Canmore or Queenstown?

Neither town suits a beach trip, but Queenstown gives a little more to work with. In Canmore, swimming means a cold dip at Quarry Lake on the edge of town, with a grassy shore and a short season that depends on snowmelt.

Queenstown has a shingle beach right on Queenstown Bay and a lakeshore at Frankton where people sunbathe on warm days, and jumping off the town jetty is a local habit. Lake Hayes and Moke Lake warm up enough in January and February for a longer swim. Wakatipu itself stays cold, so expect sunbathing and a quick plunge rather than a swimming trip.

Canmore eats like a hiking town. There are bakeries and coffee shops for an early start, brewpubs, and a few kitchens doing Alberta beef, bison and game, with Banff or Calgary for anything more. Queenstown feeds visitors all year, so there is more choice, from ramen and pie shops to lodge-style dining with lamb and South Island seafood.

The real difference is wine. A short drive up the Kawarau Gorge brings you to the Gibbston Valley's pinot noir cellar doors and winery restaurants, and Canmore has nothing to match it.

Sights come second in these mountain towns, and anyone who plans a trip around museums will be done in either by lunchtime. What differs is the story they tell. Canmore's is coal mining, told by its small museum, a few miners' cottages and the old Mounted Police barracks, along with the Nordic Centre built for the 1988 Winter Olympics. For more heritage, Banff's museums and the Cave and Basin site are a short drive away.

Queenstown's past is gold. A few stone buildings from the gold-rush years survive in the centre, but nearby Arrowtown tells that history better. The town's one real showpiece is the TSS Earnslaw, a steamship from 1912 that still crosses the lake.

Canmore's evenings end early: a pint in a brewpub among climbers and weekenders from Calgary, perhaps a band, and quiet well before midnight. For anything later you have to go to Banff. Queenstown packs pubs, cocktail bars and dance bars into the blocks around Shotover, Camp and Searle streets, and on a winter Saturday the centre stays loud well past midnight.

Queenstown's scene is drinking and DJ bars rather than proper clubbing, and a couple of nights covers most of it. For groups and people in their twenties, though, it is a world away from Canmore's pub-then-bed rhythm.

Both are outstanding mountain bases, and in each the outdoors starts at the end of the street. Canmore is for climbing, scrambling and long hikes under the Three Sisters and Mount Rundle. Elk and bighorn sheep wander through town and bears use the trails. Banff National Park and Lake Louise are up the valley, and Kananaskis has quieter peaks.

Queenstown sets its mountains around a long glacial lake and adds the adventure sports it made famous: bungy jumping, jet boats on the Shotover, paragliding and skydiving. Its walkers head for the Routeburn Track and Mount Aspiring National Park, and Milford Sound is a long day out. In winter, Canmore offers ice climbing and Nordic trails, while Queenstown has four ski areas within reach.

Queenstown has more towns to visit, not just more scenery. Arrowtown's gold-rush streets and restored Chinese settlement are twenty minutes away, and Wanaka is about an hour over the Crown Range. The vineyard country around Gibbston, Cromwell and Bannockburn makes for easy wine days, with Clyde and Alexandra a little further on.

Canmore has Banff close by, with its hot springs and museums and the site where the national park began. Calgary is a little over an hour east, for Heritage Park or the Stampede in July. Beyond Lake Louise village and Field, the outings are into mountain country rather than to towns.

In Canmore the landscape itself keeps children busy, while Queenstown has more outings ready-made. Canmore offers riverside paths for bikes and pushchairs, short walks to Grassi Lakes, elk at the roadside, and the recreation centre's pool and climbing wall for wet days. Calgary is the nearest place for a zoo, and bears call for care on the trails.

Queenstown has the gondola and luge on Bob's Peak, kiwi at the wildlife park, jet-boat rides and the old steamship on the lake. Children will often fall short of the age and weight limits for the bungy jumps and swings, though, and the long drives to the bigger sights can wear them out.

Both centres are a short walk from end to end, and in both the best of the region is only really practical by car. In Canmore, local buses, the regional bus to Banff and Parks Canada's seasonal shuttles cover the main valley. Kananaskis and the Icefields Parkway need your own wheels, though, and Calgary airport is over an hour's drive away.

Queenstown's airport is at Frankton, reached by local bus or water taxi across the lake, and shuttles and tour pickups handle the ski fields and activities. Its weak spot is the single road in from Frankton, which backs up at busy times. In either town, winter mountain driving needs care.

Neither town is worth a trip for shopping, but Queenstown has more to take home. Alongside the ski and bike shops, its Mall and lanes have merino and possum-wool knitwear, greenstone jewellery and, on summer weekends, a craft market by the wharf. Canmore's Main Street offers outdoor gear, gift shops and galleries of mountain landscapes and Indigenous work. It is fine for an hour's browsing or a new waterproof, and Calgary is the place for anything more.

What separates the two is where the money goes. In Canmore the extras are a hire car and national park passes. The hiking that fills most days is free, though, and a visit in spring or late autumn, when rooms are easier to find, makes a real difference.

In Queenstown the activities are the big expense, and bungy jumps, jet boats, scenic flights and lift passes add up fast. Rooms are dear in both towns, so neither is a budget choice. Here hostels, self-catering kitchens and the Frankton supermarkets help, and a trip built around walking rather than thrills costs far less.

Canmore has more to offer. Its Folk Music Festival, one of Canada's oldest, fills a riverside park over the August long weekend. Twenty minutes away, the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity puts on classical concerts and theatre and hosts the Banff Mountain Film Festival.

Queenstown has no regular theatre or concert season, so live performance usually means a covers band in an après bar. There are occasional touring acts at the events centre and a few days of street shows during the winter festival.

Canmore is the better place to slow down. Its evenings follow the rhythm of tired hikers, the historic Upper Hot Springs on Sulphur Mountain are about half an hour away, and Kananaskis Village has a large Nordic-style spa with hot and cold pools under the peaks.

Queenstown has no hot springs, and its centre is full of tour buses and adventure bookings. Calm there comes from private cedar hot tubs above the Shotover River, lodge spas, and quiet mornings on the lake or in Glenorchy. It is easiest to find if you stay outside the centre.