Durango, Colorado or Kansas City?

Neither place is a beach destination, and the swimming differs in kind. In Durango, swimming means a cold dip in a mountain lake at Lake Nighthorse or Vallecito, or floating the Animas through town on an inner tube, all in a short summer season.

In Kansas City, swimming means a sandy lake beach in a county park on the edge of the metro area, or a hotel pool. The water is warmer, but it is mostly for an afternoon with children.

Kansas City has one food tradition people travel for. Its hickory-smoked barbecue and burnt ends range from old counters near the stockyards to smart dining rooms, and the River Market and the Westside add Vietnamese, Ethiopian and Mexican cooking.

Durango eats well in a smaller, narrower way. It has green-chile plates, steakhouses and a few kitchens using Colorado lamb and trout. Its real strength is beer, with a remarkable number of breweries for a town its size. There is little cooking from further afield.

Durango's sights are about its own story. The steam railway, the roundhouse museum and a few blocks of Victorian brick and sandstone take an afternoon. The great ancestral Puebloan sites lie out in the surrounding country rather than in town.

Kansas City has institutions of national weight. The Nelson-Atkins has a fine Chinese collection, the WWI museum is the country's main museum of that war, and the Negro Leagues and jazz museums sit at 18th and Vine. Allow two or three days, with a car or the streetcar between them.

A Durango evening is a brewery patio or a Victorian saloon with a piano player, and the town is quiet well before midnight because most people have an early trailhead start.

Kansas City offers more choice and later hours. The Power and Light District has big sports bars, Westport is the student bar strip, and the Crossroads has cocktails. Clubbing is limited in both, and Kansas City is mainly a weekend city.

This is Durango's great advantage. The San Juan Mountains rise straight from the Animas valley, with famous mountain-bike trails from the edge of town, the start of the Colorado Trail and wilderness peaks above 4,000m. Add rafting, fly-fishing and deep winter snow.

Kansas City's surroundings are gently rolling prairie and river farmland. Swope Park, the Loose Park rose garden and the creekside trails are pleasant for a walk. For real hiking country, the Ozarks are several hours' drive away.

Durango's day trips are major sights in their own right. Mesa Verde National Park is about an hour west, and the cliff dwellings are roughly another hour's drive across the mesa top, so it fills a full day. The narrow-gauge steam train up the Animas canyon to Silverton takes most of a day. There are also Puebloan ruins at Aztec and Chimney Rock.

From Kansas City, the outings are pleasant half days: Truman's home in Independence, the university main street in Lawrence or the river town of Weston. You need a car for nearly all of these trips from either place.

Kansas City is the easier choice with children. Worlds of Fun and its water park, a large zoo, Science City in Union Station and the aquarium and Legoland centre at Crown Center give you options in any weather. The catch is the driving between them.

Durango suits active families. Children enjoy the steam train, gentle tubing, the summer alpine coaster and the ladders at Mesa Verde. There is little for a rainy day, though, and the altitude can tire small children at first.

Both places really need a car, but in different ways. Durango's centre is small and flat. You can walk from the depot to the top of Main Avenue in a quarter of an hour, and a river trail links the town. Beyond that, the trailheads, the ski area and Mesa Verde are all reached by mountain highway.

Kansas City is larger. Its streetcar along Main Street links the River Market, downtown, Union Station and Crown Center, so a base on that line allows a day or two without a car. The zoo, the theme park and the outer sights need driving or a ride-hail.

Kansas City has the wider range. The Spanish-style Country Club Plaza has upmarket and chain stores, the Crossroads has independent design and vintage shops, and the 39th Street area has records and thrift stores.

Durango's shopping is one stroll down Main Avenue. The items most worth a look are Navajo and Pueblo turquoise and silver, Western boots and good outdoor gear.

Neither is cheap, and both usually mean hiring a car and tipping on every meal. Kansas City comes out a little cheaper. Hotel rooms, even downtown, cost less than in a resort, barbecue lunches are filling, and the Nelson-Atkins is free to enter.

Durango's rooms are scarce and expensive in summer and at the ski peak, and guided rafting and the steam train add up. Its saving is that the trails and river views are free, and spring and late autumn are noticeably cheaper.

Kansas City has a music tradition of its own. The swing and blues jazz of Count Basie and Charlie Parker still plays most nights around 18th and Vine. The Kauffman Center is home to the symphony, opera and ballet, and Starlight Theatre stages musicals in the open air in summer.

Durango's stage life is mostly a summer affair. There is a chamber and orchestral festival, a melodrama where the audience boos the villain, and cowboy music over a chuckwagon supper. Out of season, there is little on most nights.

Durango is the better place to unwind, mainly because of its hot springs. The mineral pools a few minutes north of town are made for soaking after a ride or a day of skiing, and Pagosa Springs and Ouray are within reach.

Kansas City's nearest equivalent is the old spa town of Excelsior Springs, about forty minutes north. Otherwise it offers hotel spas, a slow morning in the rose garden at Loose Park and the sculpture park at the Nelson-Atkins.