Aspen or Moab?

Neither town is anywhere near the sea, so a swim comes down to cold water or a pool in both. Aspen offers alpine lakes, reservoirs and rafting on the Roaring Fork, which stays chilly even in July. Moab has Mill Creek's shallow pools, Ken's Lake and sandbars on the fast, silty Colorado, which feel more welcome in the desert heat but call for care.

Aspen eats far better than its size suggests. Downtown has chef-led dining rooms, steak and sushi counters, serious wine lists, and the après-ski terraces at the base of Aspen Mountain. The Food & Wine Classic in June shows how seriously the town takes eating. What it lacks is anything cheap or casual, and many kitchens close in the shoulder seasons.

In Moab, food is fuel. Main Street serves burgers, tacos, pizza and brewery meals to people in dusty boots, with a few more ambitious Southwestern dinner places. Utah's alcohol rules make a glass of wine with dinner more formal than you might expect.

Aspen has the more interesting town to walk around, though neither offers much. Its silver-mining past survives in the red-brick Victorian blocks around the Wheeler Opera House and the painted cottages of the West End. Add the Aspen Art Museum and Herbert Bayer's modernist Aspen Institute campus, and you have a good afternoon.

Moab's town has a small museum and some uranium-era buildings. Its real history is on the cliffs: Ancestral Puebloan and Fremont petroglyphs along Potash Road and Kane Creek, and dinosaur trackways nearby. That rock art is older and stranger than anything in Aspen, but it fills a morning rather than a trip.

Aspen has an actual night out, at least in ski season. Après-ski moves from the slopeside decks to downtown lounges and hotel bars. Over Christmas, New Year and the X Games, a few small clubs stay busy late with a well-dressed crowd. Summer evenings are quieter, spent with drinks on patios.

Moab has a couple of brewpubs full of bikers and rafters comparing their day, no clubs, and a town that has mostly gone to bed by eleven. The best thing to do there after dark is look at the stars.

Both are among the finest outdoor bases in the American West, but the landscapes could hardly be more different. Aspen is alpine: four ski mountains linked by free shuttles, the Maroon Bells reflected in their lake, high passes and summits above 4,000m, and fly-fishing on the Roaring Fork.

Moab is red-rock desert. Arches starts minutes from town, the canyons of Canyonlands are under an hour away, and the Slickrock Trail and the Whole Enchilada make it a mountain-biking capital. Aspen is the choice for skiing and summer wildflower hikes, Moab for canyons, arches and climbing at Wall Street.

From Aspen, the Roaring Fork valley has a string of small towns that are easy to combine. Glenwood Springs, with its railway-era centre, is an hour down the valley, and you pass ranching and arts town Carbondale on the way. From Carbondale, a detour up the Crystal River valley leads to Redstone's coke ovens and the old quarry village of Marble. In summer, the drive over Independence Pass reaches Victorian Leadville. In winter the pass is closed, and that option disappears.

From Moab, the drives are longer and there are fewer places to aim for. Bluff and the Ancestral Puebloan sites at Edge of the Cedars and Hovenweep are worth a full day on the road. Otherwise, most outings from Moab head into the landscape rather than to another town.

Aspen is the easier of the two with children, especially in winter. Buttermilk and Snowmass have gentle slopes and good ski schools, and in summer the lifts lead to alpine coasters and ropes courses. Free buses mean nobody spends the day in a car seat. The main catch is the 2,400m altitude, which can wear out small children for the first day or two.

Moab suits school-age children who love scrambling over rock. They can explore Sand Dune Arch, find dinosaur tracks and earn Junior Ranger badges. But the summer heat, unfenced drops and long drives make it hard work with toddlers.

Aspen is one of the few mountain resorts where you can comfortably go without a car. The flat downtown grid is walkable, a gondola rises from its edge, free buses run to every ski mountain, and a summer shuttle goes to the Maroon Bells. The airport is minutes away.

Moab's Main Street is walkable, and a bike path runs to the Arches entrance, but that is where it ends. The parks and trailheads are spread along long desert roads and dirt tracks, so you need your own car, ideally a high-clearance one, or must rely on outfitters' tours.

Aspen's few pedestrian blocks hold international luxury labels, high-end ski wear, jewellers, Western leather and a cluster of commercial galleries. Window-shopping there is part of an evening stroll, if your taste runs to designer goods.

Moab sells what its visitors need: bike parts, climbing gear and camping kit, plus rock shops full of geodes and fossils. Its one more personal find is the Navajo jewellery and weavings in its Southwestern galleries.

Moab is easier on the wallet, though not cheap. Its motels charge resort prices in spring and autumn, and car hire and guided trips add up. But the best hikes cost nothing, one park pass lasts a week, and campgrounds and free dispersed camping are inexpensive. Winter brings costs down further.

Aspen is among the most expensive places to vacation anywhere. Lodging, lift tickets, ski school and meals are priced for very wealthy guests. Staying in Glenwood Springs or Carbondale helps, as do the free buses, but it never becomes a budget trip.

Aspen has a real summer music season. For about eight weeks, the Aspen Music Festival and School brings leading soloists and conductors to the Benedict Music Tent, where you can picnic on the lawn and listen for free. Jazz festivals and the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet add to those summer weeks. For the rest of the year, the main venue is the Victorian Wheeler Opera House, with concerts, comedy and film.

Moab's highlight is a single event, its late-summer chamber music festival, where some concerts take place in canyon grottoes reached by boat. It is unforgettable if your dates match. For the rest of the year, there is little more than a band in a brewpub at the weekend.

For rest, Aspen has more to offer. Its resort spas run massages and altitude-recovery treatments, and riverside paths and park yoga suit a slow summer day. The mineral pools and cave vapour baths of Glenwood Springs are an hour down the valley, and Conundrum Hot Springs is there for anyone willing to hike.

Moab's days are built around early starts and heat, and its few massage studios mostly serve sore cyclists. Its calm comes from quiet desert evenings and cliffs glowing red at sunset, or from a ranch or cabin up in the La Sal Mountains.