Las Vegas or Santa Fe?

Neither city is a beach destination, and the only difference is in what replaces the beach. Las Vegas has the resort pools on the Strip, some with sand-lined wave pools and lazy rivers, plus the gravel shore of Boulder Beach on Lake Mead about 40 minutes away. In Santa Fe, swimming mostly means a hotel pool, with Abiquiu Lake or a float down the Rio Grande as occasional summer outings.

Las Vegas offers more choice. The Strip has outposts of famous chefs, steakhouses and tasting menus, and Spring Mountain Road has kilometres of Sichuan, Korean, Thai and Vietnamese restaurants, many of them open late. What the city lacks is any cooking of its own.

Santa Fe is the reverse: a small scene built on a real regional cuisine of red and green chile, blue corn, posole and sopaipillas, served in adobe dining rooms and by a fine-dining tier unusual for a town its size. Its Railyard farmers' market makes a morning out that Las Vegas cannot match, but anyone who wants variety will tire of the food sooner.

Santa Fe is by far the richer place for sightseeing. It still has its low adobe streets, the Palace of the Governors on the Plaza and a run of old churches including the Loretto Chapel. Its museums, from the folk art collection on Museum Hill to the O'Keeffe Museum, are much stronger than you would expect in a town this size.

In Las Vegas the spectacle itself is the attraction: themed resorts, the dancing fountains and the light canopy over Fremont Street. The Neon Museum and the Mob Museum tell the city's short story well, but a keen sightseer will be finished within a day.

This is where the two cities are furthest apart. Las Vegas runs all night, with casino bars that never close, star DJs on residency in the resort clubs and dayclub pool parties. For something less polished, there is a looser bar scene around Fremont Street and the arts district.

Santa Fe's evening is a long dinner followed by a margarita on a rooftop facing the Jemez Mountains, perhaps with a stop at a brewery near the Railyard. The streets are quiet before midnight, and anyone who wants a club drives to Albuquerque.

Both cities have fine landscapes close by, but Santa Fe's are more varied and easier to enjoy through more of the year. Trails start at the edge of town and the ski road climbs into aspen and spruce, with the Pecos Wilderness beyond. Valles Caldera, the Rio Grande Gorge and the Abiquiu cliffs add volcanic grassland, rafting and red rock.

Las Vegas has striking desert within an hour: the climbing walls of Red Rock Canyon, Valley of Fire and the pine forest of Mount Charleston. But summer heat limits desert hiking to the early morning for four months of the year, and every outing needs a car.

Santa Fe has far more to fill a day out. The High Road to Taos passes through Chimayo and Truchas and ends at Taos Pueblo, which has been lived in for about a thousand years. Bandelier's cliff dwellings, Pecos, Los Alamos and the old mining villages along the Turquoise Trail are all within reach.

From Las Vegas the one real outing is Hoover Dam combined with Boulder City. Tours to the Grand Canyon, Zion and Death Valley are sold everywhere, but they are long drives to landscapes rather than trips to towns or historic sites.

Las Vegas can keep children busy for a day or two, mostly with thrills: the indoor amusement park and its roller coasters, the shark aquarium, the rides perched at the top of the observation tower and the Discovery Children's Museum downtown, with the big resort pools for the afternoons. The crowds and late-night atmosphere never quite go away, though, and many families treat the city as an overnight stop on a road trip to the national parks rather than a destination.

Santa Fe is the easier place for a family stay, unhurried and small enough to manage, though it too is aimed at adults. The toys and miniatures in the folk art collection and a few immersive art spaces hold younger visitors' attention, but gallery browsing and long dinners test their patience, and the 2,100m altitude can leave small children tired for the first day or two.

Las Vegas and Santa Fe are about equally awkward without a car, but for opposite reasons. The 6km Strip looks walkable, yet the resorts are so large and the footbridges so roundabout that most visitors end up in taxis, on the monorail or on the all-night buses.

Santa Fe's old centre really is walkable, with the Plaza, Canyon Road and the Railyard all within twenty minutes of each other, though the altitude slows you on uphill stretches. Beyond the centre, buses are infrequent and a hire car is the practical choice. The one exception is the Rail Runner train to Albuquerque.

The two are evenly matched but sell entirely different things. Las Vegas offers mall shopping on a grand scale: the big luxury fashion and jewellery houses in the resort arcades, the Fashion Show mall and two outlet centres, all open late. There is almost nothing local.

Santa Fe is the opposite. Native American artists sell silver, turquoise and pottery under the portal of the Palace of the Governors, galleries line Canyon Road, and downtown dealers stock rugs and Western boots. The summer Indian, Spanish and folk art markets draw collectors from far away, but there is little for anyone looking for fashion or department stores.

Las Vegas can be surprisingly reasonable midweek, when rooms on and near the Strip are inexpensive for their size and downtown is cheaper still, while Santa Fe stays expensive all year. The Las Vegas bargain does not last, though: weekend rates, resort fees, shows and dining on the Strip push the bill up quickly, and eating in Chinatown is the main way to rein it in.

Santa Fe charges resort prices for a small town, highest during the summer markets, the opera season and at Christmas, and the hire car you will need adds to the cost. Staying out on Cerrillos Road helps, and the trails and gallery browsing cost nothing.

Las Vegas has far more on stage on any given night. Its purpose-built theatres host water and aerial spectacles, magicians and comedians, and major stars who rarely tour take long residencies there. The Smith Center adds touring musicals, the philharmonic and ballet.

Santa Fe's offering is more refined but seasonal. The summer opera plays in an open-sided theatre on a hill, with performances starting at sunset, and there is also a chamber music festival and a long flamenco tradition. Outside summer, the Lensic and the old churches keep a modest small-town calendar.

Santa Fe is the better place to slow down. It has outdoor soaking tubs among the pines on the road to the ski area, the historic mineral springs at Ojo Caliente an hour north and plenty of spas and yoga studios, and evenings end early.

Las Vegas has some of the largest hotel spas in the country, with thermal circuits and salt and ice rooms. But the casinos around them are lit and loud day and night, so the calm ends at the spa door.