Snowbird or Vail?

Neither has a beach, and swimming plays almost no part in a stay at either. In summer, Snowbird has its heated resort pools and the Heber Valley reservoirs about an hour away, and the Great Salt Lake is somewhere to look at rather than swim in. In Vail, swimming means a hotel pool or the small cold lakes close to town.

Vail eats better. Its two villages have a real spread for a resort: steak and game houses, Alpine fondue rooms, sushi counters and hotel dining rooms with serious wine lists, and Colorado lamb, elk and trout appear on many menus. The weaknesses are a lack of anything cheap and kitchens that close in the quiet weeks of spring and autumn.

Snowbird is more limited: a few lodge restaurants, the dining room at the top of the tram, cafeterias and burger-and-pizza après bars, all priced for guests who have nowhere else to go. Utah's liquor rules shape how drinks are served. Most guests plan a night or two in Salt Lake City's restaurant districts.

There is very little to see in either, and nobody chooses one over the other for sights. Both were built from scratch as ski resorts: Snowbird's angular concrete lodges are made to stand up to avalanches, while Vail's gabled chalets and covered bridges imitate a Tyrolean town.

Vail at least offers the Colorado Snowsports Museum, with the story of the wartime Tenth Mountain Division, and the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens in summer. Snowbird's mining past has left almost nothing to visit, but Temple Square, the State Capitol and the city's museums are forty minutes down the canyon.

Vail has a real if brief night out. After the lifts close the terraces in Vail Village and Lionshead fill up, and on winter weekends a few bars and a small club stay open past midnight, with an affluent, festive crowd. Out of season it goes quiet after dinner.

At Snowbird the evening more or less ends with après-ski on the base deck and in a couple of lodge bars. Guests are in bed early for the first tram, there are no clubs, and anything livelier means driving a mountain road to Salt Lake City or Park City.

Both are first-rate mountain bases, but the skiing feels different. Snowbird is steep and snowy: the tram climbs to Hidden Peak at about 3,350m, the canyon often gets more than 12m of light snow in a season, and the chutes, bowls and trees continue through Mineral Basin to Alta, often into late spring. Vail is about scale, with groomed front-side runs above the village and the open Back Bowls and Blue Sky Basin behind.

In summer, Snowbird gives you the wildflowers of Albion Basin, the Twin Peaks and Lone Peak wilderness and granite climbing walls. Vail adds water to the mix, with fly fishing on Gore Creek and the Eagle River, rafting within reach, high trails in the Gore Range and gold aspen slopes in autumn.

The range of outings is about the same, but the kind differs. From Snowbird the main trip is to a real city: Salt Lake City, forty minutes away, has Temple Square, the State Capitol and museums, and Park City's Victorian Main Street is about an hour off.

From Vail you mostly visit other mountain towns: polished Beaver Creek, mining-era Breckenridge and the brick streets of Leadville. Glenwood Springs, with its hot pools, is the best full day. Denver is about two hours away, much further than Salt Lake City is from Snowbird.

Vail is the more family-friendly resort. Its ski schools are big and well run, there is plenty of gentle terrain for children, and the car-free village, parks and creekside paths are easy with small children. In summer the area at the top of the gondola has tubing, ropes courses and short nature walks.

Snowbird can work for families who ski, but the mountain is known for expert terrain and suits older children more than toddlers. The compact base helps, and summer brings an alpine slide and tram rides. The altitude tires small children at both, though Snowbird has a zoo and aquarium a drive away in Salt Lake City.

Vail is much easier to get around. Its pedestrian core links straight to the gondolas, and a free bus runs the length of the valley, so a week without a car is normal. Getting in and out is the harder part, with no passenger rail and a mountain pass that can close in heavy snow.

Snowbird's base is just as walkable, but the canyon road is its weak point. It is the only way in, it jams on powder mornings, and avalanche control can keep guests inside their buildings for hours. Restaurants and outings down in the valley in practice need a car or a shuttle.

Vail gives you somewhere to browse. Its pedestrian lanes have upmarket ski clothing, leather, jewellery, Western boots and hats, and galleries of mountain paintings. The range is narrow and expensive, though, and serious shoppers go to Denver.

Snowbird has only a few base-area shops for rentals, goggles and resort-branded clothing. For anything more you drive to the malls of Salt Lake City or the boutiques on Park City's Main Street.

Neither is cheap, but Vail is the more expensive. It is among the costliest vacations in North America, from slopeside rooms to ski school, and only staying further down the valley or coming outside winter brings costs down much.

Snowbird is still a pricey resort, but it is easier to cut costs. Many visitors stay in Salt Lake City hotels and drive up each morning, multi-resort passes reduce lift costs, and summer stays are clearly cheaper.

Vail has a real summer arts season and Snowbird does not. Bravo! Vail brings major orchestras to the open-air Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater, with picnics on the lawn, and the dance and jazz festivals follow. In winter, though, it is mostly après-ski bands.

At Snowbird live music means summer concerts on the plaza, oompah bands at the weekend Oktoberfest and the odd après-ski band. The symphony, opera and theatre are all down in Salt Lake City.

Vail has more choice. Several large hotels in its two villages run full spas, with saunas and outdoor hot tubs under the peaks, and Glenwood Springs, about an hour away, has large natural mineral pools and vapour caves.

Snowbird's relaxation centres on one large spa on top of its main lodge, with a rooftop pool facing the canyon walls, best at dusk after skiing. Its natural soak is the warm crater at Homestead in Midway, also about an hour away. Away from the morning rush, the canyon nights are very still.