Durango, Colorado or Palm Desert?

Neither town is a beach destination, but the water they offer is quite different. Durango's is cold and natural: tubing the Animas through town, or a short summer dip at Lake Nighthorse or the sandy edges of Vallecito.

Palm Desert's water is the resort pool, often heated in winter, and lying beside one is a large part of any stay. Sand and surf mean a two-hour drive to the Pacific.

Neither town is worth the journey for food alone, and both will feed you well, but in different ways. Durango's strength is its beer: few towns of its size have so many breweries, and the cooking draws on what the region produces, from green chile to Colorado lamb and mountain trout. It is casual, hearty eating built around a day outdoors, with little from further afield.

Palm Desert has more polish and less character. Its resort and El Paseo dining rooms are comfortable and dependable, but after a few nights they start to look alike. For variety you drive, west to Palm Springs or east to the Mexican kitchens of Indio and the date groves, where a date shake is the closest thing the valley has to a signature.

Neither has much to see, but Durango has a real story to tell. Its 1880 railway is still running, with the depot and roundhouse museum on Main Avenue and a downtown of brick and sandstone buildings from the mining boom. The college also holds a respected Native American collection.

Palm Desert dates from after the Second World War, so its culture is the art museum's branch with its sculpture garden and the galleries on El Paseo. The valley's more interesting sights, the mid-century modern houses, are in Palm Springs.

A Durango evening ends with a pint in a brewery taproom or a drink in an old saloon with a piano player and Victorian wallpaper. In Palm Desert, it ends with a glass of wine on a patio around El Paseo. Durango's college students keep a few bars lively at weekends, but the town of early risers is quiet well before midnight.

Palm Desert's lounges serve a crowd of retirees and golfers and close early too. A later night there means a drive to a tribal casino or to the bars of downtown Palm Springs, including its well-known gay scene.

Durango is in a different league outdoors. The San Juans rise above it, the Weminuche Wilderness has peaks above 4,000m, the Colorado Trail starts just north of town, and rafting, fly-fishing and mountain biking start almost at the door. In winter, deep snow at the nearby ski resort means the outdoor year continues.

Palm Desert's landscape is dramatic in its own way, with trails climbing straight into the Santa Rosa Mountains, palm oases in the Indian Canyons and Joshua Tree's boulders an hour away. But the summer heat restricts all of this to the hours around dawn.

Durango's excursions are more remarkable. Mesa Verde's cliff dwellings lie to the west, the narrow-gauge steam train climbs the canyon to Silverton, and the ancestral Puebloan ruins at Aztec and Chimney Rock add more ancient history, with Ouray and Pagosa Springs further on.

Palm Desert's outings are more of a mixed bag: Palm Springs twenty minutes away, Temecula's tasting rooms, cool Idyllwild, the Pioneertown film set and the folk art of Salvation Mountain. In both places, almost every outing means a car.

Durango keeps children busy with a string of outdoor outings, while Palm Desert has one big attraction to build a day around, so the two end up close. In Durango there is the steam train up the canyon, gentle tubing on the river, the alpine coaster and ziplines in summer and the ladders up to Mesa Verde's cliff dwellings. The altitude can tire small children for the first day or two.

Palm Desert's highlight is the Living Desert, a large zoo and botanical garden with giraffes and cheetahs that fills a morning. Resort pools with slides and the Palm Springs tramway help, but little else in the valley is aimed at children, and midday summer heat keeps young ones indoors.

In Durango you can at least park the car once you arrive. The flat centre is a quarter-hour walk end to end, a paved river trail links parks for walking and cycling, and a trolley runs the main corridor. Trailheads and Mesa Verde still need wheels.

Palm Desert is a spread of resorts and gated communities along wide boulevards, and only a few blocks of El Paseo are made for walking. Buses are slow, so a car is essential, but the roads are clear and parking is easy.

Palm Desert is much the better place to shop. El Paseo is a palm-lined boulevard of fashion boutiques, jewellers and galleries aimed at a wealthy winter crowd, with a large mall nearby, a big designer outlet half an hour west and vintage furniture in Palm Springs.

Durango's shopping fills an hour or two on Main Avenue. The highlights are outdoor gear and Navajo and Pueblo silver, turquoise and rugs, and there is no fashion or luxury shopping.

Both cost what US resort towns cost, with full restaurant prices plus tips and a hire car in each case. The difference lies in when savings appear. Durango gets cheaper in spring and late autumn, and its best assets, the trails and the river, are free.

Palm Desert's rooms drop sharply from June to September, but only because the heat drives people away. Golf and spa treatments are where a budget there runs out fastest.

Palm Desert has more to see on stage. The McCallum Theatre runs a full winter season of touring Broadway shows, ballet, orchestras and well-known singers, the casinos add big concerts, and Coachella and Stagecoach fill the Indio polo grounds for a few weekends each spring.

Durango's stage is smaller and more homespun, with a summer chamber music festival, a Victorian melodrama where the audience boos the villain and cowboy shows with a chuckwagon supper. Outside summer, little is on.

Palm Desert is built for slowing down. Resort spas, long afternoons by the pool and a winter-retreat pace define the town, and Desert Hot Springs, half an hour north, has small spa hotels filled straight from natural mineral springs.

Durango's relaxation comes from its hot springs: pools a few minutes north of town, terraces at Pagosa Springs and more at Ouray. They are best as a soak after a ride or a day on the slopes, with spa treatments mostly limited to hotel massages.