Aspen or Kansas City?

Neither is a beach destination, and both lie far from any sea. The difference is in the water. Aspen has cold alpine lakes and reservoirs, and its best way to get wet is rafting the Roaring Fork. Kansas City's county-park lakes have sandy beaches and warm summers that suit an easy afternoon swim with children.

Aspen eats well above its size, but in one style: chef-led dining rooms, steak and sushi counters and wine lists for winter visitors, with après-ski on the slopeside terraces. For a polished dinner it has plenty of choice, but there is no local cooking, little cheap food and many kitchens close in spring and autumn.

Kansas City has the stronger food scene, with a cuisine of its own. Hickory-smoked barbecue and burnt ends are served everywhere from old counters near the stockyards to petrol-station joints. The River Market's Vietnamese and Ethiopian counters, the Westside's Mexican cooking and local craft beer round it out.

Aspen's heritage comes from its silver boom: red-brick Victorian blocks, the Wheeler Opera House and the miners' cottages of the West End. The Aspen Art Museum and Herbert Bayer's modernist Aspen Institute campus add some interest. It makes a pleasant afternoon's walk rather than a list of museums.

Kansas City has far more to see. The Nelson-Atkins has strong Chinese art and Oldenburg's giant shuttlecocks. The National WWI Museum stands under the Liberty Memorial tower, and the Negro Leagues Baseball and American Jazz museums at 18th and Vine tell stories found nowhere else. Union Station and the Country Club Plaza add grand architecture.

Neither city is worth travelling to for nights out, and the difference is in kind. Aspen's scene is seasonal and glossy. Après-ski starts on the decks at lift close, then moves to hotel bars and a few small clubs that stay busy late in peak winter weeks. In spring and autumn the town goes quiet.

Kansas City goes out all year, spread across separate districts. The Power and Light District has big bars and sports screens, Westport draws a student crowd, and the Crossroads has calmer cocktail and craft-beer bars. Weeknights end early, and you need a ride between areas.

This is the widest gap between the two. Aspen sits at about 2,400m among the Elk Mountains. Winter brings four ski mountains and backcountry huts. In summer you can hike from the edge of town, see the Maroon Bells, drive over Independence Pass or fly-fish the Roaring Fork.

Kansas City offers green space rather than landscape. Its highlights are the huge Swope Park, Loose Park's rose garden, paved creekside trails and reservoirs for boating. The prairie around it is pleasant but flat, and the Ozarks are several hours' drive away.

Both offer modest outings rather than famous sights, but of different kinds. From Aspen you reach mountain towns: railway-era Glenwood Springs, Carbondale and the Crystal River villages of Redstone and Marble. In summer Leadville is open to you over Independence Pass, which closes in winter.

Kansas City's outings are about history and small-town America. There is Truman's home and library in Independence, the university town of Lawrence, the river town of Weston and St Joseph's Pony Express museum. Aspen at least has a valley bus to Glenwood Springs, while Kansas City has almost no transport to any of its outings.

Aspen comes into its own on a ski vacation with children. Buttermilk and Snowmass have gentle slopes, ski schools and kids' areas, and in summer the lifts take families up to alpine coasters and ropes courses. Beyond that the town is aimed at adults, and the altitude can tire young children for the first day or two.

Kansas City is the easier family destination overall. It has a big amusement park with a water park, a large zoo, Science City inside Union Station and an aquarium at Crown Center, and baseball evenings are relaxed. The cost is a lot of time in the car between them.

Aspen is much easier without a car. The downtown grid is flat and walkable in minutes, the gondola leaves from its edge, and free buses link all four ski mountains. In summer a shuttle runs to the Maroon Bells. You only need a car to leave the valley, and winter storms can close those roads.

Kansas City is built for driving. The Main Street streetcar links the River Market, downtown, Union Station and Crown Center, so staying along it makes a car-free day or two possible. Beyond it buses are infrequent, and the zoo and outlying sights mean a car or ride-hailing.

Aspen has the more surprising shopping. International luxury boutiques, high-end ski wear, jewellers, Western leather and art galleries are packed into a few pedestrian blocks, and window-shopping there is part of an evening out. It rewards a taste for luxury more than a love of browsing.

Kansas City trades glamour for range. The Spanish-style Country Club Plaza has chain and upmarket stores, and the Crossroads and Westport have vintage, design and record shops. Beyond those it is suburban malls, and souvenirs mostly mean barbecue sauce.

Aspen is among the most expensive places to vacation anywhere, with rooms, lift tickets, ski school and meals all priced for a very wealthy clientele. Summer and the shoulder seasons ease the bill a little and the free buses help, but even staying down the valley does not make it cheap.

Kansas City costs far less. Hotels undercut the big coastal cities, parking is easy and the Nelson-Atkins is free to enter. A hired car, sales tax, tips and attraction tickets still bring it to ordinary American city prices.

In Aspen the performing arts mostly happen in summer. For about eight weeks the Aspen Music Festival holds orchestral, chamber and opera concerts in the Benedict Music Tent, where you can picnic on the lawn and listen for free. Outside the festival season there is little beyond the Wheeler Opera House.

Kansas City offers more all year, with a sound of its own. Jazz in the tradition of Count Basie and Charlie Parker plays most nights around 18th and Vine and Midtown. The Kauffman Center is home to the city's symphony, opera and ballet, and the open-air Starlight Theatre puts on musicals in summer.

Aspen is the better place to unwind, outside the peak ski weeks. It offers clear mountain air, riverside paths, yoga in the parks and resort spas with altitude-recovery treatments. The mineral pools and vapour caves of Glenwood Springs are an hour away, and Conundrum Hot Springs rewards a long hike.

Kansas City's version is hotel and day spas, plus the old mineral-water resort of Excelsior Springs about forty minutes north. A slow morning in Loose Park's rose garden is pleasant, but people do not come here to recharge.