Kansas City or Telluride?

Neither city is a place to swim. Kansas City has sandy beaches at lakes in the county parks and plenty of pools, and its hot summers make an afternoon in the water welcome. In Telluride the nearest swimming area is a reservoir about an hour away, and the mountain water stays cool. In summer, rafting and paddling replace swimming there.

Kansas City is the place to go for food, mainly because of barbecue. Hickory-smoked meat, burnt ends and that thick sweet sauce are worth a trip in their own right. Old stockyard-era steakhouses, the counters of the River Market and the Westside's Mexican kitchens add some variety.

Telluride has a few ambitious restaurants on Colorado Avenue and in Mountain Village, serving elk, lamb and trout with good wine lists. But it has no cooking of its own and very little cheap food, and after a few days you will be going back to the same places.

Kansas City has much more to see. The Nelson-Atkins, with its Chinese collection and Oldenburg shuttlecocks, the WWI Museum under the Liberty Memorial, and the jazz and Negro Leagues museums at 18th and Vine make two or three full days of sightseeing.

In Telluride, the sight is the town itself. It is a mining-boom grid of false-fronted shops and clapboard houses, protected as a whole, with a historical museum in the old miners' hospital and ruined mills on the canyon walls. It is lovely, but you will have seen it in an afternoon.

Kansas City has more choice after dark. You can pick between the sports bars of the Power and Light District, the student crowd in Westport and the quieter cocktail and craft beer bars of the Crossroads, though you need a ride between them. Telluride's evenings mean après-ski and a few old wooden saloons on Colorado Avenue. They are lively in peak weeks, but there are no clubs, and the town goes to bed early out of season.

This is Telluride's great strength. The San Juan Mountains close in on three sides, Bridal Veil Falls is within walking distance, and trails to waterfalls and high basins begin minutes from the main street. Summer brings wildflowers, fly fishing and old mining roads over the passes. Winter brings steep skiing with famous views, and in autumn the aspens turn gold.

Around Kansas City the land is gentle prairie and river country. The best of it is in Swope Park, the rose garden at Loose Park and the reservoirs on the edge of the metro area. That is pleasant for a walk, but it is not why anyone visits.

Neither city has a strong list of day trips, but the outings are very different. From Kansas City, easy highway drives lead to Truman's Independence, the university town of Lawrence, Weston's antebellum houses and St Joseph's Pony Express museum, all modest half days.

From Telluride, the drives themselves are the attraction, over mountain roads to Ouray in its canyon and to Silverton over Red Mountain Pass. The Mesa Verde cliff dwellings are more important than anything near Kansas City, but they are only just within a day's reach, and winter can close the passes.

Kansas City is easier with children. Worlds of Fun and its water park, the large zoo, Science City inside Union Station and the aquarium and Legoland Discovery Centre at Crown Center give you plenty for both sunny and rainy days, though you will drive between them.

Telluride suits active families. The free gondola, a good ski school and easy waterfall walks keep children busy. But there is almost nothing indoors when it rains, and the altitude can disturb young children's sleep for the first nights.

Telluride is far easier once you have arrived. You can cross the historic grid on foot in a quarter of an hour, and the free gondola and buses take you up to Mountain Village, so many visitors never use a car. Getting there is the hard part, because the nearest larger airports are one to two hours away by road.

Kansas City is easy to reach and hard to manage without a car. The streetcar along Main Street links the River Market, downtown and Crown Center, but the zoo, the theme park and the outlying sights need a car or ride-hailing.

Kansas City gives a shopper more to work with, because its shops are spread across several distinct districts rather than one street. The Country Club Plaza covers the familiar chain and upmarket names in a handsome 1920s setting. The Crossroads and Westport suit anyone who would rather look through independent galleries, vintage clothes and records. It is no fashion capital, but one day can take in both kinds of shopping.

Telluride's shops line a few blocks of a small resort, and you browse them between other plans. The galleries, Western boutiques and gear shops are aimed at visitors with money to spend, and there is little beyond them. It suits someone picking up a print or a fleece, not anyone who wants to compare shops or hunt for a bargain.

Kansas City is much the cheaper of the two. Hotels cost less than in the big American cities, a barbecue lunch is filling, and general entry to the Nelson-Atkins is free. Car hire, tax and tips still add up.

Telluride is among the most expensive places to stay on the continent. Rooms are scarce and priced for second-home owners, and lift tickets, ski hire and meals are all at the top of the market. The free gondola helps a little. Staying in Ridgway costs less but means driving in every day.

Kansas City has the deeper year-round programme. The city's own swinging, blues-based jazz plays in clubs most nights, and the Kauffman Center is home to a symphony orchestra, an opera company and a ballet. Starlight Theatre adds open-air musicals in summer.

Telluride's music comes in a short summer burst. The Bluegrass Festival in Town Park, the jazz and chamber music festivals and the film festival are famous. For the rest of the year there is only the Sheridan Opera House's small calendar.

Telluride is the better place to unwind. Mountain Village hotels have full spas for after a day's skiing, and the hot springs pool at Ouray and the springs near Ridgway are both about an hour away, with a soak and mountain views. Kansas City has hotel and day spas and the old mineral-water town of Excelsior Springs to the north. Its quiet moments are a slow morning among the roses at Loose Park or in the Nelson-Atkins sculpture park.