Big Sky or Page, Arizona?

Page wins easily. Lake Powell is a proper summer swimming lake, with sand at Lone Rock, coves off Wahweap marina and plenty of jumping into deep water from houseboats and kayaks. There are no lifeguards, though, and the shoreline moves with the lake level.

Big Sky has nothing like it. The Gallatin is a cold mountain river, and on a hot day the choice is a hotel pool or a short paddle in a pond.

Neither place is somewhere to travel for food, and the difference is mostly in style. Big Sky serves hearty mountain cooking such as bison, elk, trout and Montana beef, a few lodge kitchens aim higher, and it has its own brewery culture, though some places close between seasons.

Page feeds road-trippers with diners, barbecue and Mexican places. Its one local speciality is the Navajo taco on frybread, best bought from a roadside stand on the reservation.

Page has a little more to see, though neither is a culture stop. The Glen Canyon Dam and its visitor centre tell the story of the town's founding, a small museum covers John Wesley Powell's survey of the Colorado, and the surrounding Navajo Nation gives the area depth that a resort cannot.

In Big Sky, the only heritage is the pair of log cabins at Crail Ranch in Meadow Village. Everything else was built from the 1970s on for skiers.

Big Sky makes a better evening, mainly because of après-ski. Bars and sunny decks fill with skiers at the base of the lifts, a few Town Center taverns stay open after dinner, and old saloons in the canyon have pool tables and a ranch-country crowd. Outside the seasons it falls silent.

Page has a few bars and a brewpub and goes quiet well before midnight. In Page the better evening is spent outside, under a very dark sky full of stars.

Both are first-rate outdoor destinations, and the landscapes could hardly be more different. Big Sky is high alpine country: Lone Peak's ski terrain, wildflower hikes in the Spanish Peaks and Beehive Basin, fly fishing and rafting on the Gallatin, and Yellowstone's geysers and wolves about an hour away.

Page is red desert and water. You have slot canyons at Antelope, the river bend at Horseshoe Bend, flooded canyons on Lake Powell leading to Rainbow Bridge, and the Vermilion Cliffs and the Wave within reach. Pick snow and forest or sandstone and sun.

Big Sky has a little more in the way of towns to visit. Bozeman, an hour down the canyon, offers a lively main street and the dinosaur fossils of the Museum of the Rockies, while Virginia City and Nevada City preserve gold-rush boardwalks from the 1860s.

Page's outings are more scattered. Lees Ferry and Lonely Dell Ranch make an easy half day, the Betatakin cliff dwellings and Kanab's Western film history each need a drive of an hour or two, and beyond those the towns are small.

Big Sky is easier with children. Ski school and gentle slopes in winter, the summer adventure park with zip lines and ropes courses, horse riding and bison spotting give children plenty to do, though the altitude tires little ones at first.

Page has a lake day at Lone Rock and short Antelope Canyon tours, both easy wins with children. But the summer sun is fierce, the cliff edges at Horseshoe Bend are mostly unfenced, and some canyon tours have steep ladders, so parents need to stay alert.

Big Sky is easier to manage without a car, at least within the resort. A free bus runs the 15km between the canyon, Meadow Village, Town Center and Mountain Village, slopeside lodgings put you on the lifts, and Bozeman airport is an hour away by shuttle.

In Page, a car is essential from the moment you arrive. The motel strip is walkable but there is no useful public transport, the lake and Horseshoe Bend lie outside town, and the nearest major airports are hours away.

Neither is a shopping destination, but what you take home differs. Big Sky offers ski and fishing gear, Western-style boutiques and galleries of wildlife art. Page's draw is Navajo silver, turquoise, rugs and pottery, bought at trading posts or from the makers themselves at roadside stalls.

Page is the cheaper of the two, though still not a bargain. Meals and fuel cost what they do in any small American town, but the paid Antelope Canyon tours and lake rentals add up, and camping by the lake or coming in winter saves the most.

Big Sky is among the most expensive stays in the American West, with costly lodging, lift passes, guides and restaurant meals. Summer helps a little, and so does sleeping in Bozeman, at the cost of extra driving.

Big Sky has a small but real programme. The performing arts centre in Meadow Village books touring musicians, chamber music and theatre in winter, and summer brings free concerts on the Town Center lawn and a short classical festival.

Page has almost nothing beyond Navajo dance presentations for visitors and the odd bar band.

Big Sky is the better place to unwind. The big lodges have full spas with massages for sore ski legs, hot tubs on the deck are the norm, the nights are quiet, and natural hot springs lie an hour away towards Bozeman.

Page offers motel pools and a few hotel treatments. Its calm comes from the wide desert views, but early canyon starts and long drives keep most stays busy.