Kansas City or Taos?

Neither city is a place to swim, and both sit far from any coast. Kansas City at least has sandy lake beaches in county parks and public pools for a hot afternoon with children. In Taos the Rio Grande is for rafting and the mountain lakes stay cold, so the closest equivalent is a long soak in a hot spring.

Kansas City is the stronger place to eat, largely because of barbecue: hickory smoke, sweet molasses sauce and burnt ends, with old stockyard counters to compare against polished dining rooms. The River Market's Vietnamese and Ethiopian counters, the Westside's Mexican kitchens and plenty of local beer add range.

Taos has one great subject, northern New Mexican cooking with red and green chile, and does it with conviction around the plaza and in Ranchos. Beyond posole, blue corn and Pueblo bread, the choice is small, and a week covers it.

The two are evenly matched, but they offer very different things. Kansas City has big institutions: the Nelson-Atkins with its Chinese art, the National WWI Museum under the Liberty Memorial, and the Negro Leagues and jazz museums in 18th and Vine, plus Union Station's Beaux-Arts hall.

Taos centres on one extraordinary living place, the thousand-year-old adobe Taos Pueblo, and the buttressed church at Ranchos de Taos painted by O'Keeffe. Around them sit small art-colony museums and historic homes, more intimate and closely tied to the landscape than Kansas City's grand collections.

Kansas City gives you a proper night out, even if it is not a reason to go. The Power and Light District is loud on game nights, Westport draws students to its scruffy bar strip, and the Crossroads suits cocktails and craft beer, with bars open late at weekends.

Taos offers a margarita in an adobe hotel bar, a brewery taproom or a band in a saloon, and then bed. There are no clubs, and only the winter après-ski crowd keeps things going for long.

This is where Taos pulls far ahead. The Sangre de Cristo mountains rise straight from the sagebrush plateau, the Rio Grande gorge lies just west of town, and the ski valley leads in summer to Wheeler Peak, at 4,013m the highest point in New Mexico, with rafting, rim walks and the Enchanted Circle drive besides.

Kansas City's outdoors is gentle: rolling prairie, the huge Swope Park, Loose Park's roses, creekside trails and reservoirs for boating. Pleasant for a morning, but real hiking country is hours away.

Taos has much better outings. Santa Fe is about an hour and a half away along the High Road through Truchas, Las Trampas and Chimayó, and O'Keeffe country at Abiquiu and Ghost Ranch and the cliff dwellings at Bandelier make strong days out.

From Kansas City the choices are modest half days: Truman's Independence, the college town of Lawrence, river-town Weston and the Pony Express museum in St Joseph. Both need a car for every one of them.

Kansas City is much easier with children. Worlds of Fun and its water park, a large zoo, Science City in Union Station and the aquarium and Legoland centre at Crown Center fill several days, and splashing in fountains helps on hot afternoons.

Taos works for outdoor families, with a well-regarded ski school, gentle float trips and horse riding. But it has nothing built for children, and the altitude can tire younger ones at first.

Both are driving destinations, but Kansas City is a little more manageable without a car. Its streetcar along Main Street links the River Market, downtown, Union Station and Crown Center, so staying on that line allows a car-free day or two, and ride-hailing fills the gaps.

In Taos only the plaza area is walkable. The Pueblo, gorge, ski valley and villages are spread across a wide valley, and most visitors drive in from Albuquerque, so a hire car is part of the trip from the start.

Neither is a shopping destination, and what each sells is very different. Kansas City has the Spanish-style Country Club Plaza with chain and upmarket stores, Crossroads galleries and vintage shops, and record and thrift stores around 39th Street.

Taos is all art and craft: galleries off the plaza, turquoise and silver, Rio Grande weaving, carved santos and micaceous pottery bought from makers at the Pueblo. Collectors will find more to linger over in Taos, while general shoppers will do better in Kansas City.

The costs come out much the same, though they build up in different ways. Kansas City has cheaper hotels than coastal cities and a free Nelson-Atkins, but a hire car, theme-park and zoo tickets, tax and tips mount up.

In Taos, simple motels and New Mexican diners are fair, but historic inns and ski-valley lodging charge resort rates in the busy seasons. Spring and late autumn, between ski season and summer, are the easiest on the budget there.

Kansas City has a real musical identity. The swinging, blues-based jazz of Count Basie and Charlie Parker still plays in small clubs most nights, and the Kauffman Center hosts the symphony, opera and ballet, with Broadway musicals outdoors at Starlight in summer.

Taos has fewer moments, but they are memorable: traditional dances at the Pueblo on feast days such as San Gerónimo, watched quietly and without cameras, and a summer chamber music festival. On most other evenings there is little beyond a bar band.

Taos is made for slowing down. Ojo Caliente's outdoor mineral pools lie under the cliffs about fifty minutes away, primitive hot springs sit beside the river at the foot of the gorge, and yoga studios and retreat centres draw on the valley's spiritual reputation.

Kansas City has no bathing culture beyond hotel spas and the old mineral resort at Excelsior Springs. Its calm comes from light traffic and a quiet morning among the roses in Loose Park.