Albuquerque or Durango, Colorado?

Neither place is made for a swim, and the difference is in how you cool off. In Albuquerque the Rio Grande is not for swimming, so it means a hotel pool or a drive out to a reservoir such as Cochiti Lake.

Durango has more water close at hand: the swimming area at Lake Nighthorse, sandy edges at Vallecito Lake and inner tubes floating down the Animas through town. Even there the water stays cold in July.

Albuquerque has a cuisine of its own, and Durango does not. Carne adovada, blue corn enchiladas, posole and the daily choice of red or green chile are worth planning meals around, best at family places in the South and North Valleys. In late summer the city smells of roasting chile.

Durango eats well in a small-town Western way, with green-chile plates, steakhouses and a few kitchens cooking Colorado lamb and trout. It has a striking number of breweries for its size, but Albuquerque's taproom culture is solid too, so beer will not decide between them.

Albuquerque fills a couple of rewarding days. There is Old Town's adobe plaza and its church from 1793, the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center and the National Hispanic Cultural Center. The nuclear science museum, the Route 66 neon on Central Avenue and the carvings at Petroglyph National Monument tell other parts of the story.

Durango's sights take an hour or two, centred on the steam railway, its roundhouse museum and a few blocks of Victorian brick. Its ancient history lies out in the country at Mesa Verde rather than in town.

Albuquerque has more to go out to, though it is no party city. Downtown's bars and a few dance clubs fill on weekends, and Nob Hill offers cocktail bars and taprooms. Durango has almost no dancing and nothing late, so its evenings are a pint on a Main Avenue patio or a drink in an old saloon before an early start.

Albuquerque has real outdoors on its doorstep. The tramway and the La Luz Trail climb the Sandias, the bosque lines the Rio Grande and volcanic cones rise to the west. But summer heat pushes the best of it into spring and autumn.

Durango is on another level. The San Juans are higher and wilder, trails and singletrack start from town, the Animas is rafted through the centre and the fly-fishing is good. With a ski resort half an hour north, it works as a base in every season.

Both are fine bases for the ancient Southwest, and from both a car is almost essential. Albuquerque's best day out is Santa Fe, a whole city of museums and galleries that you can also reach by train. Acoma's mesa-top pueblo, Bandelier and the Turquoise Trail villages add more.

Durango's trips are wilder: the cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde, the steam train up the canyon to Silverton, Ouray under its cliffs and the ruins at Aztec. Albuquerque is better for a day of art and old town streets, Durango for mountain roads and archaeology.

Families do well in both, in different ways. Albuquerque has the attractions: the BioPark's zoo, aquarium and gardens, the Explora science centre, the natural history museum's dinosaurs and the Balloon Fiesta at dawn each October.

Durango suits children who would rather be outside. They can ride the steam train, tube the river, use the ziplines at the ski resort or climb the ladders at Mesa Verde. It has little for a rainy day, though, and the altitude can tire young ones at first.

Both need a car for almost everything beyond the centre, but Durango is easier day to day. You can walk from the depot to the top of Main Avenue in a quarter of an hour, and a paved riverside trail links parks and neighbourhoods for walkers and cyclists.

Albuquerque spreads across a wide valley. Old Town is walkable and a bus runs along Central Avenue, but the mountains and petroglyphs mean driving. Its one real advantage is the commuter train to Santa Fe.

Both sell Native silver, turquoise and rugs, but Albuquerque is the better place to buy. Around Old Town and the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center you find Pueblo pottery, Navajo weaving and kachina carvings, often sold by the artists themselves, and Nob Hill adds vintage shops and boutiques. Durango's Main Avenue makes a pleasant hour of galleries, Western boots and outdoor gear, with little beyond it.

Neither is cheap by American standards, but Albuquerque goes a little further. Hotels are plentiful and fairly priced most of the year, and the generous New Mexican plates help, though rates climb sharply during Balloon Fiesta week.

Durango is priced like the mountain resort it is. Rooms are scarce in summer and at the peak of the ski season, and the steam train and guided rafting add up, but spring and late autumn are cheaper. In both, the hire car is the big cost and the trails are free.

Albuquerque has more on through the year. Popejoy Hall hosts touring musicals and the philharmonic, the KiMo Theatre has its Pueblo Deco interior, flamenco runs deep, and Pueblo dances are performed on weekends. In summer, the open-air opera above Santa Fe is within reach.

Durango's stage is mostly a summer affair: a chamber and orchestral festival, a melodrama where the audience boos the villain, and cowboy music with a chuckwagon supper. Outside that season there is little on.

Durango is the better place to unwind, because a soak fits easily into any day. Mineral pools sit a few minutes north of town, with Pagosa Springs and Ouray further out. Albuquerque has no bathing culture of its own and relies on resort spas on Pueblo lands, while its nearest real springs, at Jemez Springs, are well over an hour's drive.