Albuquerque or Austin?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Austin at least has real places to swim. Albuquerque's Rio Grande is too silty and fast for swimming, so cooling off means a hotel pool or a drive out to a reservoir such as Cochiti Lake.

Austin has built a summer culture around its water. Barton Springs stays at about 20°C all year and has a lawn for spreading out on. Deep Eddy is gentler, and Lake Travis has rocky coves for boat days. None of it is sand and sea, but it shapes a summer afternoon in a way Albuquerque cannot match.

Both cities run on a strong regional cuisine, and Austin's food scene is the broader and more rewarding of the two. Albuquerque's draw is New Mexican cooking: red or green chile, carne adovada, blue corn enchiladas and sopaipillas with honey. Much of the best of it is served in long-running family places in the South and North Valleys, and in late summer the whole city smells of roasting chile.

Austin pairs post-oak brisket with Tex-Mex and a daily round of breakfast tacos, and has food trucks in nearly every beer garden. East Austin and South Congress also hold more ambitious kitchens than anything Albuquerque offers. Both cities have a good craft beer scene. Albuquerque's is spread through converted industrial buildings, Nob Hill and downtown.

The two are evenly matched here and each fills two or three days, but their stories are very different. Albuquerque's sights are rooted in the ground: the adobe plaza of Old Town around a church from 1793, the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center run by the state's nineteen Pueblos, and thousands of petroglyphs on the western mesa. The nuclear science museum and the neon of Route 66 add more recent history.

Austin's culture is civic and academic. The pink granite State Capitol anchors downtown, and the university museums hold the real treasures, including the Blanton's art and the Gutenberg Bible at the Harry Ransom Center. Choose Albuquerque for living heritage and Austin for collections behind glass.

Going out is a main reason to visit Austin and an afterthought in Albuquerque. Austin has the noisy shot bars of Sixth Street, bungalow bars with big yards on Rainey Street, and mezcal bars and dives on the east side. During the big spring and autumn festival weeks the whole centre becomes one party.

Albuquerque's evenings centre on Central Avenue. Downtown bars fill and can turn rowdy on weekends, while Nob Hill offers calmer cocktails and taprooms, and midweek the city goes quiet. It suits a beer on a patio rather than a long night out.

Albuquerque has the bigger, wilder setting. The Sandia Mountains form the city's eastern edge, and the aerial tramway rises to a crest above 3,000m, with forest trails and a vast view over the desert. Below, the bosque along the Rio Grande gives shaded paths and winter cranes, and the Jemez Mountains and canyon country lie within a couple of hours.

Austin's outdoors is gentler and starts closer to its centre. You can paddle Lady Bird Lake in the morning, hike the Barton Creek Greenbelt and watch the bats leave the Congress Avenue Bridge at dusk, with Enchanted Rock and Pedernales Falls further out. There are no mountains, and summer heat limits activity to early mornings.

The day trips are equally good, but they lead into different histories. From Albuquerque, Santa Fe is the highlight, and the commuter train makes it the one outing that does not need a car. Beyond it lie ancient Native sites: Acoma's Sky City on its mesa, the cliff dwellings of Bandelier and the mission ruins of Salinas.

Austin's outings run to Spanish and German Texas. San Antonio has the Alamo and its UNESCO-listed missions, and Fredericksburg has wineries and peach orchards along the road. Gruene, New Braunfels and the barbecue town of Lockhart are easy stops too. In both cities nearly everything else needs a hire car.

Both cities are relaxed with children, and Albuquerque has slightly more purpose-built attractions. The BioPark combines a zoo, an aquarium and a botanic garden, Explora sits beside the dinosaur halls, and the tramway ride is an adventure in itself. The October Balloon Fiesta, with hundreds of balloons rising at dawn, is a memory few cities can offer.

Austin's family days revolve around Zilker Park, with its miniature train and spring-fed pool, plus the Thinkery and the evening bat flight. The big theme parks and waterparks are an hour or so away in San Antonio and New Braunfels. Both cities mean a lot of driving. In summer, Albuquerque's problem is strong sun at altitude, while Austin's is the heat.

A few days without a car are realistic in Austin and hardly possible in Albuquerque. Albuquerque's only area made for walking is Old Town, and the one useful bus line runs along Central Avenue to downtown, the university and Nob Hill. The mountain, the petroglyphs and almost every outing need a hire car, although the airport is close to the centre and driving and parking are easy.

In Austin you can walk downtown, the Capitol and Rainey Street, and rental bikes, scooters and the lakeside trail cover the short trips to South Congress and East Austin. Beyond the centre a car is close to essential here too, and the main highway through town clogs at peak hours.

Neither is a fashion city, and the gap between them is small. The difference is in what you bring home. In Albuquerque it is Native and Southwestern craft: silver and turquoise jewellery, Pueblo pottery and Navajo weaving, best bought around Old Town or from the artists themselves.

Austin's speciality is western wear and vintage. Cowboy boots, hats and pearl-snap shirts line South Congress, and the east side has small design shops. Luxury brands are confined to a big mall on the city's northern edge.

Albuquerque is the cheaper of the two, though neither is a bargain by American standards. The biggest difference is the hotel. Except during the October Balloon Fiesta, a room in Albuquerque is easy to find at a fair rate. Austin's central hotels stay expensive all year and get scarcer and dearer still during its music, film and motor racing weeks. Many of Albuquerque's best days, among the petroglyphs on the mesa or on the trails above the suburbs, cost you little more than fuel.

Austin wins some of that back at the table, where breakfast tacos, trucks and Tex-Mex make everyday meals cheaper than its hotels would suggest. The Capitol tour, the Greenbelt and the bat flight ask almost nothing. You can't avoid hiring a car in either city, and parking costs more often in Austin. In both cities, tips and sales tax add to every restaurant bill.

Austin is one of America's great live music cities, and Albuquerque cannot compete on that front. On any night of the year there are several acts across the clubs of Red River and Sixth Street and the bars of South Congress, along with honky-tonks where couples two-step. The festival weeks bring hundreds of bands at once.

Albuquerque's strengths are narrower but distinctive. It has a real flamenco tradition with its own institute and festival, and Pueblo dances at the cultural centre on weekends. Touring musicals play at Popejoy Hall, and the KiMo Theatre has a Pueblo Deco interior. Santa Fe's open-air opera is within reach on summer evenings.

Austin is the easier place to unwind without leaving town. It has a strong yoga culture, day spas across the city and spa resorts on Lake Austin and in the Hill Country, and away from the bar streets its shaded patios and parks set a slow pace.

Albuquerque's own options are mostly resort spas, several on Pueblo lands with mountain views. For more, you have to drive: the mineral pools of Jemez Springs are a little over an hour away, and the bathhouses around Santa Fe are further. That suits a road trip better than a lazy stay in town.