Salt Lake City or Vail?

Neither place is a swimming destination, but Salt Lake City has a little more to offer. You can float in the briny Great Salt Lake from Antelope Island, although once is usually enough. In July, Jordanelle, Deer Creek and Pineview have paddleboards and sandy patches of shore.

Vail's nearby mountain lakes stay cold even in midsummer, so most visitors who want to swim end up in a hotel pool.

Neither is a place to plan a trip around eating, but the meals are very different. Salt Lake City's best food is cheap and comes from immigrant kitchens: Mexican, Pacific Islander, Peruvian and Vietnamese places along State Street. There are also local quirks such as fry sauce, fried scones and dirty sodas. Utah's liquor rules keep the wine and cocktail scene thin.

Vail is the opposite: polished steak, game and fondue rooms, elk and Colorado lamb, and hotel wine lists, with no cheap end at all. Many of its kitchens close in the spring and autumn off-seasons.

Salt Lake City has far more to see. Temple Square alone fills a morning, with the granite temple, the domed Tabernacle and the Beehive House. Add the Capitol on its hill, the painted Cathedral of the Madeleine and the Natural History Museum, and you have a comfortable two days.

Vail was built for skiing in the 1960s, and its Tyrolean-style village is an imitation rather than a historic town. The Colorado Snowsports Museum, with its story of the Tenth Mountain Division, and the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens make up most of the list.

Salt Lake City keeps a steady, low-key scene all year: breweries and a few dance clubs around Main Street and the Granary District, a long-standing gay bar scene and the neighbourhood pubs of Sugar House. Utah law limits stronger drinks and late hours, so most evenings end early.

Vail's nights rise and fall with the ski season. As the lifts close, the slopeside terraces in Vail Village and Lionshead fill for après-ski, and on winter weekends a few bars and a small club stay open past midnight. In spring and autumn the town is nearly empty after dinner.

Both are excellent mountain bases with famously dry powder, and the difference is in how you reach it. From Salt Lake City you drive up Big or Little Cottonwood Canyon to Alta, Snowbird, Brighton or Solitude, with Park City over the ridge. Trails start right above the Avenues. The city also has a desert side Vail lacks: bison on Antelope Island and the white Bonneville Salt Flats.

In Vail you ski straight from the village into a single huge ski area, including the Back Bowls and Blue Sky Basin. In summer, the Gore Range and Holy Cross wilderness areas offer peaks above 4,000m, fly fishing and rafting. Expect to feel the altitude at first.

Vail has the better choice of outings, though nearly all of them are other mountain towns. Breckenridge's mining-era main street, Leadville's brick streets and opera house, the polished resort of Beaver Creek and the mineral pools at Glenwood Springs are all easy drives. Aspen and Denver are within a long day.

From Salt Lake City, Park City is the clear favourite. After that come Midway, Ogden's 25th Street and the Golden Spike site. Arches, Zion and Bryce are too far for a day trip and need an overnight stay.

Salt Lake City is built around families, and it shows. Hogle Zoo, the Living Planet Aquarium, Discovery Gateway, the Clark Planetarium and Tracy Aviary keep children busy, and Lagoon and Thanksgiving Point are close by. The catch is that these are spread across the valley, so you need a car.

Vail is fine for families who ski, with large ski schools and a safe car-free village. Beyond the slopes and the summer coaster and ropes courses, there is little for children, and toddlers can find the altitude and the cold hard going.

Getting around is easier in Vail once you arrive. The village and Lionshead are pedestrian, the lifts start in town and a free bus runs the length of the valley. Getting there is the hard part, with no train and a mountain pass that can close in snow.

Salt Lake City is easy to reach, with TRAX from the airport and FrontRunner trains north and south. But the huge grid and wide streets make walking slow, and the canyons, the zoo and the other towns are much easier by car. On powder days, canyon traffic can be slow.

Salt Lake City is better for practical shopping. City Creek Center, with a creek running through it, has the department stores and familiar brands, and Trolley Square fills old streetcar barns with shops. There are vintage and independent shops around 9th and 9th and in Sugar House. The local climbing, ski and camping shops are the real reason to browse.

Vail's pedestrian lanes sell a narrow range for a wealthy resort crowd: upmarket ski clothing, fur and leather, jewellery, Western boots and gallery landscapes. It is a good place to buy a luxury souvenir, but anyone looking for bargains or variety heads to Denver.

Salt Lake City costs far less. Downtown hotels are reasonable, Temple Square costs nothing and light rail is cheap, although skiing, lodging in the canyons and a hire car still add up. A summer visit is the cheapest way to see the city.

Vail is expensive at every step, from slopeside beds to ski school. Staying down the valley or coming outside winter helps only a little.

Salt Lake City has the fuller arts calendar, and it runs all year. You can attend the Tabernacle Choir's rehearsals and broadcasts with the great organ, and there are daily organ recitals. The Utah Symphony, Utah Opera, Ballet West and touring Broadway shows at the Eccles Theater continue through the winter.

Vail's arts life is short but high in quality. In summer, orchestras in residence play the Bravo! Vail festival at the open-air Ford Amphitheater, alongside a dance festival and a jazz festival. In winter there is little beyond après-ski bands.

Vail is better for unwinding, because the spas are on your doorstep. The large village hotels have massage, saunas, steam rooms and outdoor hot tubs under the peaks. Glenwood Springs' mineral pools and vapour caves are about an hour down the canyon.

Salt Lake City has no spa scene of its own. Its best soak is the warm crater pool at Homestead in Midway, about an hour away, and otherwise you rely on the resort spas in Park City.