Flagstaff or Telluride?

Neither is a swimming destination, and both are mountain towns far from any coast. The difference is in what cold water there is. Flagstaff's nearest dip is the creek pools of Oak Creek Canyon, such as Slide Rock, which are crowded on summer weekends. Telluride has a small reservoir swimming area near Ridgway, about an hour away, where people are more likely to raft or paddle than swim.

The two are broadly level, but they eat differently. Flagstaff is a university town that does best at beer, with brewery patios downtown and in the Southside. Around them you find diners, New Mexican green chile and the odd plate of Navajo frybread.

Telluride's ski-resort money supports a few serious kitchens on Colorado Avenue and in Mountain Village, cooking Colorado lamb, elk and trout with deeper wine lists. Both towns have a small circle of places, but Telluride's top end is more polished and Flagstaff's everyday eating is more relaxed.

Flagstaff has more to see. The Lowell Observatory, where Pluto was found, and the Museum of Northern Arizona's Hopi, Navajo and Zuni collections are worth a proper half-day each, and the Riordan Mansion and railroad-era Route 66 downtown add more.

In Telluride the main sight is the town itself: a mining-boom grid of clapboard houses and false-fronted stores that is protected as a National Historic Landmark, with a historical museum in the old miners' hospital and mill ruins on the canyon walls. It makes a pleasant hour or two, not a full day.

Flagstaff makes the better night out. Students keep the downtown and Southside taprooms, cocktail bars and Route 66 saloons busy at term-time weekends, and they are all within a short walk of each other.

Telluride's evenings are about après-ski and a few Victorian saloons on Colorado Avenue. These can run late in peak ski weeks and on festival weekends, but the town goes quiet early in the shoulder seasons. Neither has clubs.

Both are outstanding mountain bases, and they differ in shape. Flagstaff is about reach: the volcanic San Francisco Peaks, a huge ponderosa forest, Sunset Crater's lava flows, dark-sky stargazing, and the Grand Canyon and Sedona's red rock within driving range.

Telluride is about immediacy. Cliffs, Bridal Veil Falls and trails to Blue Lake rise straight from the end of the main street, and there is a via ferrata, jeep roads over the passes and a far bigger ski area than Flagstaff's small one on the peaks.

From Flagstaff you can reach far more in a day. The Grand Canyon's South Rim, Sedona's red rock, hillside Jerome, the Verde Valley cliff dwellings, the Sinagua ruins at Walnut Canyon and Wupatki, and the Hopi mesas are all within range. The drives take you through pine forest and down the switchbacks of Oak Creek Canyon.

From Telluride the list is short: the ranching town of Ridgway, the Victorian mining towns of Ouray and Silverton, and Mesa Verde's cliff dwellings at the very edge of a day out. All of them lie over mountain roads and passes that winter can slow or close.

Flagstaff is easier with children who have different interests. It has observatory evenings, museum dinosaurs, rope courses, sledding, a drive-through wildlife park and the steam train to the canyon, though some of these mean long drives.

Telluride suits families who come to ski or hike. The free gondola and the gentle ski school slopes are its strengths, but there are no zoos, theme parks or science museums, so a wet day leaves little to do indoors. Its higher altitude and steep costs are also harder on a family.

Telluride is far easier once you have arrived. The compact grid, free gondola to Mountain Village and free buses mean many visitors leave the car parked all week. Arriving is the hard part, with a weather-prone local airport and larger airports one to two hours away.

Flagstaff is the reverse. A train stops downtown and the centre is walkable, but the motels are spread along Route 66 and nearly everything worth the trip is beyond any bus route, so a hire car is close to essential.

Neither town is a shopping trip, but Flagstaff has the more distinctive purchases. Navajo rugs, Hopi kachina carvings and silver and turquoise jewellery are sold by galleries and trading posts, and established dealers make them a worthwhile buy. Telluride's few blocks of Colorado Avenue offer art galleries, Western clothing and ski gear at resort prices, which is pleasant for browsing but has no craft tradition behind it.

Flagstaff costs far less, and most of the money goes on getting about rather than on sleeping. A plain motel room along old Route 66 is easy to find and brewery and diner meals are reasonable, so the bigger costs are the hire car, fuel for the long drives and entry fees for the parks and monuments. Rooms do climb on summer weekends and in school breaks, when the town fills with Grand Canyon visitors.

In Telluride it works the other way round, and the room is the biggest cost. Beds in town and Mountain Village are few and aimed at second-home owners, and the Christmas weeks and festival weekends push them higher still. Lift passes, ski hire, guides and dinners all come at resort prices, though the free gondola and buses mean you can manage without a car once you are there. A base down the valley in Ridgway eases the room bill but adds a drive of nearly an hour each way.

These are close overall but work on different rhythms. Flagstaff has a steady year-round calendar: a symphony orchestra and university concerts, touring indie and folk acts at the restored Orpheum, and community theatre.

Telluride saves its energy for the summer. The Bluegrass Festival in Town Park, the jazz, blues and chamber music weekends, and the Labor Day film festival are worth planning a trip around, with the Sheridan Opera House filling the quieter months.

Telluride is the better choice for unwinding. Mountain Village hotels have full spas, and the hot springs at Ouray and near Ridgway give you an afternoon soak with peaks all around.

Flagstaff's calm comes from pine air, cool evenings and starry skies rather than treatments. It has only a few day spas, and anyone wanting more drives down to Sedona. At both towns' altitude, expect a restless first night or two.