Aspen or Page, Arizona?

Aspen has no beach to speak of. Its alpine lakes and the Roaring Fork stay cold even at the height of summer, so a hotel pool is where you will actually swim.

Page has Lake Powell on its doorstep, and the lake is properly warm by midsummer. There is open sand at Lone Rock, and boats take you to red sandstone coves where you jump off the rock into deep water. There are no lifeguards or beach towns and the season is summer only, but it is real swimming of a kind Aspen cannot offer.

Aspen eats far better. It has chef-led dining rooms, sushi and steak counters, serious wine lists, après-ski terraces at the foot of Aspen Mountain and the Food & Wine Classic every June. Its weak spots are the lack of anything cheap or local, and the many kitchens that close in spring and autumn.

Page is built to feed road-trippers, with diners, barbecue and Mexican places. The one dish to look for is the Navajo taco on frybread, which gives Page a local flavour Aspen lacks, but there is no fine dining and nowhere to linger over a meal.

Neither is a culture destination, but Aspen has a little more to walk past. There are the red-brick Victorian blocks of the silver boom, the Wheeler Opera House, the miners' cottages of the West End, the Aspen Art Museum and Herbert Bayer's modernist campus for the Aspen Institute.

Page dates only from the 1950s. Its main man-made sight is the Glen Canyon Dam, explained at the Carl Hayden Visitor Center, along with a small museum on John Wesley Powell. Its deeper cultural layer comes from the surrounding Navajo Nation rather than anything in town.

Aspen has a real night out, even if it depends on the season. Après-ski starts on the slopeside decks, then moves on to downtown bars, hotel lounges and a few small clubs that stay busy late around Christmas, New Year and the X Games. In summer it shrinks to drinks on patios, and spring and autumn are quiet.

Page has a few bars and a brewpub, and the town is asleep well before midnight. The best thing to do after dark is look up at the very dark, star-filled desert sky.

Both are outstanding, but in completely different ways. Aspen is high alpine country, with four ski mountains in winter. In summer there are trails from the edge of town, the Maroon Bells, summits above 4,000m, the drive over Independence Pass and the aspen groves turning gold in autumn.

Page is red-rock desert and water. It has the slot canyons of Antelope Canyon, visited with Navajo guides, plus Horseshoe Bend, boat trips across Lake Powell to Rainbow Bridge, rafting from Lees Ferry and the Vermilion Cliffs. The real choice is between snow and forest on one side and sandstone and lake on the other.

Aspen's outings run along one valley road, so they are easy to string together. Glenwood Springs, with its railway-era centre, is about an hour away, and you pass the ranching and arts town of Carbondale on the way. Up the Crystal River are the coke ovens at Redstone and the quarry village of Marble. In summer Independence Pass opens the way to Leadville's Victorian main street, but the pass closes in winter and the list gets shorter.

Page's sites are scattered along long desert highways. The pioneer buildings at Lees Ferry make an easy half day, while the cliff dwellings at Navajo National Monument, or Kanab with Pipe Spring nearby, take up most of a day. Monument Valley is also within reach, though it is scenery to look at rather than a place to explore.

Aspen is the easier choice for families, especially in winter. Buttermilk and Snowmass have gentle slopes and ski schools, the buses are free, and in summer there are alpine coasters and ropes courses. The altitude can tire young children for the first day or two.

Page suits families who are happy outdoors. Lake days at Lone Rock and the short canyon tours go down well with children. Against that, the summer sun is harsh, the cliff edges at the viewpoints are mostly unfenced, and you spend long hours in the car.

In Aspen you can leave the car behind. The flat downtown grid is easy to walk, the gondola leaves from its edge, free buses reach all four ski areas and a summer shuttle runs to the Maroon Bells. The small airport is minutes from town.

Page is the opposite. Without your own car you cannot get to the lake, Horseshoe Bend or the parks, there is no useful public transport, and the nearest major airports are hours away by road.

Aspen packs luxury boutiques, designer labels, ski wear, jewellers and art galleries into a few pedestrian blocks, and window-shopping is part of an evening out. It suits big spenders rather than bargain hunters.

Page has supermarkets, boating supplies and souvenir shops. Its one draw is Navajo silver and turquoise jewellery, rugs and pottery, often bought straight from the maker at trading posts. That is a kind of craft shopping Aspen does not offer.

Neither is cheap, but Page is far easier on the budget. Aspen prices its rooms, lift tickets, meals and drinks for a very wealthy crowd. Even staying down the valley in Glenwood Springs or Carbondale does not turn it into a bargain.

In Page, ordinary meals and fuel cost what they do in any small American town. The money goes on guided canyon tours, boat hire and rooms, which are scarce in the busy months. Camping at Lone Rock or Wahweap cuts the cost considerably.

Aspen has a proper summer season. The Aspen Music Festival fills the Benedict Music Tent with orchestral, chamber and opera performances, and you can listen for free from the lawn. Jazz and the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet add to the season, and the Wheeler Opera House has a programme all year.

Page has almost nothing to offer here beyond Navajo dance presentations put on for visitors and the occasional band in a bar.

Aspen is the better place to unwind, as long as you avoid peak ski weeks. It has resort spas, yoga in the parks and riverside paths. The mineral pools of Glenwood Springs are about an hour away, and Conundrum Hot Springs waits at the end of a long hike.

Page offers motel pools and a few hotel treatments. Its calm comes from the quiet desert and its dark skies, but with early starts for the canyons most stays end up active rather than restful.