Tucson is the cheaper of the two. Cheap meals at taquerías and hot dog stands are easy to find, and hotel rates drop sharply in the summer heat, although the winter high season and the gem show push them back up.

Salt Lake City is reasonable on its own terms, with free sights on Temple Square and inexpensive light rail. Most visitors come to ski, though, and lift tickets, equipment hire and lodging in the canyons or Park City make a winter week costly. A summer hiking trip there narrows the gap.

Salt Lake City has the fuller stage life, plus one experience Tucson cannot match: hearing the Tabernacle Choir and the great organ in the Tabernacle, with rehearsals and recitals open to the public. Behind that are the Utah Symphony at Abravanel Hall, Utah Opera and Ballet West.

Tucson has a symphony, a share of Arizona Opera's productions and concerts at the Fox and the Rialto. Mariachi and desert folk give it a sound of its own, but the season is smaller and mostly runs from autumn to spring.

Tucson is built for a restful break in a way Salt Lake City is not. The destination spa resorts of the Catalina foothills and out towards Oracle offer full programmes of massage, meditation and desert walks, with pools facing the mountains and quiet, sunny winter days.

Salt Lake City's most memorable soak is the Homestead Crater in Midway, warm mineral water inside a limestone dome about an hour away. Otherwise, relaxing there means a ski resort spa after a day on the slopes.