Boulder or Moab?

Neither town is a beach destination, so the question is where you cool off in summer. Boulder has the small sandy swim area at Boulder Reservoir and tubing on Boulder Creek. Moab offers Mill Creek's shallow pools, Ken's Lake and sandbars on a Colorado River that is fast and cold enough to treat with respect. In both towns, the hotel or motel pool does most of the work.

Boulder eats noticeably better. It has seasonal Front Range cooking, plenty of vegetarian dishes, good bakeries and coffee roasters, the Saturday farmers' market by the creek, and lunch at the hand-carved Dushanbe Teahouse. The range is still narrow, though, and keen diners go to Denver.

In Moab, eating is mostly about refuelling. Main Street has burgers, tacos, pizza and brewery food, plus a few dinner places with Southwestern touches. Utah's alcohol rules make a drink with dinner more formal than visitors expect, and the choice shrinks in winter.

Boulder has more to see, though a day still covers it. There is the 1898 Chautauqua colony under the Flatirons, the sandstone and red-tile university campus, I.M. Pei's atmospheric research laboratory on the mesa, and a few small museums.

Moab itself has only a short Main Street and a small museum. Its cultural interest is out in the rock: Fremont and Ancestral Puebloan petroglyphs along Potash Road and Kane Creek, and dinosaur trackways nearby. These are rewarding stops on a drive, but nobody comes to Moab for culture.

Neither town is for clubbing, but Boulder does offer a night out. Taprooms and cocktail bars cluster around Pearl Street, the student bars on University Hill are loud during term, and Denver is within reach for more. A Moab evening is a brewpub on Main Street with mountain bikers and rafters, and the town is quiet by eleven. Its real attraction after dark is the star-filled desert sky.

Both are outstanding outdoor bases, and the difference lies in the terrain. Boulder is mountain country. Trails start in town at Chautauqua, climbers head for Eldorado Canyon and cyclists train on the canyon roads. Rocky Mountain National Park and the Eldora ski area keep the season going into winter.

Moab is red-rock desert. Arches begins minutes from town, and Canyonlands and Dead Horse Point overlook the river canyons. The slickrock trails and the Whole Enchilada make it a centre of mountain biking, with rafting and canyoneering as well. Summer heat cuts Moab's season shorter than Boulder's.

Boulder has the better range of outings, mostly because Denver is close by express bus, with its art museum, state capitol and Union Station. Golden, Fort Collins and the old mining towns of Georgetown and Idaho Springs are an easy drive.

From Moab, a day out mostly means more landscape. The nearby towns are small. The best outing is a long drive south to Bluff, the Edge of the Cedars museum in Blanding and the stone towers of Hovenweep.

Boulder is the easier choice with children. Gentle trails, the creek path, the reservoir swim beach, street performers on Pearl Street and a planetarium for a rainy hour are all close together, and Denver's zoo and aquarium are within reach.

Moab can thrill school-age children with rock scrambles in Arches, dinosaur tracks, raft floats and Junior Ranger programmes. With toddlers it is much harder, because of the midday summer heat, the unfenced drops and the long drives.

In Boulder you can get through much of a stay without a car. Off-street bike paths link downtown, the university and Chautauqua, and buses run locally and to Denver. You only need a car for the parks and trailheads outside town.

In Moab a car is essential from the start. Main Street is walkable and a bike path runs to the Arches entrance, but there is no useful public transport. The parks lie along long roads and dirt tracks, where a high-clearance vehicle helps.

Both towns are at their best for outdoor gear, but Boulder has more beyond that: the independent bookshops, galleries and boutiques of the Pearl Street Mall, and a shopping district at Twenty Ninth Street. Moab's Main Street adds rock shops selling geodes and fossils, and galleries with Navajo jewellery and weavings that make good souvenirs, but little else.

Neither town is cheap, but Moab is easier on the budget, especially if you are willing to camp. Public campgrounds, free dispersed camping, a park pass that lasts a week and cheaper winter months help make up for car hire and guided trips.

In Boulder, a wealthy university town, hotel rooms are scarce and expensive and restaurants charge affluent prices. The trails are free there too, and many visitors save money by staying in Denver.

Boulder has a proper calendar of live performance. Small rooms book touring rock, bluegrass and roots acts most nights. In summer the Colorado Music Festival plays in the wooden Chautauqua Auditorium and Shakespeare is staged outdoors on campus, and Red Rocks Amphitheatre is a short drive away.

Moab's highlight is the Moab Music Festival at the end of summer, with chamber concerts in town and in canyon grottoes reached by boat. The rest of the year there is little more than a weekend band in a brewpub.

Boulder suits a restful stay better. Yoga and meditation studios are everywhere, its Buddhist-inspired university gives the town a contemplative streak, and massage and day spas are easy to find. Soaking is limited to the spring-fed pool at Eldorado Springs and the hot springs an hour away at Idaho Springs.

Moab is built for effort, with early starts and long days, and its few spas mostly treat tired legs. What it does offer is the quiet of desert evenings and the sight of the cliffs turning red at sunset.