Colorado Springs or Palm Springs?

Neither place has a beach, and neither suits a trip built around one. In Colorado Springs, swimming means a public pool or a cold dip in a mountain reservoir or city lake, and most visitors who want to be on the water go rafting on the Arkansas River instead.

In Palm Springs the pool is the whole point. Almost every place to stay is built around one, and the long, hot season of lounging beside it is a large part of a stay. The nearest ocean beaches are about two hours away over the mountains.

Neither town is a reason to travel for food, but each has its own character. Colorado Springs is about craft beer and Southwestern cooking: brewery taprooms with food trucks outside, green chile on most menus, and the old brick blocks of Old Colorado City and Manitou Springs as the nicest places to eat.

Palm Springs suits slower grazing, with brunches on shaded patios and cocktails by the pool. Further down the valley you will find date shakes from the groves around Indio and honest Mexican taquerias.

Palm Springs has the more distinctive sightseeing, and nearly all of it is architecture. The mid-century houses by Frey and Neutra, the folded roofs of Twin Palms and Vista Las Palmas, and the tramway valley station make an easy day of self-guided touring by car or bike. The art museum and the Agua Caliente Cultural Museum add a little more.

The sights in Colorado Springs are fewer and further apart. The aluminium spires of the Air Force Academy's Cadet Chapel are the highlight, and the Olympic and Paralympic Museum, the Fine Arts Center and the Pioneers Museum each fill an hour or two.

Palm Springs has the more enjoyable evenings out. Arenas Road is a long-established strip of LGBTQ bars with patios and drag nights, there are hotel pool parties at weekends in spring, and Palm Canyon Drive has retro-styled cocktail lounges. It is sociable, though rarely late.

In Colorado Springs, evenings mean a pint in a brewery taproom after a day outdoors. The sports bars and few dance spots on Tejon Street fill up with students and young soldiers at weekends, but the town goes quiet early on weeknights.

Both towns sit under a mountain, but Colorado Springs gives you more to do outdoors and for more of the year. Pikes Peak rises above 4,300m and you can hike, drive or take the train to the top. The rest of the list is long: climbing on the red rock of Garden of the Gods, waterfalls in North Cheyenne Cañon, the punishing Incline, excellent mountain biking, rafting and the Great Sand Dunes.

Palm Springs has a different kind of drama. The tramway climbs from the desert floor into the pine forest on San Jacinto, the Indian Canyons hide palm oases, and Joshua Tree is about an hour away. From June to September, though, the heat limits hiking to dawn or the top of the mountain.

Colorado Springs has more and bigger day trips. Denver's museums are a little over an hour north, and the gold-mining towns of Cripple Creek and Victor, with their head frames still standing, are about an hour up steep scenic roads. The Royal Gorge Bridge is about an hour away, and longer drives reach Breckenridge and Salida.

From Palm Springs the trips are smaller and quirkier: the pine village of Idyllwild, the old film set at Pioneertown, and the abandoned resort towns and Salvation Mountain on the Salton Sea. Los Angeles and San Diego are too far for a comfortable day out.

Colorado Springs is the better place to bring children. The zoo on Cheyenne Mountain, where children can hand-feed giraffes, the cog railway, Cave of the Winds, the Manitou Cliff Dwellings and a long-running Christmas-themed park in the hills each make a short, easy outing.

Palm Springs leans towards adults, with adults-only boutique hotels and a social life built around cocktails. The Living Desert, the tramway and the Air Museum are good half days, but from late spring the midday heat keeps everyone indoors or in the pool.

You will need a hire car in either place. Colorado Springs has three separate walkable pockets, downtown, Old Colorado City and Manitou Springs, with the sights spread along the foothills between them and a thin bus network.

Palm Springs has one compact, flat downtown along Palm Canyon Drive, and in the cooler months a bike works well for the mid-century neighbourhoods. The airport is right on the edge of town, which helps on a short stay, but walking at midday in summer is out of the question.

Palm Springs is the better place to shop. The consignment shops and galleries of the Uptown Design District specialise in mid-century furniture, lighting and vintage clothing. El Paseo in Palm Desert covers luxury, and the big outlet centres at Cabazon are about twenty minutes away.

Colorado Springs is more modest and more outdoorsy. Its best shopping is in the old storefronts of Old Colorado City and Manitou Springs, with Western wear, rock and gem shops and outdoor gear, and beyond those there are malls and big-box stores along the highways.

Colorado Springs is the cheaper place to stay. There are plenty of reasonably priced chain hotels along the interstate, and Garden of the Gods, the canyon parks and most trails are free, which keeps the daily spend down.

Palm Springs charges resort prices from winter into spring, when boutique hotels and pool houses are in demand, and festival weekends push prices higher still. Summer is the exception, when rooms become a bargain for anyone who can take the heat.

Palm Springs has a little more going on, and it is more characteristic of the place. Drag cabaret and piano bars are part of the town's identity. The McCallum Theatre brings in touring shows, the casinos book well-known acts, and Coachella and Stagecoach fill the Indio polo grounds each April, although the programme largely stops in summer.

Colorado Springs offers more conventional fare: the Philharmonic at the Pikes Peak Center, plays and musicals at the Fine Arts Center, and summer concerts at the outdoor amphitheatre. You might catch something good on the right night, but it rarely shapes a trip.

Palm Springs is the far better place to unwind. You can soak in the mineral water of the Agua Caliente bathhouse downtown, or in the spa motels of Desert Hot Springs, whose pools come straight from a hot aquifer. Resort spas are found across the valley, and the unhurried routine of pool, late breakfast and pink evening light on the mountains is half the appeal.

Colorado Springs has its own spring heritage. Manitou's carbonated fountains still run, and there is a small soaking spa and the Broadmoor's resort spa. The well-known Colorado hot-spring pools, though, are more than two hours away.