Durango, Colorado or Telluride?

Neither town is anywhere to swim. Both are far inland at altitude, and the water stays cold through the summer. The difference is in what you do instead. In Durango you can tube the Animas through the centre on a hot afternoon or swim at Lake Nighthorse on the edge of town. Telluride's nearest bathing is the reservoir near Ridgway, an hour away, so summer water there means rafting or fishing rather than a swim.

The two eat at much the same level, but in different styles. Durango is the beer town, with an unusual number of breweries for its size and a run of green-chile Southwestern plates and steakhouses along Main Avenue.

Telluride is more upmarket. Ski-resort money keeps a handful of serious kitchens going on Colorado Avenue and in Mountain Village, and the wine lists are longer than you would expect. Neither has much range, and in Telluride the best tables are hard to get on festival weekends and in peak ski weeks.

Durango has a little more to see, built around the railway that founded it. There are the steam locomotives at the depot, the roundhouse museum, and a respected collection of Southwestern and Native American material at the college on the mesa, all set against a Victorian district of brick and sandstone.

In Telluride the whole town is the sight: a mining-era grid protected as a National Historic Landmark, with the historical museum in the old miners' hospital and mill ruins on the canyon walls. It makes a lovely walk, but there is less to go inside.

Both towns go to bed early, and neither has clubs. Durango's evenings mean brewery taprooms, patios on Main Avenue and saloons with a piano player, and college students keep a few bars busy at weekends. Telluride depends more on the season. Après-ski and festival weekends can keep Colorado Avenue lively until late, but in spring and late autumn it is the quieter of the two.

Both are in the San Juans and both are superb, but the scenery reaches you in different ways. Telluride's is more immediate. It sits in a box canyon, with cliffs, Bridal Veil Falls and peaks above 4,000m rising straight from town, a via ferrata on the canyon wall and the ski area right above the streets.

Durango sits in a wider valley and is the bigger playground for bikes and boats. It is one of the country's best-known mountain-biking centres, the Colorado Trail starts just north of town, and you can raft the Animas through the middle. Its ski resort is half an hour's drive away rather than a gondola ride.

This is one of the clearest differences between the two. Mesa Verde is about an hour west of Durango, the narrow-gauge steam train runs from town up to Silverton, and the ancestral Puebloan sites at Aztec and Chimney Rock are close, with Pagosa Springs beyond.

From Telluride, Ridgway and Ouray are easy, but Silverton is a two-hour drive over a high pass, and Mesa Verde is about as far as a day out can go. Winter weather on the passes can slow or close those routes.

Durango gives children more to do. There is the steam train up the canyon, gentle tubing on the river, an alpine coaster and ziplines at the ski area in summer, and the ladders at Mesa Verde within reach. The thinner air at Telluride's height is also harder on young children in the first days.

Telluride's gondola is a treat in itself and its ski school is well regarded, but otherwise it offers parks and easy waterfall walks, and the cost makes a family stay a stretch. Neither town has much for a wet day.

Once you have arrived, Telluride is much easier. The walkable grid, the free gondola up to Mountain Village and the slopes, and the free buses mean many visitors leave the car parked all week. Getting there is the hard part: the local airport is often affected by weather, and the larger airports are one to two hours away by road.

Durango's centre is just as easy on foot, and the river trail is good for bikes. Beyond that, trailheads, the ski area and the towns around all need a car, and there is little regional public transport.

Neither town is a shopping destination, and in both it comes down to a few blocks of one main street. Durango's Main Avenue has more regional character, with Navajo and Pueblo silver, turquoise and rugs alongside the outdoor shops. Telluride's Colorado Avenue is pricier, with jewellery boutiques and good bookshops, plus resort boutiques up in Mountain Village.

Durango is far cheaper, though it is still a US mountain resort. Rooms are scarce in summer and in peak ski weeks, and you will need a hire car. Spring and late autumn bring prices down.

Telluride is in another league altogether, one of the most expensive places to stay in North America, with lift tickets, meals and guided trips all at the top of the market. Staying in Ridgway saves money, but it means driving in every day.

Telluride has the stronger programme, thanks to its summer festivals. Bluegrass in Town Park beneath the canyon walls leads a calendar of jazz, blues, chamber music and film, and the 1913 Sheridan Opera House has shows all year.

Durango's offer is homelier: a summer chamber and orchestral festival, touring acts at the college concert hall, and a Victorian melodrama where the audience boos the villain. Outside summer, there is little on in either town.

Durango is the better place for a soak. Mineral pools fed by a natural spring are a few minutes north of town, and the terraced pools at Pagosa Springs are an hour east. Telluride's nearest hot springs, near Ridgway and in Ouray, are about an hour's drive away, although its Mountain Village hotels have fuller spas than Durango's day-spa massages.

Both towns are calm places to slow down. Telluride's greater altitude, though, gives some visitors a restless first few nights.