Colorado Springs or San Antonio?

Neither city is a beach destination. San Antonio offers a little more: the clear, spring-fed Comal and San Marcos rivers under an hour away make summer tubing a real afternoon out, and Hill Country swimming holes add to that. Colorado Springs, high in the Rockies, has pools and chilly reservoirs, and its water days mean rafting rather than swimming.

San Antonio is the place to come hungry. It is the home of Tex-Mex, from handmade flour tortillas to puffy tacos and Sunday barbacoa, with Central Texas brisket and the Pearl's market and restaurants on top. The best of it is in family places on the West and South Sides.

Colorado Springs eats casually and well enough, with green chile, burgers and food trucks outside the breweries. Its local beer is the highlight, and there is little in the middle between brewpubs and the formal Broadmoor dining rooms.

San Antonio has far more to see. Its five Spanish missions, the Alamo among them, form a World Heritage Site along the river, and downtown adds the cathedral, the Governor's Palace and the King William mansions, with the McNay and the Museum of Art for painting.

Colorado Springs has a handful of sights spread across town: the Air Force Academy's aluminium-spired chapel, the Olympic museum and a Southwestern-leaning Fine Arts Center. They make good stops on the way to the trails, not a reason to come.

San Antonio gives a fuller evening, though neither is a party city. Locals spread between the St. Mary's Strip, Southtown and the Pearl, with open-air icehouses and Tejano dance halls adding Texas character. Colorado Springs gathers on a few blocks of Tejon Street, and its taprooms often close well before midnight.

Colorado Springs is in a different league here. Pikes Peak rises over 4,300m right above town, and Garden of the Gods, Red Rock Canyon and North Cheyenne Cañon put climbing, waterfalls and hiking minutes from the suburbs. The Great Sand Dunes and ski resorts are both within a drive.

San Antonio's outdoors are gentler: Government Canyon's trails, limestone caverns, kayaking on the Guadalupe and spring bluebonnets in the Hill Country. Without mountains on that scale, and with long hot summers, it is a nice extra rather than the point of the trip.

The two are about even, and both need a car, but the outings differ. From Colorado Springs you head into the mountains, to the gold-mining towns of Cripple Creek and Victor, the Royal Gorge or Denver. From San Antonio the drives run through the Hill Country's German towns and wineries around Fredericksburg, or to Austin for music and the Capitol.

San Antonio has a slight edge, mainly because of SeaWorld and Six Flags Fiesta Texas, plus the Witte Museum's dinosaurs and River Walk boat rides. Colorado Springs suits outdoorsy children instead: feeding giraffes at the mountainside zoo, the cog railway and cave tours, but no big theme park. In both cities you spend a lot of time in the car.

Both cities are built around the car, but San Antonio is easier without one. Its compact downtown links the Alamo, the cathedral and the Pearl along the shaded River Walk, and you can cycle the river path to the missions.

In Colorado Springs, only the small centres of downtown, Old Colorado City and Manitou are walkable. The attractions sit along the foothills and buses are sparse, so a hire car is close to essential.

Shopping in Colorado Springs is modest. The most interesting stops are the rock and gem shops, galleries, Western wear and outdoor-gear stores in the old storefronts of Old Colorado City and Manitou Springs. Beyond those, it is malls and outlets along the highways.

San Antonio gives you more to browse. El Mercado in Market Square sells Mexican crafts, embroidered dresses and papel picado in what feels like a Mexican market, La Villita has artists' studios by the river, and the city's boot and hat makers are a speciality in their own right. Its malls and outlets are bigger too, but neither city is worth the trip for shopping alone.

San Antonio is a little easier on the wallet. Tacos and barbecue are cheap, the missions are free and the convention trade keeps plenty of hotel rooms available. Colorado Springs saves money with free parks and trails, but meals cost the usual American amount and car hire is hard to avoid. In San Antonio, theme parks and riverside hotels are where the costs climb.

Colorado Springs relies on the Philharmonic at the Pikes Peak Center, the Fine Arts Center's theatre company and summer concerts at the outdoor amphitheatre. That is enough for one good evening, but rarely more.

In San Antonio, the Tobin Center hosts symphony, opera and ballet, the ornate Majestic takes touring Broadway shows, and in summer the Arneson's audience sits across the river from the stage. Conjunto and mariachi music give the city a sound of its own in its dance halls and around Market Square, so you are far more likely to find a show worth booking.

Colorado Springs is the more restful of the two, because Manitou Springs grew up as a health resort. You can drink from its carbonated springs, soak in an outdoor tub facing the mountains, or book the Broadmoor's full resort spa. San Antonio has no bathing tradition, so rest means a Hill Country resort spa or a quiet morning in the Japanese Tea Garden before the heat sets in.