Durango, Colorado or Las Vegas?

Neither city is a place for swimming, and both are far from any coast. The difference is the water. In Durango it is cold mountain water: a quick dip at Lake Nighthorse or a tube float down the Animas on a July afternoon.

Las Vegas replaces nature with engineering, with sand-lined wave pools and lazy rivers at the Strip resorts. Lake Mead's gravel Boulder Beach has warmer water, but the shore there is bare and has no shade.

Las Vegas is by far the better place to eat. The Strip has outposts of famous chefs, French dining rooms and tasting menus. Spring Mountain Road adds kilometres of Sichuan, Korean, Thai and Vietnamese cooking, much of it open late.

Durango sticks to green-chile plates, steakhouses and a few kitchens cooking Colorado lamb and trout. Its real strength is beer, with more craft breweries than you would expect in a town its size. It is the better choice only for a relaxed pint after a ride.

Neither is a sightseeing city, and you can see the main sights of either in an afternoon or an evening. Durango's sights are real history: the steam locomotives and the roundhouse museum, Victorian brick blocks from the mining boom, and a respected Native American collection at the college.

Las Vegas offers spectacle instead: the themed resorts, the fountains and the Fremont Street light show. Its history is concentrated in the Neon Museum's old casino signs and the Mob Museum in the former federal courthouse.

This is the category where Las Vegas pulls furthest ahead. Resort clubs bring in world-famous DJs, dayclubs fill the afternoons and casino bars never close. Downtown's Fremont Street and the arts district add cheaper dive bars and cocktail lounges.

Durango goes to bed early. An evening means a taproom, a patio on Main Avenue or a saloon with a piano player, and the town is quiet well before midnight.

In Durango you are right in the landscape. There is mountain biking from the edge of town, the start of the Colorado Trail, peaks above 4,000m in the Weminuche, rafting through the centre and a ski resort half an hour north. It works in summer, autumn and winter alike.

Las Vegas has superb desert within reach: Red Rock's sandstone climbing, Valley of Fire's petroglyphs and Mount Charleston's pine forest. But all of it means a drive, and from June to September the heat limits desert hiking to the hours around dawn.

Durango has the better set of outings. Mesa Verde's cliff dwellings, the narrow-gauge train to Silverton, Ouray beneath its cliffs, the ruins at Aztec and the Chimney Rock pueblo give you a different day each time, though nearly all of them need a car.

From Las Vegas the obvious outing is Hoover Dam with Boulder City, which fills half a day. The Grand Canyon, Zion and Death Valley are long journeys sold as tours, and you go for the landscape rather than for a town or a historic site.

Durango is the easier choice with children. The steam train, gentle tubing, the alpine coaster and ziplines at the ski area and the ladders at Mesa Verde all suit them. There is little to do on a rainy day, though, and the altitude can tire small children at first.

Las Vegas has an indoor amusement park, a shark aquarium and the Discovery Children's Museum, which is enough for a day or two. But routes that pass through casino floors and the late-night atmosphere make it an awkward base for a family.

Both need a car for anything outside the centre, but the centres themselves are quite different. Durango's is small and flat. The walk from the depot to the top of Main Avenue is short, and the Animas River trail links the parks for walkers and cyclists.

Las Vegas looks walkable but is not quite. The Strip is about 6km of huge resorts, with footbridges and casino interiors in the way and summer heat on top. The monorail, buses that run day and night, and ride-hailing fill the gap.

Las Vegas is the place for shopping. The major fashion and jewellery houses are in the resort malls, and the Fashion Show mall and two outlet centres add more, all open late.

Durango's Main Avenue fills an hour of browsing, but it has the local character Las Vegas lacks. There is Navajo and Pueblo silver, turquoise, rugs, Western boots and serious outdoor gear.

Durango's costs follow the seasons. Rooms are scarce and expensive in summer and at the height of the ski season, while spring and late autumn bring prices down. The trails, the river and the views cost nothing, though a hire car is hard to do without.

In Las Vegas the day of the week matters more than the month. Midweek rooms can be good value, but weekends and conventions push them up several times over, and resort fees, cocktails and shows add up. Eating in Chinatown helps.

Las Vegas is well ahead. Dozens of shows play every night, from water-based acrobatics and magicians to stars on long residencies. The Smith Center adds touring Broadway musicals and the Philharmonic.

Durango's stage life is small and mostly happens in summer. There is a chamber and orchestral festival, a Victorian melodrama where the audience boos the villain, and cowboy music with a chuckwagon supper outside town.

Durango is the more restful place. Mineral pools a few minutes up the valley, the terraced springs at Pagosa Springs and Ouray's pools are a natural way to end a day outdoors, and the town itself is calm.

Las Vegas has some of the largest hotel spas in the country, with thermal circuits and salt rooms. The casinos around them work against rest, though. Staying at a hotel without a casino and booking spa time early in the day both help.