Canmore or Vancouver?

Canmore has no beach to speak of. Quarry Lake and a few other mountain lakes give you a grassy shore and a short, very cold swim in snowmelt water on a hot afternoon.

Vancouver has proper sandy beaches inside the city. Kitsilano, Jericho and Spanish Banks face the mountains, and English Bay is the place for the evening sunset. The sea is still cold, but a summer afternoon on the sand with a picnic is a real option, and the Kitsilano saltwater pool gives a warmer swim.

Vancouver is far ahead here. Its dim sum and Cantonese seafood rooms, many of them in Richmond, are among the best outside Asia. On top of that come cheap sushi, ramen, Korean barbecue and a coastal larder of spot prawns, oysters and Dungeness crab, with the Granville Island market for grazing.

Canmore feeds hikers well: good bakeries and coffee for an early start, brewpubs for afterwards, and a few kitchens cooking Alberta beef, bison and game. Beyond that there is little range, and for a serious dinner people drive to Banff or Calgary.

In Canmore an hour covers the sights: the small museum on its coal-mining past, a few miners' cottages, the old Mounted Police barracks and the Nordic Centre built for the 1988 Olympics. Anything more means driving to Banff's museums.

Vancouver has more, though still not a great deal. The Museum of Anthropology, with its hall of Northwest Coast totem poles and canoes, is worth a trip on its own. Gastown's Victorian warehouses, the Dr Sun Yat-Sen Garden in Chinatown and Emily Carr's paintings at the Art Gallery fill two or three days.

Canmore's nights end early. A pint in a brewpub with climbers and Calgary weekenders, maybe a band in the corner, and most places are quiet before midnight. For anything later you have to get to Banff.

Vancouver has a reputation for going to bed early, but it offers far more choice. There are wine and cocktail bars in Gastown, brewery taprooms around Main Street, summer patios in Yaletown, clubs on the Granville strip at weekends and the gay bars of Davie Village.

Both are outstanding, but in different ways. In Canmore you are inside the Rockies. Ha Ling Peak and the Three Sisters stand over the streets, scrambles and climbs start from town, and the Icefields Parkway, Moraine Lake and Kananaskis are all within reach. Elk wander through town and bears live on the trails. Winter is long and snowy, with ice climbing and ski touring.

Vancouver puts the mountains and the sea together. You can cycle the Stanley Park seawall, kayak in Deep Cove, go whale watching or ski the lit runs on Grouse after work. The Sea-to-Sky Highway leads to Squamish's granite and to Whistler. Winters there are mild, green and wet rather than snowy.

Vancouver has the better outings, mainly because of Victoria. The harbour, Parliament Buildings and gardens of the island capital make a proper city day out, though the ferry makes it a long one. Steveston, Fort Langley and Bowen Island are gentler half-days.

From Canmore, Banff is twenty minutes away and easily the best trip, with its hot springs, the Whyte Museum and the Cave and Basin site. Calgary is worth the drive for Heritage Park or the Stampede. Beyond those, the trips are into the landscape rather than to other towns.

Vancouver is the easier choice with children. Stanley Park alone has the aquarium, a miniature train, playgrounds and the flat seawall for scooters. Science World, the little ferries to Granville Island's children's market and the suspension bridges over the North Shore canyons fill the rest of the week, and the bus or SkyTrain gets you to most of them.

Canmore works for families who already love the outdoors. They will enjoy spotting elk, the short walk to Grassi Lakes and the pool and climbing wall at the recreation centre. There is nothing built just for children, though, and you need a car and some care around bears on the trails.

Vancouver can be done without a car. The SkyTrain runs from the airport to downtown, the SeaBus crosses to North Vancouver, one card covers both, and the central neighbourhoods are close enough to walk or cycle along the seawall. Kitsilano and the North Shore trails are bus rides, and you only need to drive for trips up the coast.

Canmore's small centre and riverside paths are pleasant on foot or by bike, and a regional bus runs to Banff. The places most people come for, though, such as Kananaskis, many trailheads and the Icefields Parkway, really need a car, as does the drive of over an hour from Calgary airport.

Canmore's Main Street is fine for replacing boots or a waterproof and for an hour in the galleries of mountain paintings. That is about all, and Calgary is where locals go for real shopping.

Vancouver has much more range. Robson and Alberni Streets have the chains and luxury stores, Granville Island has glassblowers and artists' studios, and Main Street and Gastown have vintage and design shops. Northwest Coast Indigenous prints and carvings make the most distinctive thing to take home.

Both are expensive, and neither is much cheaper than the other. Canmore's rooms are priced like a resort next to Banff, and most visitors also pay for a hire car and national park passes. Self-catering condos, supermarket picnics and visits in spring or late autumn help.

Vancouver's downtown hotels are steep in summer, but you can do without a car. Dim sum, noodles and casual sushi keep meals affordable, and the seawall, Stanley Park and the beaches cost nothing.

Canmore has one standout, the long-running Folk Music Festival in a riverside park over the August long weekend. Otherwise there is the odd show at the small arts centre and the Banff Centre up the valley, and most nights little is on.

Vancouver has a full year-round programme. The symphony plays in the ornate 1927 Orpheum, and the opera and Ballet BC have their own seasons. In summer there is Shakespeare in tents at Bard on the Beach, the Fringe on Granville Island, and jazz and folk festivals by the water.

The two are broadly level, but they offer different kinds of rest. Canmore is better for soaking: the historic Upper Hot Springs on Sulphur Mountain and an outdoor Nordic spa in Kananaskis are both a short drive, and the quiet town suits tired legs.

Vancouver relaxes you through its pace. There are yoga studios, good hotel day spas, reflexology in Chinatown and Richmond, and slow seawall walks, but its large outdoor spas are up near Whistler.