Durango, Colorado or Moab?

Neither town is a beach destination, and in both, swimming is a way to cool off in summer rather than a day by the water. What differs is the setting. Durango has a small swimming area at Lake Nighthorse, sandy edges at Vallecito Lake and the local habit of tubing the Animas through town. Moab has Mill Creek's shallow pools, Ken's Lake and sandbars on a fast, silty Colorado River where you need to take care.

Durango eats better. Around Main Avenue there are green-chile plates, steakhouses and a few kitchens cooking Colorado lamb and trout. The town also has an unusual number of breweries for its size, which makes the evening pint a highlight.

Moab's Main Street is about refuelling: burgers, tacos, pizza and big portions for hungry hikers. Choice thins in winter, there are queues on busy evenings, and Utah's alcohol rules make a drink with dinner more formal than in a Colorado taproom.

Durango has a modest but real set of sights. There is the railway depot from the town's founding in 1880 with its roundhouse museum, several blocks of brick and sandstone Victorian hotels and saloons, and a respected Southwestern and Native American collection at the college on the mesa.

Moab itself offers little beyond the small Museum of Moab and a few buildings from the uranium boom. Its history is out on the cliffs, in the Ancestral Puebloan and Fremont petroglyph panels along Potash Road and Kane Creek. They are rewarding, but they fill a morning rather than a stay.

Durango's evenings have more to them. You can have a pint on a patio along Main Avenue or a drink in an old saloon with a piano player and Victorian wallpaper, and student bars fill up at weekends. There is little dancing, though, and the town goes quiet before midnight.

Moab is quieter still. A couple of brewpubs and a few bars fill with bikers and rafters, there are no clubs and most of the town is asleep by eleven. Its best night out is the very dark, star-filled sky.

Both are first-rate, but Moab's landscape is the more extraordinary. Arches begins minutes from town and Canyonlands spreads its maze of canyons below Island in the Sky. The Slickrock Trail, the Whole Enchilada descent, canyoneering and climbing make it a world centre for desert sport.

Durango offers alpine country instead: the San Juan Mountains, the start of the Colorado Trail, high lakes in the Weminuche Wilderness and rafting through the middle of town. It also works in winter, when a full ski resort half an hour north has deep snow, while Moab's winter trails are cold and quiet.

Durango is much the better base for days out. Mesa Verde's cliff dwellings are a couple of hours' drive away, and the narrow-gauge steam train climbs the Animas canyon to Silverton. Ouray, the Aztec ruins, Chimney Rock and the hot-spring town of Pagosa Springs each fill a day.

From Moab, the great outings are the national parks themselves. Beyond them the towns are small, such as Green River, Monticello and Bluff. Hovenweep and Edge of the Cedars reward a long drive south, and Grand Junction's wineries take most of two hours each way.

Durango is the easier choice with children. The steam train, gentle tubing on the river, the summer alpine coaster and ziplines at the ski area and the ladders at Mesa Verde give younger children plenty to do. The altitude can tire them for the first day or two.

Moab suits older, active children who like scrambling on rock. There are short walks to Sand Dune Arch, dinosaur tracks and Junior Ranger programmes. Summer heat, unfenced drops at viewpoints and long drives make it hard work with toddlers.

You need a car in both, but less so in Durango. Its flat centre takes a quarter of an hour to walk from end to end, a paved river trail links parks and neighbourhoods, and a trolley and bus service runs along the main corridor.

Moab has no useful public transport. Main Street is walkable and a paved path takes cyclists to the Arches entrance, but the parks lie along long desert roads and dirt tracks. Visitors without a vehicle rely on shuttles run by outfitters, and a high-clearance car lets you reach much more of the backcountry.

Durango's Main Avenue has things worth taking home: Navajo and Pueblo silver, turquoise and rugs, Western wear and boots, and art galleries alongside the outdoor shops. It makes a pleasant hour or two, though there is no fashion or luxury shopping.

Moab's Main Street is more practical, with bike, climbing and camping stores, rock shops selling geodes and fossils, and a few galleries. It is better for a spare tyre than a present.

Both are expensive small American resort towns, with scarce rooms, full restaurant prices and a hire car to budget for. The savings work differently. In Moab, public campgrounds, free dispersed camping and national park entry that covers a week keep costs down if you sleep outdoors, and winter is much cheaper. In Durango, spring and late autumn are the cheaper times and the trails and river are free, but the steam train and guided trips add up.

Durango has a small but more varied stage. The concert hall at the college hosts touring music and dance, and the community arts centre has a small theatre. Summer adds a chamber and orchestral festival, a Victorian melodrama where the audience boos the villain, and cowboy shows with a chuckwagon supper.

Live performance in Moab mostly comes down to its end-of-summer chamber music festival, with memorable concerts in canyon grottoes reached by boat. The rest of the year there is little beyond a band in a brewpub at the weekend.

Durango is clearly the place to unwind. Pools fed by a natural mineral spring are minutes north of town, Pagosa Springs and Ouray have more, and slow riverside mornings suit a soak after a ride.

Moab has no hot springs worth the trip and only a handful of day spas, mostly for sore legs. Rest there means stillness: red cliffs at sunset, dark skies, or a ranch or cabin up in the La Sal Mountains.