Albuquerque or Copper Mountain?

Neither place has anywhere to swim in open water, so if you want a beach, book a separate trip. In Albuquerque, swimming means a hotel or public pool, or a drive to Cochiti Lake on a hot afternoon. At Copper Mountain the snowmelt reservoirs stay cold even in July, so you are left with a heated lodge pool or a hot tub.

Albuquerque has a regional cuisine worth travelling for: carne adovada, blue corn enchiladas, posole and sopaipillas, all built around New Mexico chile and served best in long-running family places in the valleys and along Route 66. Late summer adds the smell of chile roasting outside, and taprooms in converted industrial buildings cover the beer.

Copper Mountain offers resort food: burgers and chilli at the mid-mountain lodges, pizza and pub plates in the village, and many visitors cooking in their condos. For a better dinner you would drive to Frisco or Breckenridge.

Albuquerque gives you a solid couple of days. You can see the 1793 church of San Felipe de Neri on the Old Town plaza, the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, the nuclear science museum, neon from Route 66 and thousands of carvings at Petroglyph National Monument.

Copper Mountain is a ski village of condos and lodges with no museums or historic buildings. The mining-era heritage of the area belongs to Breckenridge and Leadville, so a curious visitor has to leave the resort to find any of it.

Albuquerque has a modest but real night out. Downtown along Central Avenue has bars and a few clubs busy at weekends, Nob Hill has cocktail bars and taprooms, and the patios stay pleasant on warm, dry evenings. Copper Mountain's only real nightlife is après-ski in the base bars on winter afternoons. The village is mostly asleep by late evening and has no clubs, so a later night means the half-hour trip to Breckenridge.

Copper Mountain is the stronger pick for anyone who lives for the mountains. It has treeless bowls above 3,600m, ski terrain from November into spring, Vail and other big resorts nearby, and in summer the Colorado Trail and fourteen-thousand-foot peaks such as Mount Elbert within an hour. The altitude demands respect.

Albuquerque has more variety than you might expect. The tramway climbs the Sandia crest to pine forest and huge desert views, the bosque along the Rio Grande draws wintering cranes, and volcanic escarpments lie west of the river. Summer heat and the need for a car limit it more than Copper's slopes, which start at the door.

Both have good day trips, but of different kinds. From Albuquerque you can reach Santa Fe's plaza and Canyon Road galleries, Acoma's Sky City on its mesa, the cliff dwellings of Bandelier and the Turquoise Trail villages. That means centuries of Pueblo and Spanish colonial history, but the sites are widely spread and almost all need a car.

From Copper Mountain the outings are closer together and are mostly mining towns: Breckenridge and Leadville are each about half an hour away, with Georgetown's narrow-gauge railway and Denver's museums further down I-70, where weekend ski traffic can drag.

Both work well for children, in different ways. Albuquerque offers the BioPark's zoo and aquarium, Explora's hands-on science, dinosaur halls, the Sandia tramway and the October Balloon Fiesta at dawn, but everything is a drive and the summer sun is strong.

Copper Mountain keeps a family in one car-free village with ski school, snow tubing, a mountain coaster and an indoor trampoline centre. Its catch is the altitude at nearly 3,000m, which can mean headaches and poor sleep for the first days, especially for small children.

Copper Mountain is easier once you arrive. Walkways, lifts and a free shuttle link the villages, free county buses run to Frisco and on to Breckenridge, and a car can stay parked for days. Getting there is harder: Denver airport is about two hours by road, and winter driving on I-70 can be slow.

Albuquerque is the reverse. The airport is close and driving and parking are simple, but outside Old Town and the bus line along Central Avenue the city needs a car, and so does nearly every day trip apart from the commuter train to Santa Fe.

Albuquerque has something specific to buy: silver and turquoise jewellery, Pueblo pottery, Navajo weaving and kachina carvings from shops around Old Town and the Pueblo Cultural Center, plus chile ristras and a short run of Nob Hill boutiques. At Copper Mountain the shopping is ski rental, outdoor gear and resort sweatshirts, and anything more means the Silverthorne outlets or Breckenridge's main street.

Albuquerque is the cheaper trip, though not a budget one. Rooms are fairly priced outside the Balloon Fiesta week, the casual restaurants serve generous plates and many outdoor sights cost little, with car rental the biggest expense.

Copper Mountain carries the costs of a big Colorado ski area: lift access, slope-side lodging, equipment and resort meals, all highest in winter. A condo kitchen, a bed in Frisco or Silverthorne, or a summer visit brings the bill down noticeably.

Albuquerque has an evening programme. There are touring Broadway shows and the philharmonic at Popejoy Hall, film and concerts in the Pueblo Deco KiMo Theatre, a long-established flamenco scene and traditional Native dances on weekends, and the Santa Fe opera is within reach in summer. Copper Mountain has summer concerts on the village plaza and acoustic sets at après-ski, but no stage, so anything more means Breckenridge's summer classical season.

Neither is a place to come just to rest, and neither has a bathing tradition of its own. Albuquerque's advantage is access: there are resort spas on Pueblo lands just outside town and mineral pools at Jemez Springs about an hour and a quarter away, with more bathhouses around Santa Fe.

At Copper Mountain, unwinding means an outdoor hot tub facing the slopes and massages at the athletic club. The nearest hot springs are a long drive over the mountains, and the altitude can spoil sleep at first.