Canmore or Tofino?

Canmore has no coast at all. Swimming there means Quarry Lake or another mountain lake on a hot afternoon, a bracing plunge in snowmelt water during a short summer season.

Tofino has proper beaches, and they shape the whole stay: the 16km sweep of Long Beach, the sandbar at Chesterman, the surf at Cox Bay and the calmer curve of MacKenzie. The open Pacific is too cold for an ordinary swim, so people go in with a thick wetsuit and a surfboard, but as a shoreline to walk and play on it is far ahead of anything near Canmore.

Canmore eats like a mountain town. It is good at bakeries, coffee before the trail, brewpubs and hearty plates of Alberta beef, bison and game, but there is little range, and for a special dinner people drive to Banff or Calgary.

Tofino is also small, but it has more character on the plate. Spot prawns, Dungeness crab, halibut and oysters from Clayoquot Sound turn up everywhere, from food trucks serving fish tacos to West Coast tasting menus above the surf. In both towns, hours shrink outside the busy season.

Neither town is a place for sightseeing, but what little there is differs. Canmore tells a settler story through its coal-mining past, the small museum, the old Mounted Police barracks and the Nordic Centre built for the 1988 Winter Olympics, with Banff's museums nearby. Tofino's culture is living Nuu-chah-nulth art: carving in progress, galleries of prints and the Kwisitis Visitor Centre on the coast and its peoples.

Both are early-to-bed towns with no clubs. Evenings mean a brewpub or a pub. Canmore's crowd of climbers and Calgary weekenders sometimes has a band to listen to, and Banff's livelier bar street is a short drive or bus ride away. Tofino has no such escape, so a taproom, a beach fire or a hot tub usually ends the day before an early start for the tide.

Both towns exist for their surroundings, and both are outstanding. Canmore is mountain country: the Three Sisters and Ha Ling Peak above the streets, climbing and scrambling from town, Banff National Park and Kananaskis next door, golden larches in autumn and ski touring and ice climbing in winter.

Tofino is the wild coast instead, with giant cedars on the Meares Island and Rainforest Trail boardwalks, kayaking among the islands of Clayoquot Sound, grey whales and sea otters from the boats, and Pacific storms crashing on the headlands in winter. The choice is between summits and the sea, not between better and worse.

Canmore is far better placed for outings. Banff, with its hot springs, Whyte Museum and the Cave and Basin site, is twenty minutes away. Calgary's museums and Heritage Park are about an hour east, and Lake Louise and the railway town of Field make easy extra stops.

Tofino is at the end of the road. Ucluelet's lighthouse loop is a pleasant half day, and the rest of Vancouver Island lies over a long, winding mountain road, so days out here mean boats and trails, not other towns.

Canmore is the easier choice with children. The Bow River paths suit pushchairs and bikes, elk and bighorn sheep wander through town, and the recreation centre's pool and climbing wall save a wet day. Calgary is close enough for a zoo or a science centre.

Tofino gives children wonderful days on the beach, with tide pools, driftwood forts and surf lessons in small wetsuits. Rain leaves little to do indoors, though, and the winding drive in can be hard on young passengers.

In both places a car does most of the work, though in different ways. Canmore has local buses, a regional link to Banff and seasonal park shuttles, but Kananaskis and the Icefields Parkway need your own wheels, along with proper tyres in winter. Tofino is spread along one highway with a cycle path towards the park, and its best outings, to Meares Island, Hot Springs Cove or the whale grounds, are by water taxi or floatplane.

Neither town is worth travelling to for shopping, and each has an hour of browsing at most. Canmore's Main Street leans towards hiking boots, waterproofs and paintings of the peaks. Tofino's best buys are Nuu-chah-nulth carvings, silver jewellery and prints, alongside surf shops and beachy boutiques. For anything serious, Calgary is much closer to Canmore than the island's east coast cities are to Tofino.

Both are expensive, but Canmore costs noticeably less. Rooms are priced like a resort beside a famous park, and a hire car and park passes add to the bill, yet self-catering condos are common and the spring and late-autumn shoulder seasons make a real difference.

Tofino carries a remote premium on almost everything: scarce rooms, groceries trucked over the mountains and the boat tours that make a stay. Camping and the stormy months from November to March are the main ways to bring the cost down.

Canmore is clearly ahead here. The Canmore Folk Music Festival, one of the oldest in Canada, fills a riverside park over the August long weekend. The small arts centre puts on concerts and theatre, and the Banff Centre up the valley adds classical music and the Banff Mountain Film Festival.

Tofino has no theatre or concert venue at all, just the odd band at a pub and a few small summer community events.

Canmore keeps its soaks within a short drive. The historic mineral pool of Banff Upper Hot Springs sits high on Sulphur Mountain, and the Nordic-style spa at Kananaskis Village has outdoor hot and cold pools under the peaks, so either fits easily after a day on the trails. In town, yoga studios and massage therapists cover the rest.

Tofino's great soak takes much more effort. The geothermal rock pools of Hot Springs Cove are a full day out by boat or floatplane. Day to day, rest here comes from the slow pace of tides and weather: a hot tub at the cabin, a fire, or a resort spa treatment using seaweed and cedar. Neither town has a public bathing culture of its own.