Albuquerque or Aspen?

Neither city has a beach, and swimming in either means a hotel pool. The difference is in how you cool off. In Albuquerque's hot desert summer that means a pool or an afternoon at a reservoir such as Cochiti Lake. Around Aspen it means cold alpine lakes and rafting the Roaring Fork, which feel more like mountain sport than a swim.

Albuquerque has a cuisine of its own, and Aspen does not. Carne adovada, blue corn enchiladas and posole, served red, green or Christmas, are the reason to eat in Albuquerque, and the best plates come from long-running family places in the South and North Valleys. The smell of roasting chile in late summer is part of a visit.

Aspen eats well for a small town, but in a different register: polished chef-led dining rooms, steak and sushi, wine lists and slopeside après-ski. There is little casual middle ground, and many kitchens shut in the quiet spring and autumn weeks.

Albuquerque offers a good couple of days of sightseeing. Old Town's plaza and its 1793 church, the Pueblo-run cultural centre, the Hispanic cultural campus in Barelas and the carved rock at Petroglyph National Monument tie together three centuries of history in the Southwest.

Aspen has an afternoon's walk to offer. Its silver-boom Victorian blocks, the West End's miners' cottages, the contemporary art museum and Herbert Bayer's modernist Aspen Institute campus are pleasant, but there is no major museum.

Both are quiet places at night by big-city standards, with Aspen a little livelier in its peak season. Its après-ski runs from the decks at the base of Aspen Mountain into downtown lounges and a few small clubs that stay busy late over Christmas and the X Games. In spring and autumn the town shuts down.

Albuquerque's evenings are steadier through the year but plainer. You get weekend bars on the downtown stretch of Central Avenue, calmer cocktail bars in Nob Hill and plenty of brewery patios on warm nights.

Aspen is a mountain destination in every sense. Four linked ski areas, from gentle Buttermilk to steep Highlands, cover the winter. In summer, wilderness routes climb from the Maroon Bells to high passes, and there is Independence Pass, fly-fishing on the Roaring Fork and the gold aspen groves of late September.

Albuquerque has more outdoors than most cities. The tramway up the Sandias, the La Luz Trail, cranes wintering along the bosque and the volcanic cones west of the river are all worth the time. Still, the scenery is a day's outing here, whereas in Aspen it is the reason for the trip.

Albuquerque has the far stronger day trips, led by Santa Fe with its plaza, Canyon Road galleries and museums, which you can reach by train or car. Acoma's mesa-top Sky City, the cliff dwellings at Bandelier and the Turquoise Trail villages add real depth if you have a car.

From Aspen the outings are smaller: Glenwood Springs, Carbondale, the quarry village of Marble and the ghost town of Ashcroft. In summer you can add Leadville over Independence Pass, but the pass closes in winter.

Both work well with children, but for different trips. Albuquerque offers city attractions: the BioPark's zoo and aquarium, Explora and the dinosaur halls, plus the dawn spectacle of the October Balloon Fiesta. The downsides are long car journeys and the hot summer sun.

Aspen is built around a ski vacation, with gentle slopes and ski schools at Buttermilk and Snowmass. In summer there are alpine coasters and ropes courses. It has no zoo or aquarium, and the altitude can tire small children for the first day or two.

Aspen is far easier to get around. The downtown grid takes minutes to cross on foot, the gondola starts at its edge, and free buses reach all four ski mountains and, in summer, the Maroon Bells.

In Albuquerque, the bus along Central Avenue links Old Town, downtown and Nob Hill, but the Sandias, the petroglyphs and almost every outing need a car. The upside is that driving and parking are easy.

For shopping as part of an evening out, Aspen has more to offer. Its pedestrian malls hold international luxury labels, high-end ski wear, jewellers and commercial art galleries, which is unusual for a town its size, though there is little affordable or local.

Albuquerque's appeal is narrower and more regional. Silver and turquoise jewellery, Pueblo pottery and Navajo weaving are sold around Old Town and the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, and Nob Hill has a short run of vintage shops. Elsewhere it is ordinary suburban malls.

Albuquerque is much cheaper, although it is not a budget destination. Rooms are fairly priced except during Balloon Fiesta week, the food is generous, and Old Town, the petroglyphs and the foothill trails cost little. The main expense is the rental car.

In Aspen, lodging, lift tickets, ski school and meals are priced for a very wealthy crowd, especially in ski season. Summer is somewhat easier, and staying down the valley in Glenwood Springs or Carbondale helps, but a trip here is never cheap.

Albuquerque's programme runs through the year but on a smaller scale. Touring musicals play at Popejoy Hall, and the KiMo shows films and hosts concerts. The city also has a real flamenco tradition. The weekend Pueblo dances at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center are something Aspen cannot match.

Aspen comes out ahead, at least in summer. The Aspen Music Festival brings leading soloists and orchestras to the Benedict Music Tent for about eight weeks, and you can listen free on the lawn. Jazz, ballet and the Wheeler Opera House fill out the season. Outside summer, the programme is thin.

Aspen is the better place to slow down, at least outside peak ski weeks. You get riverside paths, yoga in the parks, resort spas with altitude-recovery treatments, and the big mineral pools of Glenwood Springs an hour away. Conundrum Hot Springs rewards a long hike.

Albuquerque has no bathing tradition in the city. Rest there means a resort spa on Pueblo land outside town, or a drive of over an hour to the mineral pools at Jemez Springs.