Canmore or Whitefish?

Neither town is a beach destination, but Whitefish gives you a proper lake afternoon. City Beach on Whitefish Lake has a sandy strip and a swimming dock, Flathead Lake's clear water and state park shores are forty minutes away, and in high summer the surface water reaches about 20°C on calm days.

Canmore's swimming is a cold dip in Quarry Lake on the edge of town, which stays bracing even in July. It is refreshing after a hike, but not a place to spend the day.

Both towns eat well for their size and offer little range, so the difference is one of flavour. Canmore is at its best at breakfast and after a hike, with bakeries, brewpubs and a few kitchens using bison, game and Pacific Northwest fish. Banff and Calgary are close enough to add variety.

Whitefish leans towards ranch country, with elk burgers, Montana beef and trout. Huckleberries turn up in pies, milkshakes and cocktails in late summer, and the town has a distilling tradition. Over a week you will be going back to the same Central Avenue places.

Both are working towns turned outdoor resorts, with almost nothing to see indoors. Canmore tells its coal-mining story through a small museum, miners' cottages and the old Mounted Police barracks, and its Nordic Centre is a legacy of the 1988 Olympics. Whitefish's railway past is gathered in the timber Great Northern depot and its small history museum. Either one is an afternoon at most.

Whitefish has the livelier evenings. Old-style saloons and brewery taprooms on Central Avenue have pool tables and a mix of ranchers, ski bums and visitors, and in winter the après-ski crowd drifts down from the mountain into town. Nights can get a little rowdy.

Canmore's evenings centre on a pint in a brewpub, sometimes with a band, and most places are quiet before midnight. Anyone wanting a later night has to head up the valley to Banff.

Both are first-rate mountain bases, and the difference is in how you reach the scenery. In Canmore the Three Sisters and Mount Rundle rise straight above the streets, and scrambles, climbing routes and Nordic trails begin in town. Banff National Park and Kananaskis Country cover the rest, and winter adds ice climbing and ski touring.

Whitefish sits forty minutes from Glacier National Park, home to the Going-to-the-Sun Road and hikes such as the Highline Trail and Grinnell Glacier, with grizzlies and mountain goats along the way. Its high country is reliably open only from July to September. In return, Whitefish has lift-served skiing on Big Mountain right above town.

Canmore has the stronger list of places to visit. Banff is twenty minutes away, with the Whyte Museum, the Cave and Basin site and the Banff Springs hotel. Calgary, a little over an hour east, offers Heritage Park, larger museums and the Stampede in July.

From Whitefish, the outings are gentler: the Conrad Mansion in Kalispell, the galleries and summer theatre of Bigfork, and the cherry orchards along Flathead Lake. Most days out go into the park rather than to other towns.

Canmore copes better with a range of children and weather. The flat Bow River paths suit bikes and pushchairs, the short walk to Grassi Lakes ends at water, and elk and bighorn sheep are a daily sight. When it rains, the recreation centre has a pool and a climbing wall. Banff is close by for a change of scene.

Whitefish has its own treats: a zip line and alpine slide on the summer ski slopes, and the calm water at City Beach. But children who don't enjoy hiking or paddling run out of things to do sooner, and the drives into Glacier are long for small passengers.

Getting around is much the same in both: a walkable centre, then a car for nearly everything else. Canmore has the better buses, with local routes, a regional bus to Banff and seasonal Parks Canada shuttles to the busiest lakes. Kananaskis and the Icefields Parkway still need your own wheels.

Whitefish's advantage is the long-distance train, which stops at the depot downtown, and a free shuttle runs to the ski area in winter. Glacier, Flathead Lake and the trailheads are spread along rural highways.

Both offer an afternoon's browsing rather than a shopping trip, with the difference mainly in local character. Canmore's Main Street is good for outdoor gear and has galleries selling mountain paintings and Indigenous art. Whitefish adds western-wear and boot shops and Montana-made goods such as huckleberry jam. For bigger stores you go to Calgary from Canmore and to Kalispell from Whitefish.

Both are expensive resort towns, with the steepest rates in July, August and ski season, and both usually need a hire car. Canmore adds national park passes and tax and tips on meals, but self-catering condos and visits in spring or late autumn help.

In Whitefish the easiest saving is to stay in Kalispell or Columbia Falls rather than in town, and Glacier itself is good value once you are inside.

On most evenings there is little on in either town, though each has its own summer high points. Canmore's Folk Music Festival, one of the oldest in Canada, fills a riverside park over the August long weekend. The Banff Centre up the valley adds classical concerts and the Banff Mountain Film Festival.

Whitefish relies on a professional summer theatre company, the valley symphony's summer festival in Kalispell and free outdoor concerts.

Canmore is the better place to recover from the trails. The mineral pool of the Banff Upper Hot Springs is about half an hour away, and Kananaskis Village has a large spa with outdoor hot and cold pools under the peaks.

Whitefish has spas in its lodges and resorts, yoga in town and quiet mornings by the lake. There are no thermal baths nearby, and the nearest hot springs are a couple of hours' drive away.