Banff or Denver?

Neither is a place to plan a swim around, but Banff gives the water a little more of a role. Johnson Lake warms enough on August afternoons for a proper dip, and the hot springs provide the warm water that the glacial lakes never will.

Denver, far from any coast, offers reservoir beaches at Cherry Creek and Chatfield on the city's edge, and otherwise hotel and public pools for cooling off in the summer heat.

Denver is the better place to eat and drink. It has some of the biggest brewing in the country, with taprooms in RiNo warehouses, plus green chile smothered over burritos, chef-run restaurants in Highland and LoHi, and long stretches of Vietnamese and Mexican cooking along Federal Boulevard.

Banff feeds hungry hikers well enough with steak, bison, elk and fondue, and the grand hotels have more ambitious menus. There are no markets, though, very little street food and less variety than you would expect in a place with so many visitors.

Banff's sights all tell one story, the birth of Canada's national parks, from the Cave and Basin spring to the Banff Springs Hotel and the Whyte Museum's mountain art. You can see it all in a day.

Denver has two or three days of sightseeing. The Denver Art Museum, with its strong Native American collection, and the Clyfford Still Museum sit near the gold-domed Capitol, while the brick warehouses of LoDo, Larimer Square and the Beaux-Arts Union Station preserve the old Western commercial city.

Banff's nights are run by seasonal workers and skiers. A few pubs and dance bars on Banff Avenue get loud after après-ski, and everything is a short walk apart, though the scene is much the same every night and goes quiet in spring and autumn.

Denver has more variety. Sports crowds fill LoDo, RiNo has cocktail bars and taprooms, East Colfax has dives, and Highland and South Broadway offer slower neighbourhood evenings. Bars are the focus rather than clubs, and nights rarely run very late.

Banff wins because the scenery is right outside the door. The town sits inside the national park, elk graze in the streets, and Lake Louise, Moraine Lake, Johnston Canyon and the glaciers of the Icefields Parkway are easy to reach. Hiking, paddling and three ski areas fill every season.

Denver has the Rockies on its western horizon, with Red Rocks and the Golden foothills about half an hour away and many summits over 4,000m. The national park and the big ski resorts are around two hours' drive, often in heavy traffic on I-70.

Denver has many more towns to visit. Boulder under the Flatirons, the Victorian mining towns of Georgetown and Idaho Springs, Manitou Springs beside Colorado Springs and Breckenridge's old main street all make full days out, as long as you have a car.

From Banff, nearly every outing goes into the wilderness. For towns, the options are Canmore down the valley, a city day in Calgary, and the small stops of Field and Golden over the Continental Divide. Golden, British Columbia is a different place from Colorado's Golden.

Both work well with children, but Denver has a slight lead because it has attractions made for them. City Park combines the zoo with the Museum of Nature & Science and its dinosaurs and planetarium, and the Children's Museum, an aquarium and an amusement park are grouped by the South Platte.

In Banff the landscape does the entertaining: the Sulphur Mountain gondola, the catwalks of Johnston Canyon, sheep beside the road and tobogganing in winter. For a zoo or science museum you have to go to Calgary.

Banff is easier without a car. You can walk across the town in about twenty minutes, Roam Transit buses go to the gondola, Lake Minnewanka, Canmore and Lake Louise, and in summer park shuttles reach the busiest lakes. Only the Icefields Parkway and Yoho really need a car.

Denver has a walkable downtown and a train from the airport to Union Station, but outside the centre the city is built for cars. Red Rocks, the mountains and nearly every day trip mean hiring a car.

Denver gives shoppers more to do. There is the upscale mall and boutique streets of Cherry Creek, vintage clothes and records on South Broadway, flagship outdoor stores and proper Western wear, from cowboy boots to hats.

Banff's shopping is limited to Banff Avenue: outfitters for forgotten boots, fudge, maple souvenirs, and a few galleries selling Indigenous art and mountain paintings, which make the best thing to take home.

Neither is cheap, but Banff costs more. Building inside the park is restricted, so rooms are scarce, and park passes, lift passes, the gondola and resort-priced meals add up. Staying in Canmore or camping is the usual way to save.

Denver has normal big-city American prices and more ways to spend less. You can stay near the light rail and eat at taquerias and breweries, though a hire car takes a large share of most budgets.

This is one of the biggest differences between the two. Denver has Red Rocks, a stage set between huge sandstone monoliths, and the many-block Performing Arts Complex with touring Broadway shows, the Colorado Symphony, opera and ballet. Five Points adds jazz with deep local roots.

Banff's arts life centres on the Banff Centre on Tunnel Mountain and its summer programme, plus the Mountain Film and Book Festival each autumn. On most other nights, live music means a band in a pub.

Banff was built around its springs, and an evening in the open-air pool of the Upper Hot Springs, ideally with snow falling, is part of many visits. The large spas in the grand hotels and the quiet out of peak season help too.

Denver has no bathing tradition of its own, so relaxing there means day spas, yoga studios and sunny parks. The mineral pools and steam caves of Idaho Springs are under an hour into the mountains.