Fairbanks or Rovaniemi?

Neither town is anywhere you would come to swim, and both offer only a few weeks of summer dips in cool fresh water. The difference is in where you go: Fairbanks has proper sandy swimming areas at Chena Lakes and Harding Lake, both a drive out of town.

Rovaniemi's river shores along the Kemijoki and Ounasjoki are closer to hand, and it adds something Fairbanks lacks, the winter plunge through a hole in the ice straight out of a sauna.

Eating out is similarly limited in both, but the flavour differs. Fairbanks is American frontier fare, with reindeer sausage and sourdough pancakes at breakfast, summer salmon bakes, a surprising number of Thai kitchens and a few breweries among the diners and roadhouses.

Rovaniemi sticks closer to one regional cuisine: sautéed reindeer with lingonberries, Arctic char, cloudberries and warm squeaky cheese, cooked with care in a handful of central restaurants or served in a log cabin on a tour. Expect more variety in Fairbanks and more sense of place in Rovaniemi.

Both are modest for sightseeing and can be covered in a day or two, but they tell different stories. Fairbanks is about Alaska Native life and the gold rush, with the Museum of the North on its ridge, the Morris Thompson centre's look at Athabascan culture, the cabins of Pioneer Park and the oil pipeline just north of town.

Rovaniemi, rebuilt after 1944, is a lesson in modern architecture, with Alvar Aalto's library, city hall and Lappia Hall set together in the centre. Arktikum on the Sámi and Arctic nature is the one museum to give real time to, with Korundi's contemporary art as a short extra.

Evenings are equally low-key in both, and in winter many visitors spend them outside under the aurora anyway. Fairbanks has the more characterful drinking, in brewery taprooms and old saloons with keepsakes pinned across the ceilings, but nowhere to dance. Rovaniemi's pubs and hotel bars are plainer, yet it does keep a nightclub or two busy with students at weekends.

Nature is the reason to visit either town, and both deliver aurora, sled dogs, snow and summer daylight in roughly equal measure. Fairbanks feels bigger and wilder: it sits under the auroral oval, its winters are far colder, and the White Mountains, the granite tors at Angel Rocks and an overnight trip to Denali reward people who explore independently.

Rovaniemi is gentler and more packaged. Ounasvaara fell rises right on the edge of town, husky, reindeer and snowmobile trips leave from hotels, and Korouoma canyon and the fells of Pyhä-Luosto lie within about two hours.

Both are places to use for the wilderness around them rather than as touring bases. Fairbanks has slightly more to point a car at, with Christmas-themed North Pole, the railway river town of Nenana, the old roadhouse at Big Delta and gold-mining sites along the Steese Highway. From Rovaniemi the main outing is a long drive to the Gulf of Bothnia, where Tornio and Haparanda let you step across into Sweden, though the towns themselves are ordinary.

Rovaniemi is far better set up for children. Santa Claus Village sits on the Arctic Circle just outside town with Santa's office and the elf workshops, a Christmas theme park is built into a cave nearby, and husky rides, reindeer sleighs and the polar bears at Ranua are easy to arrange from a small, safe base.

Fairbanks has good moments, such as the train in Pioneer Park, musk oxen at the Large Animal Research Station and meeting sled-dog teams, plus Christmas-themed North Pole down the road. But it is really a summer trip for families, since its deep winter cold and late-night aurora viewing are hard on young children.

Rovaniemi is much simpler to manage without a car. Hotels, restaurants and Arktikum sit within a short walk of one another, a local bus covers the 8km to Santa Claus Village, and tour operators pick guests up for the outings most people come for.

Fairbanks is a town of highways and strip developments where only the small downtown is pleasant on foot, and the thin bus network leaves almost everyone renting a car. In winter that means driving on ice in the dark and plugging in an engine heater overnight, though traffic is light and the summer railway to Denali is a good alternative.

Neither is a shopping destination, and in both the worthwhile buys are crafts. In Fairbanks look for Alaska Native beadwork, birch-bark baskets and fur work, plus fur hats and gold-nugget jewellery. Rovaniemi's equivalents are puukko knives, carved birch cups and Sámi silver and leather work, with Christmas decorations by the shelf-load at Santa Claus Village.

Both are expensive, but Fairbanks is the easier of the two on a budget. Its costs come from shipped-in food and a hire car, yet museums and parks are cheap and winter rooms ease off outside the busiest aurora weeks.

Rovaniemi adds Nordic restaurant and drink prices to a stay built around guided husky, snowmobile and reindeer trips, and glass-roofed cabins are in heavy demand around Christmas. Coming in summer or early autumn and self-catering in a cabin narrows the gap.

An evening performance is a lucky find in either town. Fairbanks leans on community and Native tradition, with outdoor Shakespeare in summer, the Festival of Native Arts and its dance and drumming, and an Athabascan fiddle festival in November. Rovaniemi's strength is the Lapland Chamber Orchestra, a professional ensemble playing in the Korundi building, while the regional theatre in Lappia Hall performs almost entirely in Finnish.

Rovaniemi makes relaxation part of every day. Saunas come as standard in cottages, lodges and many hotel rooms, and an evening in a wood-heated or smoke sauna by a lake outside town is a classic part of a stay.

Fairbanks has one standout rather than a culture of it. The outdoor pool at Chena Hot Springs on a frosty winter night is unforgettable, but it is an hour and a half away and usually means staying over, and in town there are only a few day spas and hotel saunas.