Denver or Seattle?

Neither is a beach destination, but Seattle at least has a shoreline. Alki Beach and Golden Gardens look across Puget Sound to the Olympics. The Sound is too cold for more than a paddle, but Lake Washington's lifeguarded beaches make a good July afternoon.

Denver's water is far inland and limited. There are reservoir beaches at Cherry Creek and Chatfield on the edge of the city, and mountain lakes too cold to stay in for long. Otherwise you have the hotel pool.

Seattle has the stronger food scene, built on seafood that you won't easily eat as well elsewhere: oysters, Dungeness crab, wild salmon and geoduck. Pike Place Market is the natural first stop. Add serious coffee roasters, Washington wines and the Asian cooking of the Chinatown-International District, and there is more here to plan meals around.

Denver's strengths are beer and green chile. Taprooms in RiNo and around Coors Field, smothered burritos, and the Vietnamese and Mexican cooking along Federal Boulevard make for good, casual eating. There are fewer dishes worth travelling for.

Both are young Western cities with two or three days of sights, though Seattle has a little more range. The Museum of Flight is the standout. Seattle Center puts the Space Needle, the Chihuly glass and the Museum of Pop Culture together, and the Burke Museum adds Northwest Coast Indigenous art.

Denver's sights sit neatly around Civic Center Park: the gold-domed Capitol, the Denver Art Museum with its Native American collection, and the Clyfford Still Museum, devoted to a single painter. LoDo's brick warehouses and the Beaux-Arts Union Station keep the old gold-rush commercial city in view.

Seattle gives you the fuller night out. Capitol Hill packs cocktail bars, dive bars, dance floors and the city's LGBTQ+ scene into a few streets along Pike and Pine. Ballard's taprooms and Belltown's younger club crowd add variety.

Denver is more about beer: brewery taprooms in RiNo, game-night crowds in LoDo and the scruffy dive bars of East Colfax, with only a small club scene. In both cities last call at 2am ends the night, and in Denver the altitude makes each drink count for more.

Both are superb bases for the mountains, and the difference is in the landscape. Denver faces the dry, high Rockies. It has red sandstone at Red Rocks, the Flatirons by Boulder, summits over 4,000m, and the tundra and elk of Rocky Mountain National Park, and the dry climate keeps the trails welcoming in every season.

Seattle mixes mountains with water. The Cascades begin under an hour east, and Mount Rainier's glaciers and the Olympic rainforest are within reach. Kayaking on Lake Union, or a ferry across the Sound with a chance of seeing orcas, is part of everyday life there, though its outdoor year is split between wet winters and dry summers.

There is little to choose between them, but the trips are of different kinds. Denver's days out are drives to small Western towns: Boulder under the Flatirons, Golden, the Victorian mining towns of Idaho Springs and Georgetown with its narrow-gauge railway, and the old spa town of Manitou Springs.

Seattle's best days out are by ferry, to Bainbridge Island's harbour town or further to Whidbey Island and Victorian Port Townsend. The Woodinville tasting rooms and Tacoma's Museum of Glass are closer. Here the boat ride is an outing in itself, which Denver cannot offer.

Both suit families well, and each has a zoo, a science museum and a children's museum. Denver also has an aquarium and an amusement park grouped by the South Platte, plus the dinosaurs and planetarium at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. You will want a car, though, and should take care with the altitude and strong sun with small children.

Seattle has no theme park, but the Museum of Flight, the waterfront aquarium and the monorail to Seattle Center keep children busy. The steep streets are hard work with a pushchair, and the long wet season means planning indoor days.

Seattle is the easier city without a car. Link light rail runs from the airport through downtown to Capitol Hill and the University District, and one card covers buses, streetcars, the monorail and the ferries. Hills and water make the buses to Ballard or Alki slow.

Denver's flat downtown is easy on foot, with a free shuttle along the 16th Street Mall and a train from the airport to Union Station. Beyond the centre the city spreads out, and the mountains, Red Rocks and most day trips really need a hired car.

Seattle has more interesting browsing, mostly in its neighbourhoods. There are records and vintage on Capitol Hill, Fremont's Sunday market, design shops in Ballard and makers' stalls at Pike Place, with Bellevue across the lake for luxury. Denver's main draw is the Cherry Creek mall and the boutiques around it, plus vintage shops on South Broadway.

Both are good for outdoor gear. Where Denver stands apart is Western wear, so it is the place to buy cowboy boots and hats.

Neither is cheap, but Denver is easier on the budget. Downtown hotels are expensive during conventions and ski season, and a hired car adds to the bill. Staying out along the light rail and eating at taquerias and breweries keeps costs under control.

Seattle costs noticeably more. Summer hotel rates are high, the headline attractions charge high admission, and tax and tipping push up restaurant bills here too. Its public transport saves you the cost of a car, and teriyaki shops and the Pike Place counters keep lunch cheaper.

The two are closely matched but strong in different ways. Denver's great asset is Red Rocks, where a summer concert between sandstone monoliths is something people plan a whole trip around. Behind it are the several stages of the Denver Center for the Performing Arts and the jazz rooms of Five Points.

Seattle goes deeper in both classical and popular music. Pacific Northwest Ballet and Seattle Opera play at McCaw Hall and the symphony at Benaroya Hall. In Belltown, Capitol Hill and Ballard, clubs host bands most nights in the city of Hendrix and grunge.

Neither city has a bathing tradition, and in both, wellness mostly means hotel and day spas. Denver's advantage is distance: the historic mineral pools and steam caves of Idaho Springs are under an hour away, while Seattle's hot springs are a long drive. Seattle answers with Korean-style bathhouses in the suburbs and a slower pace of coffee houses, the Japanese Garden and the Arboretum.