Fort Collins or Minneapolis?

Neither city has a coast, but Minneapolis does far more with its lakes. Lake Harriet, Bde Maka Ska and Lake Nokomis are inside the city, with sandy strips and lifeguards in summer, and many people bike over after work for a swim.

In Fort Collins, swimming means driving out to Horsetooth Reservoir in the foothills. It has a swim beach and coves busy with boats and paddleboards. In both places the season is short and swimming is a side activity, but Minneapolis makes it part of an ordinary summer evening.

Both cities run on brewery taprooms. Fort Collins has the stronger beer reputation, with long-established breweries offering tours on the north side of Old Town. Its eating, though, stops at gastropubs, tacos and a few farm-to-table kitchens, and there is little fine dining.

Minneapolis has the more interesting food. Lake Street and Eat Street have Somali, Ethiopian, Vietnamese and Mexican kitchens, and there are Hmong markets and the Midtown Global Market. The chef-driven restaurants of the North Loop and Northeast give it a dining tier that Fort Collins sends people to Denver for.

Fort Collins can be seen in a day. Its red-brick and sandstone Old Town around the tree-lined pedestrian square is the main sight, with the Museum of Discovery, the Victorian Avery House and the university's art museum to round it out. It is a pleasant wander rather than a sightseeing programme.

Minneapolis gives you far more to see. The encyclopedic Minneapolis Institute of Art, free to enter, and the Walker's contemporary galleries, with the Sculpture Garden beside them, are serious collections. On the riverfront, the Mill City Museum sits in the ruins of a flour mill near the Stone Arch Bridge and St Anthony Falls. Taken together, the city's main sights fill two or three days.

Fort Collins keeps its nights within a few blocks of the Old Town square. There are pubs, sports bars, rooftop patios and busy taprooms, with a largely student crowd at weekends. Only a handful of dance clubs exist, and the summer break makes it quieter.

Minneapolis offers a bit more choice, spread over several districts. Northeast has brewery taprooms and old neighbourhood bars, the North Loop's warehouses hold cocktail bars, and Uptown and the Warehouse District fill with a younger crowd at weekends. Summer patios are the best of it, and winter empties the streets. In both cities, a night out means going to bars rather than clubbing.

This is the category where Fort Collins wins clearly. The plains meet the mountains at the edge of town. Horsetooth Mountain and Lory State Park are a short drive away, the wild and scenic Cache la Poudre carves its canyon to the north-west, and Rocky Mountain National Park's alpine trails are about an hour and a half away.

Minneapolis has a different kind of outdoors, built into the city. The Grand Rounds loop of about 80km links the lakes, Minnehaha Falls and the Mississippi gorge, and winter adds skating and groomed ski trails in Theodore Wirth Park. It is excellent for cycling and paddling, but the land is flat.

Fort Collins has the stronger list. Boulder beneath the Flatirons, Denver's museums, Estes Park at the national park gate and the frontier sights of Cheyenne are all within about an hour or so, though you need a car for almost all of them.

The best outing from Minneapolis is St Paul, a light-rail ride away, with its Capitol, cathedral and Summit Avenue mansions. Beyond that come Stillwater on the St Croix and the river towns around Lake Pepin. After those, the choice is mostly farmland.

Fort Collins is an easy, gentle place to bring children. The city farm at Lee Martinez Park, the children's garden at Spring Creek, the Museum of Discovery and tubing on calm stretches of the river fill a few relaxed days, but for a zoo or an amusement park you have to drive to Denver.

Minneapolis has much more to fill a family stay. The Mall of America, reachable by light rail, holds an indoor amusement park and an aquarium. St Paul adds the Science Museum and the Children's Museum, and there are two zoos. All that indoor choice matters in a city with long winters.

Both cities are good for cycling, with protected lanes, bike-share and long off-road trails, and in both you need a car once you leave the centre. The difference is in public transport. Fort Collins relies on a single rapid-bus corridor plus a compact, flat Old Town.

Minneapolis has two light-rail lines that link the airport, the Mall of America, the university and St Paul. Its skyways let you cross downtown indoors in winter, though in deep cold walking outdoors is hard going.

Minneapolis is the better place to shop. The Mall of America has hundreds of stores, Minnesota charges no sales tax on clothing, and the North Loop boutiques and Northeast makers' studios add independent shopping.

Fort Collins offers a few walkable Old Town blocks of bookshops, vintage clothing, Colorado-made gifts and outdoor gear, which is good for an hour's browsing, plus chain retail along the highways.

Costs are much the same in both, with mid-range American prices and tax and a tip on every meal. The difference is where the money goes. In Fort Collins the hire car is the biggest extra, although the trails and river paths themselves are free, and rooms get dearer on graduation and football weekends.

Minneapolis lets you skip the car for much of a stay thanks to inexpensive light rail. Its free art museum and the free lakes and parks keep sightseeing costs down, while conventions and big sporting events push hotel rates up.

Minneapolis has one of the country's strongest stage scenes. The Guthrie Theater sits above the Mississippi, the restored Hennepin Avenue theatres host Broadway tours, and the Minnesota Orchestra, the St Paul Chamber Orchestra and the Minnesota Opera are all based in the Twin Cities. First Avenue, where Prince filmed Purple Rain, anchors the rock scene.

Fort Collins is respectable for a town of its size. The Lincoln Center and the university's arts centre stage symphony concerts, opera and touring shows, Old Town bars book bluegrass and indie bands, and summer brings free outdoor concerts. Bigger acts play Denver instead.

Fort Collins has no bathing tradition and no hot springs nearby, just standard day spas, massage studios and yoga classes. The nearest mineral soak is at Idaho Springs, a long drive away, although the quiet river paths and sunny days are a calm way to unwind.

Minneapolis has a little more to offer thanks to its Nordic heritage. In winter, public saunas are set up on frozen lakes, and people alternate the heat with a cold plunge or a roll in the snow. Apart from that, it has ordinary day and hotel spas, and many people unwind with a walk round a lake at dusk.