Durango, Colorado or Palm Springs?

Neither town has a coast, so both offer water to cool off in rather than a beach. In Durango that means cold mountain water: tubing the Animas through town, the small swimming area at Lake Nighthorse or the sandy edges of Vallecito, all chilly even in July. In Palm Springs it means warm hotel and rental-house pools, used for most of the year.

Both are fine for relaxed eating and neither is worth travelling for. They differ in flavour. Durango does Western and Southwestern food: green-chile plates, steakhouses and Colorado lamb and trout, with a remarkable number of breweries for a town its size.

Palm Springs is more about the setting than the food on the plate: long brunches on shaded patios and cocktails by the pool. Its local specialities are the date shakes from the groves around Indio and the Mexican taquerias in the towns further east.

Palm Springs has more to see, mostly because of its buildings. Albert Frey's houses, Neutra's Kaufmann House and the folded roofs of Twin Palms and Vista Las Palmas make a full day of driving or cycling, and the art museum and the Agua Caliente Cultural Museum round it off.

Durango's sights are about the railway and the mining boom. There is the steam depot and roundhouse museum, and a few blocks of Victorian brick and sandstone along Main Avenue. The college collection of Native American material is worth an hour, but the town itself is covered quickly.

Palm Springs has the livelier evenings, though neither town goes on late. Arenas Road is a long-established strip of LGBTQ bars with drag nights and busy patios, and in spring hotel pool parties and retro cocktail lounges carry the weekends.

Durango's evenings are quieter and more outdoorsy: a pint in a brewery taproom, a drink in an old saloon with a piano, and a few student bars at weekends. Most people there have an early start, so the town is asleep before midnight.

Durango has more and wilder country on its doorstep. The San Juans rise above town with peaks over 4,000m in the Weminuche Wilderness. The mountain biking is among the best known in the country, the Animas runs rapids through the centre, and a ski resort lies half an hour north for winter.

Palm Springs has a striking landscape of its own. The tramway lifts you from desert to pine forest on San Jacinto, and the Indian and Tahquitz canyons hide palm oases, with Joshua Tree an hour away. The summer heat confines most outdoor time there to the cooler months.

Durango is the better base for days out. Mesa Verde, an hour west and then a long mesa-top drive, has whole ancestral Puebloan villages built into canyon alcoves. The Aztec ruins are under an hour south, and Chimney Rock lies east on the road to the springs at Pagosa. The narrow-gauge train is the one big outing that needs no car: it leaves from the depot in town and climbs the Animas canyon to Silverton, though it takes most of the day.

Palm Springs's outings are smaller and odder: the pines of Idyllwild, the lived-in film set at Pioneertown, and the abandoned shoreline and Salvation Mountain at the Salton Sea, with Temecula's wineries and Julian at the far edge of a day. Los Angeles and San Diego are too far to do comfortably, and there is no train to fall back on, so every one of these trips means driving.

Durango works better with children because there is plenty to do outdoors. They can ride the steam train, tube the river, try the alpine coaster and ziplines, and climb the ladders at Mesa Verde. There is little for rainy days, though, and the altitude can tire small children at first.

Palm Springs has some good outings, notably the Living Desert zoo, the Air Museum and snow at the top of the tramway in winter. But much of the town is geared to adults, and from late spring the midday heat keeps children indoors.

Durango is a little easier without a car. The centre runs a quarter of an hour on foot from the depot to the top of Main Avenue, a paved riverside trail links the parks, and a trolley serves the main road through town. Trailheads and Mesa Verde still need a car.

Downtown Palm Springs is flat and easy to walk, and bikes suit the mid-century neighbourhoods in winter. Valley buses are slow and infrequent, and summer heat makes walking at midday impossible. Its one advantage is an airport right at the edge of town.

Palm Springs offers more to buy. The Uptown Design District is full of vintage mid-century furniture, lighting and clothing, El Paseo in Palm Desert covers luxury shopping, and the big outlets at Cabazon are twenty minutes west.

Durango's shopping is a walk down Main Avenue. The best finds are outdoor gear and Navajo and Pueblo silver, turquoise and rugs, and there is nothing in the way of fashion.

Both are American resorts at full price in high season, with restaurant bills plus tips and a hire car on top, so the difference lies in when to go. Durango is cheaper in spring and late autumn, between the summer and ski crowds, and its trails and river cost nothing.

Palm Springs is at its dearest in winter and spring. Its bargain season is the summer heat, when room prices drop sharply, and simple motels keep costs down all year.

Palm Springs has more live entertainment. Coachella and Stagecoach bring a world-famous crowd to Indio each April, the McCallum Theatre and the casinos book touring acts, and drag cabaret and piano bars fill the evenings in town.

Durango's stage life is small and mostly happens in summer. There is a chamber and orchestral music festival, a Victorian melodrama where the audience boos the villain, and cowboy shows with a chuckwagon supper. The two quiet seasons fall at opposite times of year: winter in Durango, summer in Palm Springs.

Palm Springs is the better place to unwind. The town grew up around the sacred Agua Caliente spring, now covered by a bathhouse, and Desert Hot Springs fills its spa motel pools with mineral water from the ground. Resort spas across the valley and an unhurried pool-and-sunset routine finish the job.

Durango's springs are a reward after exercise rather than the reason to come. There are mineral pools a few minutes north of town, the terraced pools of Pagosa Springs, and Ouray further north for a soak after a day on the bike or the slopes.