Durango, Colorado or Santa Monica?

Durango has no beach in any real sense. Swimming means a cold dip at Lake Nighthorse or the sandy edges of Vallecito Lake, or tubing down the Animas on a hot afternoon, and the season is short.

Santa Monica is built around its shore: a very wide strip of sand with the pier at its centre and quieter coves at Zuma, El Matador and Point Dume further north. The Pacific is cool enough that many people only wade, but as a place to spend whole days on the sand it is a different world.

Santa Monica eats better and more widely. Its Wednesday farmers market feeds serious Californian kitchens, and there is good seafood, polished brunch and solid Italian and Japanese cooking along Main Street and Montana Avenue, with more casual and inventive places over the line in Venice.

Durango's table is narrower: green-chile Southwestern plates, steakhouses and a few kitchens using Colorado lamb and trout. Where it wins is beer, with an unusual number of craft brewery taprooms for a town of its size.

Neither is a sightseeing destination, and both cover their own sights in an afternoon. The difference is in kind. Durango offers frontier history: the 1880 railway depot and roundhouse, a few blocks of Victorian brick and sandstone, and a respected Native American collection at the college on the mesa.

Santa Monica leans towards art. Beyond the pier and the Route 66 sign, Bergamot Station gathers commercial galleries, and the Getty Center and Getty Villa, a short drive away, hold far grander collections than anything near Durango.

Both are early-night towns with almost no clubs, but Santa Monica gives you more to do after dinner. Rooftop bars with ocean views around the Third Street Promenade, the pubs of Main Street and the looser crowd in Venice keep things going later.

In Durango an evening means a taproom, a patio on Main Avenue or a saloon with a piano player, and student bars on weekends. The town is mostly quiet well before midnight.

Durango's San Juan Mountains are on a different scale from the hills behind Santa Monica. The Weminuche Wilderness has jagged peaks above 4,000m and high lakes, singletrack leaves from the edge of town into some of the country's best-known mountain-biking terrain, and rafters run the Animas through the centre. In winter the ski resort to the north has deep snow.

Santa Monica's outdoors are gentler, but you can use them all year. Trails in Topanga and Temescal Canyon climb through chaparral to views over the bay, and the beach path runs about 35km along the sand. Surf lessons and winter whale-watching add time on the sea, which Durango cannot offer.

Both make good bases for day trips by car, and the choice comes down to what you want to see. From Durango the draw is ancient and mining history: Mesa Verde's cliff dwellings, the steam train up the canyon to Silverton, and the Puebloan ruins at Aztec and Chimney Rock.

From Santa Monica the outings are coastal towns and big-city sights: Santa Barbara's mission and wine country, Laguna Beach, the ferry to Catalina, and the Huntington Library or Hollywood within Los Angeles. Here traffic, not distance, sets the limits.

Santa Monica is the easier place with children. A wide lifeguarded beach, the pier's Ferris wheel, roller coaster and carousel, a small aquarium and playgrounds along the front all sit within a compact area, and the mild weather rarely spoils a day.

Durango works best for active families. The steam train, gentle tubing, the summer alpine coaster and Mesa Verde's ladders are memorable, but there is little to fall back on when it rains, the altitude can tire small children at first, and the drives are long.

Durango is a car trip. Main Avenue takes a quarter of an hour to walk from end to end, the river trail links the parks, and a trolley runs along the main corridor. But the trailheads, the ski area and Mesa Verde lie along mountain highways with little regional transport.

Santa Monica lets you leave the car behind for more of your stay. Blue buses cover the town, and the E Line light rail reaches downtown Los Angeles in about an hour, passing Culver City and Exposition Park on the way. You will still need a ride-hail or a rental car for the Getty, the Malibu canyons and the theme parks.

Santa Monica offers much more range. The Promenade has mainstream chains, Montana Avenue has upmarket boutiques, Main Street has surf shops, and Abbot Kinney in Venice adds design-led fashion, with Rodeo Drive a short drive away.

Durango is an hour or two on Main Avenue. Its strengths are Navajo and Pueblo turquoise and silver, Western boots and serious outdoor gear, which are things Santa Monica does not do.

Durango is the cheaper trip, though not a cheap one. Rooms are tight and priced up in summer and at the ski peak, but they cost far less than oceanfront Santa Monica, and spring and late autumn are noticeably cheaper.

Santa Monica is expensive even by Californian standards, with hotel, restaurant and parking costs mounting quickly. In both places the best things are free: trails and river in one, beach and bike path in the other. Santa Monica's buses and light rail also help keep costs down.

Santa Monica has a little more on most nights. The Broad Stage hosts chamber music, dance and theatre, intimate rooms keep a long-standing folk scene going, and summer brings free concerts on the pier. The Philharmonic at Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Hollywood Bowl are within reach across the city.

Durango's stage is mostly a summer affair: a chamber and orchestral festival, a Victorian melodrama where the audience boos the villain, and cowboy music with a chuckwagon supper. Out of season the choice is thin.

Durango has the better way to unwind, because it has hot springs. Mineral pools a few minutes north of town are made for a soak after riding or skiing, and Pagosa Springs and Ouray add more spring-fed pools within a drive.

Santa Monica's relaxation is about yoga on the sand, juice bars, morning runs by the ocean and polished hotel spas. It suits a do-it-yourself routine, but there is no bathing to match Durango's springs.