Colorado Springs or Dallas?

Neither city is a beach destination. Colorado Springs is high in the Rockies and Dallas is more than four hours from the Gulf. In Colorado Springs, swimming means a pool or a chilly reservoir, and many visitors go rafting on the Arkansas instead.

Dallas has the warmer water. Lewisville and Grapevine lakes have sandy park beaches through a long, hot summer, and Arlington's water parks are better for children, though the brown shores are nothing special.

Dallas is much the better city for eating. Smoked brisket, Tex-Mex, steakhouses and Oak Cliff taco trucks give it a strong regional cooking style. Beyond that, the suburbs add Vietnamese and Chinese food in Richardson, a Koreatown in Carrollton and South Asian cooking in Irving.

Colorado Springs eats casually. There is green chile on most menus, burgers and food trucks outside breweries, and a gap in the middle between brewpubs and the Broadmoor's formal dining rooms. Its local beer is the part worth seeking out.

Dallas has more to see. Dealey Plaza and the Sixth Floor Museum draw visitors from everywhere, and the Arts District groups the Dallas Museum of Art, the Nasher and the Crow Museum within easy walking distance. Fair Park's Art Deco buildings add architecture worth the trip.

Colorado Springs has a handful of separate sights rather than a cultural centre. The best are the aluminium spires of the Air Force Academy's Cadet Chapel, the Olympic and Paralympic Museum and a Southwestern-leaning Fine Arts Center. Most visitors here spend more time on trails than in galleries.

Dallas offers a real choice of nights out. Deep Ellum is scruffy and late, Uptown is polished patio bars and cocktail lounges, and Lower Greenville has rooftops, with everything running until the 2am close.

Colorado Springs is mostly a few blocks of Tejon Street. You get sports bars and brewpubs full of students and soldiers at weekends, and very little on weeknights. It suits an early beer after a day of hiking.

This is Colorado Springs' strongest point, and the two cities are far apart here. Pikes Peak rises more than 4,300m right above town, Garden of the Gods and Red Rock Canyon have both easy paths and serious climbing, and the Manitou Incline tests the fittest. The Great Sand Dunes and the ski resorts are both within reach.

Dallas offers pleasant city green space rather than scenery. There is the White Rock Lake loop, the Katy Trail and the Great Trinity Forest, with limestone hiking at Cedar Ridge. The summer heat drives most activity into the early morning.

Both cities have a good range of outings, and nearly all of them need a car. From Colorado Springs, the trips go into the mountains: the gold-mining towns of Cripple Creek and Victor, the Royal Gorge and, a little over an hour north, Denver.

From Dallas, the trips are about towns and their history. Fort Worth is the standout, with the Stockyards and the Kimbell, and it can be reached by train. After that come courthouse squares in McKinney and Denton, and the wine rooms in Grapevine.

Both work well with children, in different ways. Colorado Springs is for outdoor families: hand-feeding giraffes at the mountainside Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, cave tours, the Manitou Cliff Dwellings and the cog railway. Altitude and strong sun need watching.

Dallas has the big attractions Colorado Springs lacks, including Six Flags and a water park in Arlington, the Dallas World Aquarium and the Perot Museum. On the downside, summer heat makes days outdoors hard from June to September.

Both are car cities, but Dallas is a little easier without one. DART light rail runs from both airports to downtown, Deep Ellum and Fair Park, the TRE train goes to Fort Worth, and the free M-Line streetcar links Uptown with the Arts District.

Colorado Springs has a thin bus network and sights strung out along the foothills, with the zoo up a mountain road. Downtown, Old Colorado City and Manitou Springs are pleasant on foot, but a hire car is essential for almost everything else.

Dallas is a serious shopping city. Neiman Marcus began here, NorthPark Center and Highland Park Village carry the luxury labels, and Western wear runs all the way to custom boot makers.

Colorado Springs is modest by comparison. Its most interesting shopping is the rock and gem shops, galleries and outdoor-gear stores in the old storefronts of Old Colorado City and Manitou Springs. Beyond those there are highway malls and outlets.

Both cost about the same as a typical mid-priced American city, and both need a hire car. Where you save is different. In Colorado Springs, the free parks and trails keep the days cheap. In Dallas, inexpensive barbecue and tacos and free museums keep costs down, while Uptown hotels and steakhouses push them back up.

Dallas has much more on stage. In the Arts District, the Dallas Symphony plays in I. M. Pei's Meyerson Symphony Center, the Dallas Opera and touring Broadway shows fill the Winspear, and Deep Ellum clubs host live bands most nights.

Colorado Springs has a local philharmonic, a Fine Arts Center theatre company and summer concerts in its amphitheatre. You may find a good evening there, but it will not be a reason to choose the city.

Colorado Springs is the more restful choice. Manitou Springs grew up as a health resort, its carbonated springs still run from public fountains, and there is a small outdoor soaking spa as well as the Broadmoor's full resort spa.

Dallas has no bathing tradition. Relaxing there means polished hotel spas and day-spa chains, though the Korean-style bathhouse in the north of the city is a good place to spend a slow day.