Boulder or Kansas City?

Neither city is a beach destination, as both sit deep inside the continent. Where they differ is summer swimming. Boulder has a small sandy swim area at the reservoir and a local habit of floating down Boulder Creek on inner tubes, while Kansas City relies on lake beaches in county parks on the edge of the metro area and on public pools, which usually means a drive.

Kansas City has the stronger food scene because it has a cuisine of its own: meat slow-smoked over hickory, burnt ends and a thick, sweet sauce, served everywhere from old counters near 18th and Vine to petrol-station joints. Steakhouses from the cattle-town days and the counters around the River Market add some range.

Boulder eats lighter and more seasonally, with vegetarian cooking, good bakeries, craft taprooms, the Saturday farmers' market by the creek and lunch at the Dushanbe Teahouse. It is pleasant, but with little ethnic choice and no signature dish, a food lover has less to seek out.

Kansas City has much more to see. The Nelson-Atkins is a major collection that is especially strong in Chinese art, and the National WWI Museum, the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and the American Jazz Museum tell stories you will not find elsewhere. Union Station and the Spanish-style Country Club Plaza add architecture, and the main list takes two or three days.

Boulder's appeal is atmosphere rather than sights: the 1898 Chautauqua cottages beneath the Flatirons, the sandstone-and-red-tile university campus and I.M. Pei's atmospheric research laboratory on the mesa. One day covers it.

Kansas City has the livelier night out, spread across separate districts: big sports bars in Power and Light, the scruffy student strip in Westport, and calmer cocktail and craft beer bars in the Crossroads and the River Market. Weekends run late, though you will need a ride from one area to the next.

Boulder's evenings mean taprooms and pubs around Pearl Street and the student bars on University Hill. Most wind down early because so many people are heading for the trails at dawn, and real clubs are almost absent.

This is where Boulder is strongest. The Flatirons rise straight behind town, a protected ring of open space holds well over 200km of trails, Eldorado Canyon draws climbers from far away, and the tundra, lakes and elk of Rocky Mountain National Park are about an hour's drive.

Kansas City's landscape is gentle prairie and river country. Swope Park and the Loose Park rose garden are pleasant, and the reservoirs offer boating and wooded walks, but serious hiking means a drive of several hours to the Ozarks.

Boulder has the better range of outings. Denver is a short express-bus ride away, with its art museum, state capitol and Union Station. With a car you can also reach Golden, the old silver-mining towns of Georgetown and Idaho Springs, Fort Collins and Estes Park, with mountain scenery along the way.

Kansas City's outings are quieter half days: Truman's home and library in Independence, the university town of Lawrence, the river town of Weston and the Pony Express museum in St Joseph. Almost all of them need a car.

Both work well with children, but in different ways. Kansas City has the big attractions: Worlds of Fun and its water park, a large zoo, Science City inside Union Station, and the aquarium and Legoland centre at Crown Center. The price is a lot of time in the car.

Boulder suits active families better, with creek paths, gentle trails from the Chautauqua meadow, street performers on Pearl Street and the university planetarium for a rainy hour. A zoo or aquarium day means going to Denver, and the altitude calls for water and hats on hikes.

Boulder is far easier on foot and by bike. Downtown, the university and Chautauqua are close together and linked by off-street bike paths along the creek, and an express bus runs to Denver. You only need a car for trailheads outside town and the national park.

Kansas City is built for driving. The streetcar along Main Street links the River Market, downtown, Union Station and Crown Center, but most other sights need a hired car or ride-hailing.

Neither city is a shopping destination, and what each offers is different. Boulder's Pearl Street Mall has independent bookshops, galleries and boutiques, and its climbing, running and cycling shops are unusually good. Kansas City has the 1920s Country Club Plaza, with chain and upmarket stores, plus vintage, record and design shops in the Crossroads and Westport.

Kansas City is the cheaper stay. Downtown hotels cost noticeably less, the Nelson-Atkins charges nothing for general entry, and a barbecue lunch goes a long way, although a hire car and family tickets add up.

Boulder is one of the country's wealthier towns, and its limited supply of rooms is expensive, especially in summer and on university weekends. The trails cost next to nothing, and many visitors save money by staying in Denver and driving in.

Boulder hears a lot of live music for a town its size: touring rock, bluegrass and roots acts in small rooms downtown and on the Hill, a summer orchestral season in the old wooden Chautauqua Auditorium and outdoor Shakespeare on campus. Its great asset is Red Rocks Amphitheatre, the natural sandstone venue under an hour's drive south. There is no opera house, though, and much of the classical calendar is over when summer ends.

Kansas City has more on stage, and all year round. It is the home of the hard-swinging, blues-based jazz of Count Basie and Charlie Parker, still played most nights in small clubs around 18th and Vine, often with late jam sessions. The Kauffman Center houses the symphony, the Lyric Opera and the ballet.

Boulder is the more restorative stay. Yoga and meditation studios, a Buddhist-inspired university, and plenty of massage and acupuncture make wellness part of daily life, although a proper soak means driving to the hot springs at Idaho Springs.

Kansas City offers hotel and suburban day spas, with the old mineral-water resort of Excelsior Springs forty minutes north. What it does have is an easy pace and quiet mornings in the Nelson-Atkins sculpture park.