Estes Park or Page, Arizona?

Only one of these towns gives you anywhere to swim outdoors. The alpine lakes around Estes Park are fed by snowmelt and too cold for swimming even in July, so swimming there means a hotel pool or the indoor aquatic centre.

Page has Lake Powell, which is warm by midsummer and very welcome in the dry heat. You can swim from the sand at Lone Rock, or take a boat or kayak into sandstone coves and jump straight into deep water. There are no lifeguards, the beaches shift as the lake level moves, and from late autumn to spring the water is too cold for most people.

In both towns you eat to refuel rather than to remember the meal, and the difference is in the flavour. Estes Park leans towards mountain food: elk and bison, big trailhead breakfasts, craft breweries and the taffy and fudge shops of Elkhorn Avenue. Page has diners, Mexican places and chains, and its one dish worth seeking out is the Navajo taco on frybread.

Kitchens close early in both. The practical difference is that from Estes Park a serious dinner in Boulder is about an hour away, while from Page there is nowhere comparable within easy reach.

Neither town is a reason to travel for heritage, and each has one story to tell. In Estes Park it is early mountain tourism: the Stanley Hotel, famous for inspiring The Shining, plus the homesteading museum and the working MacGregor Ranch. In Page it is engineering and exploration, with the Glen Canyon Dam visitor centre and the John Wesley Powell museum. The deeper culture around Page belongs to the Navajo Nation, whose guides lead every Antelope Canyon visit.

Both towns go to bed early, because most visitors are up at dawn. Estes Park has a handful of brewery taprooms and saloon-style bars along Elkhorn Avenue, and Page has a brewpub and a few bars. Page's best evening needs no bar at all: away from the town lights, the desert sky is dark and dense with stars.

Both towns have exceptional scenery right on the doorstep, but it is a completely different landscape. Estes Park is high-mountain country: meadows and ponderosa forest climbing to tundra on Trail Ridge Road, Longs Peak above, trails to Bear and Emerald lakes, and elk, moose and bighorn sheep all around. Summer brings wildflowers, autumn golden aspens, and winter snowshoeing.

Page is red-rock desert: the glowing slot walls of Antelope Canyon, the river loop at Horseshoe Bend, and Lake Powell's flooded canyons leading by boat to Rainbow Bridge. Lees Ferry is the starting point for Grand Canyon rafting, and the Vermilion Cliffs are close by. Hike there in spring or autumn, and spend the summer on the water.

Estes Park has the better choice of days out because real towns lie within an hour or so. Boulder has Pearl Street and the Flatirons, Fort Collins has its Old Town and breweries, and Denver adds big museums. In summer, the drive over Trail Ridge Road leads to Grand Lake.

Around Page, the outings are mostly landscapes and small heritage sites: Lees Ferry's pioneer buildings, the cliff dwellings at Navajo National Monument and the Western town of Kanab. The drives are long and the places small.

Estes Park is the easier place to take children. Elk walk through town, the park runs junior ranger activities, and the flat loops at Sprague and Bear lakes suit small legs, with mini golf, go-karts and the Prospect Mountain tramway in town. The main caution is altitude, which can tire young children for the first day.

Page can be wonderful for children on the lake and on the short Antelope Canyon tours, but it is more demanding. The desert sun is punishing in summer, the cliff edges at Horseshoe Bend are sheer and mostly unfenced, and some canyon tours involve steep ladders.

You will want a car in both, but Estes Park needs it slightly less. Its downtown and Riverwalk are easy on foot, and in the warmer months free shuttles run to the Bear Lake corridor, which saves fighting for trailhead parking. Denver's airport is about an hour and a half's drive away.

Page has no useful public transport. The lake, Horseshoe Bend and the wider parks all lie outside town, and the major airports are hours away. Apart from the canyon and boat tours, which provide their own transport, everything depends on having your own car.

Estes Park has a little more to browse. Elkhorn Avenue has western wear, outdoor gear and galleries of wildlife art among the souvenir and taffy shops, and Boulder and Denver are within reach for anything more serious.

Page's shops are mostly supplies and gifts. The exception is Navajo silver, turquoise, rugs and pottery from trading posts and roadside stalls, where you can buy directly from the person who made the piece.

Neither is a budget destination, and both are cheapest outside the high season, but the money goes on different things. In Estes Park the main cost is a room in summer and early autumn. Once you are inside the national park, the hiking and wildlife cost nothing beyond the entrance fee, and cabins with kitchens help families keep meal costs down.

In Page the sights themselves add up: Antelope Canyon can only be visited on paid tours, and boats and houseboats on the lake are expensive. Camping at Lone Rock or Wahweap is the main way to save.

Estes Park has a modest programme, but it is worth checking before a summer trip. There are free concerts by the river at the town's outdoor performance park, occasional music and ghost-story nights at the Stanley Hotel, and pipe bands and Celtic dancing at the Scottish-Irish Highland Festival each September. Outside the warm months little is on, and theatre or an orchestra means a drive to Boulder or Denver.

Page has almost nothing to plan an evening around. The little performance on offer is Navajo dance staged for visitors, sometimes served with dinner, and now and then a band in a bar. There is no theatre or concert hall in town, and no city near enough to make up for it.

Estes Park is the more restful of the two, though not for spas, which are few in either town. Its calm comes from a cabin by a river, cool mountain air and empty evenings, at their best in winter and spring.

Page's quiet comes from wide desert views and dark skies, but a stay there usually means early starts for the canyons and long drives, so the days are more active than restorative.