Colorado Springs or Palm Desert?

Neither city has a beach, and both mean pool time. In Colorado Springs, swimming is a public or hotel pool, or a chilly summer dip in a reservoir, and many visitors go rafting on the Arkansas instead.

In Palm Desert, the pool is part of the reason to come. Nearly every resort and rental has one, often heated in winter, while the Pacific is a full day's round trip over the mountains.

The two cities eat equally well, but in very different settings. Colorado Springs is casual and Southwestern, with green chile, barbecue and brewpubs with food trucks outside. Its local beer is the high point, and the old brick blocks of Old Colorado City and Manitou Springs are the nicest places to eat.

Palm Desert is all polished resort dining, with steakhouses and patio bistros along El Paseo that suit a warm winter evening outdoors. Its real local flavour lies in the taquerias of Indio and Coachella and the date groves, where a date shake is the one true regional speciality.

Colorado Springs has more to see, although its sights are spread out. The aluminium spires of the Air Force Academy's Cadet Chapel, the Olympic and Paralympic Museum, the Southwestern collection at the Fine Arts Center and the Gold Rush story at the Pioneers Museum fill a few days of sightseeing.

Palm Desert was built after the Second World War and has little history to show. Its branch of the Palm Springs Art Museum, with its sculpture garden, takes a morning, and for mid-century modern architecture you need to drive west to Palm Springs.

Both places go quiet early, but Colorado Springs has a little more going on. On Tejon Street, sports bars, cocktail bars and a few dance spots fill at weekends with students and young soldiers, though many brewery taprooms close before midnight.

Palm Desert evenings mean wine bars and patio happy hours around El Paseo, with a mostly older crowd of golfers. For anything late you drive to the tribal casinos or to the bars of Palm Springs.

Colorado Springs has the bigger outdoors. Pikes Peak rises above 4,300m right behind town, and you can reach the summit by trail, road or cog railway. Below it are the sandstone fins of Garden of the Gods, the waterfalls of North Cheyenne Cañon and the punishing Manitou Incline. Mountain biking and Arkansas River rafting add to it, and the ski resorts are about two hours away.

Palm Desert has fine desert scenery: trails climb straight into the Santa Rosa Mountains, palm oases hide in the Indian Canyons, and Joshua Tree's boulders are an hour off. Its good season ends when summer heat takes over, while the Colorado trails stay usable for much of the year.

Colorado Springs has the wider choice of outings. Denver's museums are a little over an hour north, the gold-mining towns of Cripple Creek and Victor are up scenic mountain roads, and the Royal Gorge Bridge is about an hour away.

From Palm Desert, Palm Springs is the easy first outing. After that come Temecula's tasting rooms, cool Idyllwild, the Western film set at Pioneertown and the odd painted hillside of Salvation Mountain. Los Angeles and San Diego are too far for comfortable day trips.

Colorado Springs gives children more variety. They can hand-feed giraffes at the mountainside Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, tour Cave of the Winds, explore the Manitou Cliff Dwellings and ride the cog railway, and a small Christmas-themed park sits in the hills. Mind the altitude and the strong sun.

Palm Desert has one excellent outing in The Living Desert, a zoo and botanical garden worth a full morning, plus the Palm Springs tramway and resort pools with slides. Beyond those, the valley is built for golf and adults, and summer middays are too hot for small children.

You will need a car in both. In Colorado Springs, sights are spread along the foothills and up mountain roads, although downtown, Old Colorado City and Manitou Springs are each pleasant to walk, and summer shuttles serve Manitou. Palm Desert is a spread of wide boulevards where only El Paseo invites a stroll, but the roads are uncongested and parking is easy.

Palm Desert is the better place to shop. El Paseo is a palm-lined boulevard of fashion boutiques, jewellers and galleries, and browsing there is a social outing in its own right. A large designer outlet centre is half an hour west, and Palm Springs adds vintage and mid-century furniture.

Colorado Springs is more homespun: rock and gem shops, Western wear, outdoor gear and local crafts in the old storefronts of Old Colorado City and Manitou Springs, with malls and big-box stores beyond. There is no upscale shopping to speak of.

Colorado Springs is the easier place on a budget. Interstate chain hotels are reasonable, and Garden of the Gods, the canyon parks and most trails cost nothing, which keeps daily spending down.

Palm Desert is dearest in its winter and spring high season, and golf and spa treatments add up quickly. In the summer heat, though, resort rates fall sharply. A hire car is an unavoidable extra in both.

Palm Desert has the stronger stage. Through the winter, the McCallum Theatre hosts touring Broadway shows, ballet, orchestras and well-known singers, the casinos book big names, and the Coachella and Stagecoach festivals take over the Indio polo grounds for a few spring weekends.

Colorado Springs has a respectable local programme: the Philharmonic at the Pikes Peak Center, plays and musicals at the Fine Arts Center, and summer concerts at the amphitheatre. Big touring musicals rarely come, so it seldom shapes a trip.

Palm Desert is made for unwinding. Resort spas, long poolside afternoons and an unhurried winter rhythm set the tone, and in Desert Hot Springs, half an hour away, small spa hotels fill their pools from natural hot mineral springs.

Colorado Springs has its own spa history in Manitou Springs, where you can drink carbonated water from public fountains and soak in a small spa with mountain views. The Broadmoor has the full resort spa, but Colorado's famous hot-spring pools are more than two hours away.