Durango, Colorado or San Diego?

There is no real contest here. Durango is a mountain town, and its swimming is a cold dip at Lake Nighthorse, a sandy edge at Vallecito Lake or an inner tube down the Animas on a hot afternoon.

San Diego's coast is the heart of a stay. There is Coronado's broad strand, the boardwalk shared by Mission Beach and Pacific Beach, gentle surf at La Jolla Shores and quieter cliff-backed beaches in North County. The Pacific is cool here, so outside late summer you will want a wetsuit, but for sand, surf and calm paddling in Mission Bay it is the only choice of the two.

Both places pour serious craft beer, so a taproom evening works in either. In Durango the taprooms fill with cyclists and rafters. In San Diego they are spread across North Park, Miramar and the coast, and hop-heavy West Coast IPAs are the local style.

Beyond the beer, San Diego eats far more widely. It has Baja-style fish tacos, taco shops open late and the long run of Asian kitchens on Convoy Street. Durango's green-chile plates, steakhouses and dishes of Colorado lamb and trout are honest and well made, but the choice is much narrower.

Durango's sights come down mostly to its railway: the steam engines at the depot and the roundhouse museum, a few blocks of Victorian brick and sandstone, and the Southwestern collection at the college on the mesa. An afternoon covers it all.

San Diego can fill a whole day or two. There are the museums in Balboa Park's exposition buildings, the USS Midway on the waterfront, the adobe buildings of Old Town and the first of California's missions. Neither has world-class art, but a visitor who enjoys culture will find much more to do in San Diego.

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

San Diego gives you real choices: the rooftop bars and dance clubs of the Gaslamp Quarter, the student bars of Pacific Beach, and the cocktail bars of North Park and Hillcrest, which is the centre of the city's gay nightlife. Neither is a place to travel to for its nights out, but only San Diego lets you dance until last call.

Both are outdoor places, but Durango's landscape is bigger and wilder. The San Juan Mountains rise straight from town. Singletrack starts at the edge of the streets, the Colorado Trail begins just north, the Weminuche Wilderness has peaks above 4,000m, and rafts run the Animas through the centre.

San Diego's outdoors is gentler and open all year. There are sea lions and sea caves at La Jolla Cove, trails on the Torrey Pines bluffs, tide pools at Cabrillo and surf breaks all along the coast, with mountain forest and the Anza-Borrego desert an hour or more inland. Choose San Diego for the ocean and Durango for the high mountains.

The two are about equal for outings, but they lead in different directions. From Durango, the days out are about ancient and mining history: Mesa Verde's cliff dwellings, the Puebloan ruins at Aztec and Chimney Rock, and the narrow-gauge train up the canyon to Silverton.

San Diego's list is wider and lighter. You can walk across the border into Tijuana, visit the wine country of Temecula or the Valle de Guadalupe, eat apple pie in Julian or take the train to the beach towns, and Los Angeles is within reach. Most outings from either city need a car, though San Diego's trains cover a few.

San Diego is one of the easiest cities anywhere to bring children. It has the zoo in Balboa Park, the Safari Park, SeaWorld, Legoland and the Birch Aquarium. When the weather does turn, the science centre and the children's museum fill the gaps.

Durango works for families who like being active, with gentle tubing on the river, plus ziplines and an alpine coaster at the ski area in summer. But it has nothing to fall back on when the weather is bad, and the altitude of about 2,000m can wear small children out for the first day or two.

Neither is easy without a car, but for different reasons. Durango's centre is a short, flat walk from the depot to the top of Main Avenue, with a riverside trail for cycling. Trailheads, the ski area and Mesa Verde, though, are spread along mountain highways with little public transport.

San Diego has more transit, with a trolley from Old Town to the border and coastal trains to the beach towns. But the city sprawls, the buses are slow, and parking at the beaches is tight on summer weekends.

Durango's shopping is an hour or two on Main Avenue: outdoor gear, Western boots, and Navajo and Pueblo turquoise and silver that are worth a look but offer little choice. San Diego has much more range, with luxury brands at Fashion Valley, an outlet centre by the border, boutiques and vintage shops in Little Italy and North Park, and galleries in La Jolla, though nothing a serious shopper would make a special trip for.

Neither is cheap, but Durango is the gentler bill. It costs less than Colorado's famous ski towns, its trails and river are free, and prices drop in spring and late autumn. On the other hand, summer rooms are scarce and you will need a hire car.

San Diego costs more across the board: hotels near the beach and downtown, tax and tip on every meal, high admission at the big attractions, and parking on top. Taco shops, taprooms and free beaches help, but it is never a budget trip.

San Diego has a real theatre scene. The Old Globe's open-air Shakespeare stage in Balboa Park and the La Jolla Playhouse have both launched shows that went on to Broadway, and the symphony plays a summer season by the bay.

Durango's stage life is smaller and mostly summer-only: a chamber and orchestral festival, a Victorian melodrama where the audience boos the villain, and cowboy music with a chuckwagon supper. Outside summer there is little on.

Durango has the better way to unwind. Natural mineral pools sit a few minutes north of town, with more at Pagosa Springs and Ouray, and they make the place to soak after a ride or a day on the slopes.

San Diego has no hot springs or bathing tradition. Relaxing there means resort spas in La Jolla, Coronado and Carlsbad, yoga in Encinitas and slow beach-town mornings, and downtown and Pacific Beach are far from calm.