Durango, Colorado or Page, Arizona?

Page has a real place to swim. In midsummer Lake Powell is warm enough to stay in for a long time, and the dry heat makes every swim welcome. Lone Rock has open sand you can drive down to, and Wahweap and its coves are close to the marina.

The best water is reached by boat or kayak, among red rock coves where you jump off ledges into deep water. Durango has nothing like it. Its options are a quick cold swim at Lake Nighthorse or Vallecito, or tubing down the Animas, and even in July the water stays chilly.

Durango eats noticeably better. Around Main Avenue you find green-chile plates, a few serious kitchens cooking Colorado lamb and trout, and a surprising number of craft breweries for a town its size.

Page mostly feeds tour groups and road-trippers, with diners, barbecue and chains along the strip. The one dish worth seeking out is the Navajo taco, frybread piled with beans and meat. Neither town is worth a trip for the food alone.

Durango has the more interesting history to walk through. The 1880 railway still runs from its old depot, there is a roundhouse museum, and a few blocks of Victorian brick and sandstone remain from the mining boom. The college on the mesa also holds a respected Southwestern and Native American collection.

Page was built in the 1950s for workers on the dam, so its main sights are the dam visitor centre and a small museum about John Wesley Powell. In both places the deeper heritage is out in the surrounding country, among the Puebloan ruins and on the Navajo Nation.

Neither town stays out late, but Durango at least gives you a choice of evenings. You can try brewery patios, an old saloon with a piano player, or the student bars that fill up at weekends.

Page has a few bars and a brewpub and goes quiet very early, since most visitors are up before dawn for the canyons. Its best night out is the dark desert sky full of stars.

Both towns sit in outstanding country, but it is very different country. Durango is alpine. The San Juan peaks rise above 4,000m, singletrack starts at the edge of town, and the Colorado Trail heads north from here. Rafters run the Animas through the centre, the aspens turn gold in autumn, and there is deep snow in winter.

Page is red-rock desert. It has the curved slot walls of Antelope Canyon, the drop at Horseshoe Bend, Lake Powell's flooded canyons leading to Rainbow Bridge, and the Vermilion Cliffs. Here the summer heat sends you onto the water, whereas in Durango it is the best time for the high trails.

Durango is much the stronger base for days out. Mesa Verde National Park is about an hour west, and another hour of driving across the mesa top brings you to the cliff dwellings tucked into the canyon walls, so it fills a whole day. The narrow-gauge steam train climbs the Animas canyon to the old mining town of Silverton, with Ouray an hour further on. The Aztec ruins to the south and the Chimney Rock pueblo to the east add more ancestral Puebloan sites.

From Page, the trips are mostly to landscape rather than to towns. Lees Ferry and its pioneer ranch make an easy half day, and Kanab, a small Western town with a film-set past, is about an hour and a quarter west. The cliff dwellings at Betatakin are around two hours away, and beyond these the towns are few and small. From either base, nearly all of this needs a car.

Durango gives children more to do. The steam train is a guaranteed hit, the river is gentle enough for summer tubing, and the ski area has an alpine coaster in summer and beginner slopes in winter. The ladders at Mesa Verde bring history to life, though the altitude can tire young children for the first day or two.

Page has fewer options. Lake days and the short Antelope Canyon tours work well, but the summer sun is punishing, and the sheer, mostly unfenced edges at Horseshoe Bend mean holding small hands tightly.

Durango is the easier town to be in without a car. The centre is flat and takes about a quarter of an hour to walk end to end, a paved trail follows the Animas, and a trolley runs along the main corridor. It also has a small regional airport where you can rent a car.

Page has no useful public transport. The lake, Horseshoe Bend and the parks all need a car, and the nearest major airports are hours away. In practice, almost everyone arrives on a road trip.

Durango's Main Avenue makes a pleasant afternoon. It has outdoor shops for bikes and fishing gear, galleries, Western boots and wear, and stores selling Navajo and Pueblo silver and rugs.

Page has mainly gift shops and supermarkets for stocking a houseboat. Its strength is Native American craft from trading posts and roadside stalls, where you can buy turquoise directly from the people who made it.

The two cost about the same overall, but the money goes in different places. In Durango, the bills come from full-price restaurant meals plus tip, the steam train, guided rafting and a hire car. The trails are free, and spring and late autumn are noticeably cheaper.

In Page, the big cost is that Antelope Canyon can only be seen on a paid tour, and boat hire on the lake is expensive. Camping at Lone Rock or Wahweap and coming in winter are the ways to spend less.

Durango has a small but real stage life. A long-running summer festival brings chamber and orchestral music, the college concert hall hosts touring acts, and in summer you can boo the villain at the Victorian melodrama or catch a chuckwagon supper show.

Page has almost nothing comparable. There are occasional Navajo dance presentations for visitors and the odd band in a bar, but nothing to plan an evening around.

Durango is a far better place to slow down. Spring-fed mineral pools sit a few minutes up the valley, which is ideal after a ride or a day on the slopes, and Pagosa Springs and Ouray have more pools within driving distance.

Page has no springs or spas beyond hotel offerings and motel pools. Its calm comes from wide views and dark skies at night, but most visits there are built around early starts and long drives.