Albuquerque or Tucson?

Neither city offers a beach, and both leave you cooling off in a hotel pool. The differences are small: from Albuquerque you can drive out to a reservoir such as Cochiti Lake for an afternoon on the water. Tucson has the seasonal pools in Sabino Canyon after the rains, and the Gulf of California is close enough for a weekend away.

Both cities eat well, and both are regional rather than broad. Albuquerque's draw is New Mexican cooking, built on locally grown chile: carne adovada, blue corn enchiladas and the red-or-green question at every table, with the smell of roasting chile filling the city in late summer.

Tucson cooks Sonoran Mexican instead, with mesquite-grilled carne asada, paper-thin flour tortillas and the bacon-wrapped hot dog from south-side carts, plus desert ingredients such as tepary beans and prickly pear and wine from nearby Sonoita. In both, the best meals come from family kitchens in the older neighbourhoods rather than from formal dining rooms.

Each city fills two or three days, but with different stories. Albuquerque is stronger on living Native culture, through the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center and the carvings of Petroglyph National Monument. It adds Old Town's adobe plaza, the Hispanic cultural campus in Barelas and the neon of Route 66.

Tucson has the single finest building of the pair: the gilded interior of Mission San Xavier del Bac. The adobe streets of Barrio Viejo and the Native collections of the Arizona State Museum fill out the city, and the air and space museum, with its acres of retired aircraft, gives it an aviation side that Albuquerque matches only with its nuclear history.

Going out is modest in both cities, though Tucson is a little easier. Its two areas, Fourth Avenue's dive bars and Congress Street's rooftops and cocktail bars, sit within walking distance, and the student crowd keeps term-time weekends lively. Albuquerque splits between a downtown strip that can get rowdy late and calmer Nob Hill. More of its evenings are spent in brewery taprooms. Both go quiet midweek.

Tucson has the more striking outdoors on its doorstep. Saguaro forests flank the city, canyon trails start in Sabino and Catalina, and a single drive up Mount Lemmon goes from cactus to pine, with climbing, birding in the sky islands and serious road cycling besides.

Albuquerque has plenty of its own: the tramway to the Sandia crest above 3,000m, the La Luz Trail, the cottonwood bosque along the Rio Grande with its wintering cranes, and lava escarpments to the west. Its advantage is the calendar, since its summer heat still allows hiking where Tucson's drives people indoors or up the mountain.

The two cities offer about as much for days out, but in different shapes. Albuquerque has one outstanding destination, Santa Fe, with its plaza, Canyon Road galleries and museums. Acoma's mesa-top Sky City, the cliff dwellings of Bandelier and the Turquoise Trail mining villages follow behind it.

Tucson's list is broader but flatter: Wild West Tombstone, hillside Bisbee, artists' Tubac with the Tumacácori mission, and the wineries of Sonoita and Elgin. None of them stands out like Santa Fe, and every one needs a car.

Children are equally well looked after in both cities. Albuquerque groups its zoo, aquarium and botanic garden in the riverside BioPark and adds Explora and dinosaur halls. Its October Balloon Fiesta is a family event that Tucson cannot match.

Tucson's best is the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, with mountain lions and hummingbirds in desert settings, plus the giant aircraft and a western film set with stunt shows. Its family season really runs from October to April. Both need a car to get between sights.

Plan on a hire car in either city, as both are low, spread out and built for driving, with easy parking. Tucson's Sun Link streetcar ties downtown, Fourth Avenue and the university into a small, walkable core. Albuquerque's Central Avenue bus does the same for Old Town and Nob Hill, and its commuter train to Santa Fe is the only way in either city to reach a major day trip without driving.

Both are places to buy Native and regional craft rather than fashion, and neither has a luxury street. Albuquerque leans towards Pueblo pottery, Navajo weaving, turquoise silverwork and chile ristras, sold around Old Town and the Pueblo cultural centre.

Tucson adds Tohono O'odham baskets and Mexican folk art, with Tubac's galleries to the south. Its winter gem and mineral show fills the city with dealers and collectors from around the world.

Tucson is the gentler on the wallet. Mid-range rooms cost less, taquerías and hot dog stands make cheap eating easy, and the summer heat brings real hotel bargains, although winter and the gem show push rates up.

Albuquerque is fairly priced but has fewer ways to save. A comfortable room costs about the same as in a European capital, and tax and tips swell every bill. In both cities the hire car is the largest extra, and Balloon Fiesta week sends Albuquerque's rates soaring.

Neither city is worth choosing for its stages, but each has its own character. Albuquerque's distinction is flamenco, with a long-established institute and festival, along with weekend Pueblo dances and the Pueblo Deco KiMo Theatre. The open-air opera above Santa Fe is within reach on summer evenings.

Tucson has the fuller formal season, with a symphony, opera shared with Phoenix and a resident theatre company. It also has deep mariachi roots and its annual conference, though most of it runs from autumn to spring.

This is where the two differ most. Tucson is one of the birthplaces of the American destination spa, with long-established foothills resorts built around fitness, massage, meditation and quiet desert walks. The winter light and calm evenings make it a natural place to rest.

Albuquerque offers hotel spas, some on Pueblo lands with mountain views. What it has that Tucson lacks is natural hot water: the mineral pools at Jemez Springs and the bathhouses around Santa Fe are within a drive.