Beaver Creek or Page, Arizona?

Neither place is on the coast, but Page has a real lake to swim in. In midsummer Lake Powell's surface reaches about 26°C, Lone Rock Beach has sand you can drive down to, and from a boat or kayak you can jump straight off sandstone into deep water. There are no lifeguards, though, and beaches move as the water level rises and falls.

Beaver Creek's water is mostly hotel pools, many of them heated, outdoors and with a mountain view. The only natural option is the small sandy area at Nottingham Lake in Avon, where the snowmelt water stays cool even on hot afternoons.

Beaver Creek eats better, though in a narrow, polished way. Expect elk, Colorado lamb and trout with long wine lists, and dinners at on-mountain lodges reached by chairlift or snowcat sleigh. Cheaper taquerias and brewpubs are down the valley in Avon and Edwards.

Page feeds road-trippers with diners, barbecue, Mexican food and chains. Its one dish with real local roots is the Navajo taco on frybread, which you'll find at casual places and reservation roadside stands. Neither is a trip for food lovers, but in Page meals are mostly fuel between outings.

Both towns are young and built for a purpose. Page has a little more to see because of what it was built for: the Glen Canyon Dam, explained at the Carl Hayden Visitor Center, a small museum on John Wesley Powell and, above all, the Navajo Nation around it, whose guides lead every slot canyon tour.

Beaver Creek, a planned ski village from around 1980, has stone and timber lodges and outdoor art on the plaza, and you can see it all in an hour. For real history you need to head to the old mining towns of the Rockies.

Both are early-to-bed places, and Beaver Creek is only slightly livelier. Its evenings start with après-ski drinks by the plaza fire pits and continue in hotel lounges until soon after dinner. Anyone who wants a late night heads to Vail. Page has a few bars and a brewpub that are quiet well before midnight, and its best night out is the dark desert sky full of stars.

Both are outstanding bases for the outdoors, but the two landscapes have almost nothing in common. Beaver Creek is high alpine country. In winter you ski from the village up to about 3,500m, on runs that rarely feel busy, and the linked neighbouring areas and Vail give you more terrain than a week can cover. Once the snow melts, the same mountain becomes walking and biking country, with wilderness peaks behind it and fly-fishing and rafting on the rivers below. Newcomers usually find the thin air harder than the terrain.

Page's scenery is carved rather than climbed. You have the lit sandstone walls of Antelope Canyon, the river bending far below Horseshoe Bend and the drowned canyons of Lake Powell, which lead by boat to Rainbow Bridge. Grand Canyon rafting trips start at Lees Ferry below the dam, and the Vermilion Cliffs and the Wave lie further out. Here it is the heat that sets the pace, not the altitude, so summer afternoons are best spent on the water.

Beaver Creek has more towns within easy reach, though they are all much alike. Vail's pedestrian village is twenty minutes away. Within about an hour are Leadville, a Victorian silver-mining town, the gold-rush streets of Breckenridge and the old spa town of Glenwood Springs.

From Page the outings are fewer and further apart. Lees Ferry's pioneer buildings make a half day, while the Betatakin cliff dwellings at Navajo National Monument and the drive to Kanab and Pipe Spring take longer. Monument Valley is a landscape to look at more than a place to explore.

Beaver Creek was designed around family ski trips. It has a large ski school, children's terrain, an ice rink, escalators up from the car parks, warm cookies when the lifts close and a car-free plaza where older children can roam. In summer there are ropes courses and mini golf on the hilltop.

Page works for families who already love the outdoors. Children enjoy lake days and the short canyon tours, but the summer sun is fierce, the cliff edges are sheer and mostly unfenced, and the parks are long drives apart. Neither place has a zoo or children's museum for a bad day.

Inside Beaver Creek you rarely need a car. The village is pedestrian, outdoor escalators link its levels, free shuttles run to the hillside lodges and Avon, and valley buses reach Vail. Eagle airport is about half an hour away, though a car still helps for anything further and winter passes need care.

In Page a car is essential. You can walk the main strip, but Horseshoe Bend, the marinas and every park lie out along the highway, there is no useful public transport and the nearest major airports are hours away.

Neither is a shopping destination, but Beaver Creek has more to browse. Around its plaza you'll find technical ski wear, western boots and leather, jewellery and galleries selling bronze sculpture and landscape painting, all at resort prices. Page has the more distinctive souvenir: Navajo silver, turquoise, rugs and pottery bought at trading posts or from the makers at roadside stalls. Apart from that, its shops sell boating gear and groceries.

Page is cheaper, though not cheap. Casual meals and fuel cost what they would in any small American town, and most of the spending goes on guided Antelope Canyon tours and boat hire. Camping at Lone Rock or Wahweap, or coming in winter, keeps the total down.

Beaver Creek is expensive at every step, from slopeside hotels and condos to lift passes, ski school and mountain dining. Staying in Avon or Edwards and coming in summer help a little, but there is no budget version of a stay here.

This is one of the clearest gaps between them. Beaver Creek has its own intimate theatre, the Vilar Performing Arts Center, with touring concerts, comedy and dance. In summer Bravo! Vail brings leading orchestras to the open-air amphitheatre twenty minutes away, alongside the Vail Dance Festival.

In Page live performance is limited to traditional Navajo dance put on for visitors and the occasional local band in a bar, with no venue or programme to plan an evening around.

Beaver Creek is far better for slowing down. Its resort spas are among the largest in the Rockies, with steam rooms and outdoor hot tubs in the snow, and the village is quiet after dinner. The historic hot springs pool at Glenwood Springs is about an hour west.

Page offers only motel pools and a few hotel treatments. Its calm comes from wide views and silent desert evenings, but most stays are built around pre-dawn canyon starts and long drives.