Albuquerque or Page, Arizona?

For swimming, Page is far ahead. In summer Lake Powell is warm enough for long swims, and the best of it means pulling a boat or kayak into a sandstone cove and jumping off the rock into deep water. Lone Rock Beach has open sand you can drive down to. The beaches move as the lake level rises and falls, and there are no lifeguards.

Albuquerque has nothing like this. The Rio Grande is not for swimming, so cooling off means a hotel pool or an afternoon drive out to Cochiti Lake.

Albuquerque is somewhere you might come just to eat. New Mexican cooking is a cuisine in its own right: you choose red or green chile, and the dishes include carne adovada, posole and sopaipillas with honey. The best of it is served in long-running family places in the South and North Valleys and along Route 66. In late summer the whole city smells of chile roasting outside shops and stands, and there is a good brewery scene as well.

In Page, eating is about refuelling between outings. Diners, barbecue and chains serve the tour groups. The Navajo taco on frybread is the one local dish worth looking for, and there is no fine dining or market to explore.

Albuquerque has history you can walk through. At its centre is the adobe plaza of Old Town, gathered around a church from the late eighteenth century. The Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, run by New Mexico's Pueblos themselves, is the best introduction to the region's Native cultures, and the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Barelas tells the Spanish-speaking side of the story. Add the neon motel signs along Central Avenue, the old cross-country highway, and the rock carvings at Petroglyph National Monument, and you have a couple of good days.

Page was only founded in the 1950s, to house the workers who built the Glen Canyon Dam. Its sights are the dam's visitor centre and a small museum about John Wesley Powell. You meet the older culture of the Navajo Nation through the guides on the canyon tours, not in museums.

Neither place is a nightlife destination, but in Albuquerque you can at least have an evening out. The downtown stretch of Central Avenue fills up with bars and a few dance clubs at weekends, and Nob Hill has cocktail bars and taprooms with patios for warm nights.

In Page, the evening means a brewpub or a drink with dinner, and the town is quiet well before midnight. The better plan is to drive away from the lights and look up at one of the darkest skies you will ever see.

Albuquerque has fine scenery on its doorstep. The tramway climbs the Sandia Mountains to forest above 3,000m, the La Luz Trail goes all the way up on foot, and in winter cranes gather along the cottonwood bosque. Even so, Page is in a different league.

Within minutes of Page you can stand above the Colorado at Horseshoe Bend or walk through the glowing slot canyons of Antelope with Navajo guides. Lake Powell's flooded canyons lead by boat to Rainbow Bridge, and Lees Ferry is the starting point for Grand Canyon rafting. The Wave and Buckskin Gulch are within a couple of hours.

Albuquerque gives you far more places to drive out to. Santa Fe alone fills a day with its plaza, the galleries of Canyon Road and its museums, and you can reach it by train. Acoma's Sky City, the cliff dwellings at Bandelier, Chimayo and the old mining villages of the Turquoise Trail are all within a day's reach by car.

Around Page the best outings are landscapes, not towns. Lees Ferry with its pioneer ranch, the Betatakin cliff dwellings, Kanab's film-set history and Monument Valley are the main choices, and most of them are long drives across empty country.

Albuquerque has more for children to do. The BioPark combines a zoo, an aquarium and a botanic garden, Explora and the dinosaur halls are in the Old Town museum district, and the tramway is a ride in itself. In October the Balloon Fiesta fills the dawn sky with hundreds of balloons.

Page works for families who love the outdoors. Children enjoy splashing at Lone Rock and the short Antelope Canyon tours. However, there is nothing built for children, the drop-offs at Horseshoe Bend are mostly unfenced, and some canyon tours involve steep ladders.

You need a car for both, but Albuquerque gives you a little more help. Buses along Central Avenue link Old Town, downtown, the university and Nob Hill. A commuter train runs to Santa Fe, and the airport is close to the centre.

Page has no useful public transport. Its sights are spread around outside town, and the nearest major airports are hours away, so most visitors arrive as part of a road trip.

Both are places to buy Native American craft, but Albuquerque has more choice and more ways to check that a piece is genuine. Look for Pueblo pottery, Navajo weaving and silver and turquoise jewellery around Old Town's plaza and at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center. Nob Hill adds some independent and vintage shops.

In Page you buy jewellery and rugs at trading posts and roadside stalls, often straight from the maker. Beyond that, shopping means outdoor gear and supermarkets for stocking a houseboat.

Albuquerque's best sights cost little or nothing, from Old Town to the petroglyphs and the foothill trails, while Page's headline sight, Antelope Canyon, can only be seen on a paid guided tour. That difference makes Albuquerque somewhat easier on the wallet. Hotels are plentiful, the New Mexican plates are generous, and the main extra cost is the rental car. Rates jump during the Balloon Fiesta week in October.

In Page the big experiences cost the most. Boats and houseboats are expensive, and rooms are scarce in the busy months. Camping at Lone Rock or Wahweap, or coming in winter, keeps costs down.

Albuquerque has a modest but real stage life. Popejoy Hall hosts touring musicals and the philharmonic, and the KiMo puts on film and theatre in its Pueblo Deco hall. The city also has a long flamenco tradition with its own festival, and traditional Pueblo dances are performed at weekends. In summer, the Santa Fe opera is an evening's drive away.

Page has essentially none of this. The occasional Navajo dance presentation or dinner show for visitors is about all there is.

The hot springs of northern New Mexico give Albuquerque the edge. The mineral pools of Jemez Springs are a little over an hour away, there are Japanese-style bathhouses around Santa Fe, and closer to town there are resort spas on Pueblo lands with views of the mountains.

Page has only hotel offerings and motel pools. Its calm comes from the wide views and dark night skies, although most stays there are full of early starts and long drives.