Fort Collins or Moab?

Neither has a beach worth the name, and swimming is a side activity in both. Fort Collins has the better water: Horsetooth Reservoir has a designated swim beach and coves for paddleboards, and it warms nicely in July and August.

In Moab, swimming means wading in Mill Creek's shallow pools, Ken's Lake, or the sandbars of a cold, fast Colorado River that needs care. Most visitors end up in the motel pool instead.

Fort Collins is the better place to eat and drink, mostly thanks to the drinking. Its long-established breweries and dense spread of taprooms could fill several days, and Old Town adds gastropubs, a few farm-to-table kitchens and summer farmers' markets with Palisade peaches.

Moab's Main Street is about refuelling after a day outside: burgers, pizza, tacos and big portions. Utah's alcohol rules make a drink with dinner more formal, and there are queues on busy spring and autumn evenings.

Neither is a culture destination, but Fort Collins has more to fill a day. Its red-brick Old Town, the Museum of Discovery, the Victorian Avery House and the university art museum make for an easy town wander.

Moab's own sights take a morning at most. Its real interest is older and lies outside town: Ancestral Puebloan and Fremont petroglyph panels along Potash Road and Kane Creek, plus dinosaur trackways. These are a draw that Fort Collins has nothing to match.

Fort Collins has a real night out. A large university keeps Old Town's pubs, sports bars, cocktail bars and rooftop patios busy at weekends, though the scene is casual and serious clubbers head to Denver.

Moab barely has a nightlife. A couple of brewpubs fill with bikers and rafters, then the town sleeps by eleven so people can catch sunrise at the arches. The best thing to do after dark is look at the stars.

Both are outdoor towns, but Moab is in another league. Arches starts minutes from town and the canyon maze of Canyonlands and Dead Horse Point is under an hour away. Add the Slickrock Trail, the Whole Enchilada descent from the La Sal Mountains, climbing at Wall Street and rafting on the Colorado.

Fort Collins offers gentler, greener country: the Horsetooth and Lory foothills, rafting and fly fishing in the Poudre Canyon, and Rocky Mountain National Park with its alpine lakes about an hour and a half away. It also has excellent paved river trails right in town.

Fort Collins has far more within reach. Boulder sits beneath the Flatirons, Denver has big museums, and Estes Park, Golden and Cheyenne are all an easy drive, with Cheyenne's frontier museum across the Wyoming line.

From Moab, the outings are almost all landscape. The nearby towns, such as Green River, Monticello and Bluff, are small. The most rewarding trip is a long drive south to the Puebloan ruins at Edge of the Cedars and Hovenweep.

Both work for families, but in different ways. Fort Collins is the easy option, with playgrounds everywhere, flat river cycle paths, the hands-on Museum of Discovery and a city farm where small children meet animals. Even toddlers are well catered for.

Moab is better for older, active children who love scrambling on rock: short walks to Sand Dune Arch, dinosaur tracks, gentle raft floats and Junior Ranger programmes. Summer heat, unfenced drops and long drives make it harder with very young ones.

Fort Collins is much easier without a car, at least in town. Old Town is flat and compact, a rapid-bus line runs north to south, and protected lanes and bike-share make cycling the natural choice. You only need a car for the foothills and day trips.

Moab's Main Street is walkable, and a paved path runs to the Arches entrance, but there is no useful public transport. The parks and trailheads lie down long desert roads and dirt tracks. Without a vehicle, ideally a high-clearance one, you rely on outfitters' shuttles and tours.

Fort Collins gives you more to browse. Old Town's independent boutiques, bookshops, vintage clothing and Colorado-made gifts fill a pleasant hour, and there is a regional mall beyond.

Moab's shops are practical: bike, climbing and camping gear, plus rock shops selling geodes and fossils. A few galleries carry Navajo jewellery and weavings, which are the most distinctive things to take home from either town.

Neither is cheap, but Fort Collins is the easier one on the wallet. Its chain hotels and taprooms are priced like an ordinary American city, though rooms climb on graduation and football weekends.

Moab charges resort prices for simple rooms in its busy spring and autumn seasons, and rafting or jeep tours add up fast. It claws much of that back with cheap campgrounds, free dispersed camping and a park pass that lasts a week, and winter there is much cheaper.

Fort Collins has a regular programme all year. The Lincoln Center hosts touring Broadway, dance and the local symphony, the university stages opera and theatre during term, and Old Town bars book indie and bluegrass bands.

Moab has no theatre or concert hall. Its one standout is the Moab Music Festival at the end of summer, when some chamber concerts are held in canyon grottoes reached by boat.

Neither has hot springs or a bathing tradition, and both offer only a few day spas and yoga studios. Fort Collins is slightly more restful, with shaded river paths and quiet neighbourhoods, and a mineral soak at Idaho Springs is within a long drive.

A stay in Moab is about early starts and tired legs. Its kind of calm comes from desert evenings and red cliffs at sunset, or from a remote ranch or cabin in the La Sal Mountains.