Calgary or Whistler?

Neither city is anywhere near the sea, but Whistler does summer swimming better. Lost Lake has a sandy shore and a dock that you can walk to from the village, and Alta and Alpha Lakes have grassy parks and rafts. The shallower lakes warm to about 20°C in a hot spell.

Calgary's swimming is further away from the centre. You can swim at Sikome Lake in Fish Creek Park or at Chestermere Lake, east of the city. The local favourite is floating down the Bow River on an inner tube. The glacial lakes in the Rockies are too cold for anything but paddling.

The two eat about equally well, in different ways. Calgary's strengths are Alberta beef in its steakhouses, the ginger beef it claims as its own in Chinatown, and Vietnamese, Filipino and Lebanese cooking spread across the suburbs. On top of that come the breweries around Manchester and Ramsay and prairie produce such as bison and Saskatoon berry pies at the farmers' markets.

Whistler's eating is concentrated in a few village streets. A handful of ambitious kitchens cook BC salmon and spot prawns and keep deep British Columbia wine cellars, and après-ski nachos and craft beer fill the gaps. Calgary gives you more variety over a week. Whistler has a small but more polished selection close together.

Calgary has more to see, though it is still a young city. The Glenbow covers western Canadian art and history, Studio Bell holds the archives of Canadian music, and Heritage Park re-creates prairie settlement with steam trains. The 1880s sandstone buildings on Stephen Avenue and the site of Fort Calgary make good stops on a walk.

Whistler has no old town at all. Its two serious visits are the Audain Art Museum, with its Emily Carr paintings and Northwest Coast masks, and the Squamish Lil'wat Cultural Centre. Together with the 2010 Olympic sites they fill an afternoon. Calgary fills a couple of days.

Neither is a big night-out destination, but the nights out are very different. Calgary's evenings centre on the pubs and patios of 17th Avenue SW and on its country bars, with line dancing, a mechanical bull and live country bands. For ten days in July the Stampede tents keep the whole city out past midnight.

Whistler's nightlife is tied to the ski day. It starts with après on the patios as the lifts close and moves on to a few loud clubs full of seasonal workers and groups on winter weekends. Outside the ski season and the bike festivals the village goes quiet early.

Both are superb bases for the mountains, but Whistler has them at the door. Whistler and Blackcomb, joined by the Peak 2 Peak Gondola, have more than 200 runs and deep Coast Mountains snow. In summer the lower slopes become a downhill bike park, and the Garibaldi trails and the River of Golden Dreams are close by.

From Calgary, the Rockies take a drive. Kananaskis, with its golden September larches, is about an hour away, and Banff's canyons, glacial lakes and wildlife about ninety minutes. In exchange you can choose between several mountain areas and ski hills. The city also has its own outdoors in the Bow River pathways and the open grassland of Nose Hill.

Calgary has far more good outings within reach. Banff and Canmore are mountain towns with real streets and museums. The Royal Tyrrell Museum in the Drumheller badlands is one of the world's great fossil collections, and Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump adds a UNESCO-listed piece of Blackfoot history to the south.

Around Whistler there is mostly wilderness and few towns. Pemberton, Squamish with its gondola and the Britannia mine museum make modest stops. The one big outing is Vancouver, two hours down the Sea to Sky Highway, and it really needs an overnight stay.

Both work well for children, but they suit different trips. Calgary is a city vacation with attractions built for children: the zoo with its life-size dinosaurs, TELUS Spark, the steam train at Heritage Park, Canada Olympic Park and the Stampede midway in July.

Whistler is a resort vacation. The village is car-free, the ski schools are large, and there is tubing in winter and lake beaches, mini-golf and gondola rides to see marmots in summer. It has no zoo or science centre, so on a rainy day there is less to fall back on.

Whistler is far simpler on foot. The village is pedestrian-only and the gondolas leave from its edge. Free shuttles run along the valley, and the paved Valley Trail links the lakes for walking and cycling.

Calgary's downtown grid is compact, and the Plus 15 skywalks keep you indoors on cold days. Two CTrain lines and the riverside cycle paths reach the central neighbourhoods. Beyond the core, though, the city sprawls, and most visitors hire a car for the mountains. In both places, anything outside the valley or the city needs a car, a coach or a tour.

Calgary has more range. CORE and Chinook Centre carry the major chains, and Kensington, Inglewood and 17th Avenue add independent boutiques, record shops and antique dealers. Its real speciality is western wear, from hand-made boots and felt hats to saddlery.

Whistler's village shops are excellent for skis, bikes and technical outerwear, and a few galleries sell Indigenous prints and carvings. Beyond gear there is little choice.

Calgary costs clearly less. Outside Stampede week its hotels are reasonable, and food courts and family restaurants help a budget. What drives the bill up is the mountains: a hire car, park entry and lift passes add up if you ski or tour from the city.

Whistler is expensive in almost every way. Lift passes are among the costliest anywhere, slopeside lodgings are priced as a resort and climb steeply over Christmas, and village meals are priced for visitors. Kitchens in your lodgings, the free shuttles and coming in spring or autumn ease the cost but do not change it.

Calgary has a real performing arts programme and Whistler barely has one. At the Werklund Centre you can hear the Calgary Philharmonic or see a Theatre Calgary production, and Calgary Opera stages a season at the Jubilee Auditorium. In summer there is the Folk Music Festival on Prince's Island and the Stampede's grandstand show with chuckwagon races.

Whistler offers free summer concerts on Olympic Plaza, buskers, a small community arts centre and cover bands in the pubs. For an orchestra or a play you have to go down to Vancouver.

Whistler is the better place to unwind. Its large Nordic-style spa sits among cedars by the river, where guests soak in silence, often under falling snow. Hotel spas and massage studios for sore skiers are everywhere, and the shoulder seasons are calm.

Calgary itself offers hotel spas and yoga studios at a working city's pace. Its best soaks need a drive: the Nordic spa in Kananaskis is an hour away and Banff's historic Upper Hot Springs about ninety minutes.