Albuquerque or Winter Park, Colorado?

Neither place is a swimming destination. Both are high and inland, a long way from any coast. The difference is the water itself. Albuquerque's summer heat makes an afternoon at Cochiti Lake or a pool genuinely refreshing, while the snowmelt lakes around Grand Lake and Granby stay cold enough that people paddle and boat on them rather than swim. In Winter Park, getting into water usually means a soak in a hot pool.

Food is one of the main reasons to choose Albuquerque. New Mexican cooking is a regional cuisine of its own, with red and green chile, carne adovada, blue corn enchiladas and sopaipillas served in long-running family places in the valleys and along Route 66. In late summer the city smells of chile roasting outside shops and stands.

Winter Park feeds you well after a day outside, but the food won't be why you remember the trip. Expect lodge burgers, pizza, steak and trout, and breakfast burritos before the lifts open. Ambitious dining is limited in both places, but only Albuquerque has a local cuisine worth travelling for.

Albuquerque fills a couple of rewarding days. There's the adobe plaza and 18th-century church of Old Town, the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, the National Hispanic Cultural Center, the neon of old Route 66 and the rock carvings of Petroglyph National Monument. It isn't dense with landmarks, but it tells several distinct stories.

Winter Park has almost nothing in this line. Its heritage is the railway history of the Moffat Tunnel and a small homesteading museum in Fraser, so a museum day there means driving to Denver.

Neither town is somewhere people come for nights out, but Albuquerque offers more options. Downtown has bars and a few dance clubs that get lively at weekends, and Nob Hill has cocktail bars and taprooms, with patio evenings through the warm months.

Winter Park's evenings are après-ski. The base bars are crowded when the lifts close, then a few pubs and taprooms carry on along the main road. It is cheerful but early, because most of the crowd wants first chair the next morning.

Both towns are built for the outdoors, but Winter Park is the more complete mountain base. Its two connected mountains offer cruisers on one side and the steep bumps and trees of Mary Jane on the other. Berthoud Pass has backcountry slopes, and in summer the bike park and hundreds of kilometres of singletrack open up, with moose and high tundra in Rocky Mountain National Park nearby.

Albuquerque's outdoors is desert rather than alpine. The tramway rises to the Sandia crest above 3,000m, the La Luz Trail climbs the mountain on foot, and the cottonwood bosque along the Rio Grande draws wintering cranes. It is excellent in spring and autumn, but most of it needs a car.

Albuquerque has the stronger set of excursions. Santa Fe alone, with its plaza, Palace of the Governors and Canyon Road galleries, can fill a full day, and it is reachable by commuter train. Beyond it lie Acoma's mesa-top Sky City, the cliff dwellings at Bandelier and the old mining villages of the Turquoise Trail.

From Winter Park, the outings are the Victorian mining streets of Georgetown and Idaho Springs, the boardwalk at Grand Lake, and Denver for a city day. They are pleasant rather than essential, and in winter the high pass roads can decide whether you get there at all.

Both work well for families, but they suit different kinds of family trip. Albuquerque is a city of attractions: the BioPark's zoo, aquarium and gardens, Explora and the dinosaur halls, and the October Balloon Fiesta with hundreds of balloons at dawn. Everything is spread out and reached by car.

Winter Park offers an outdoor vacation in one small, quiet village. There's a large ski school and gentle slopes, with tubing and sleigh rides in winter and an alpine slide and easy bike trails in summer. Its weak points are the altitude in the first nights and little to do indoors on a wet day.

Winter Park is the easier place to manage without driving. A free shuttle links the ski base, the town and Fraser, and the base village is walkable, so a ski week can be car-free once you arrive. Getting there is another matter: it is a mountain drive over Berthoud Pass, or a shuttle or bus.

Albuquerque is laid out for the car. Old Town is walkable, and the Central Avenue bus connects downtown, the university and Nob Hill, but the mountains, the petroglyphs and almost every day trip need a car. The airport is close to the centre and parking is easy, so most visitors simply rent.

Albuquerque has shopping with a real local character: silver and turquoise jewellery, Pueblo pottery, Navajo weaving and kachina carvings around Old Town and the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center. Nob Hill adds a short run of independent and vintage shops.

In Winter Park, shopping means ski tuning, bike shops, outdoor clothing and a few souvenir stores. It's handy for forgotten gear and not much else.

Albuquerque costs less to visit, though it isn't a budget destination. Hotels are fairly priced and plates are generous. Your biggest cost is the hire car, and Balloon Fiesta week is the expensive exception.

A winter week in Winter Park adds up quickly because of lift tickets, rentals, lessons and resort-priced meals. Condos with kitchens in Fraser help, and summer is far kinder to the budget, when the trails are free and lodging rates fall.

Albuquerque has a real stage life for a city its size. Popejoy Hall hosts touring musicals and the philharmonic, and the KiMo Theatre stages shows in its Pueblo Deco interior. The city has a long flamenco tradition, and the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center holds weekend dances. In summer, the open-air opera above Santa Fe is within an evening's drive.

Winter Park offers free summer concerts in the town park against the mountains and, the rest of the year, a band in an après-ski bar. For anything more you'll need an evening in Denver.

Winter Park makes it easier to unwind. Most condos and lodges have a hot tub, the air is cold and the forest quiet, and Hot Sulphur Springs has terraced mineral pools above the Colorado River about half an hour away. Late spring and autumn are the calmest weeks.

In Albuquerque, relaxing mostly means a resort spa on Pueblo land with views of the mountains. The real soaking is further out, at Jemez Springs or around Santa Fe, so a spa day there takes a drive of more than an hour.