Mammoth Lakes or Santa Fe?

Neither town is a beach destination, since both sit high up and far inland. Mammoth Lakes at least has water close by. In July and August people take a cold dip at Horseshoe Lake in the Lakes Basin or in the slightly warmer Crowley Lake, though most go to the shore to paddle or fish.

In Santa Fe, swimming usually means the hotel pool. Abiquiu Lake, about an hour's drive away, and floats on the Rio Grande are outings rather than everyday options.

Santa Fe gives you a reason to sit down at the table. New Mexican cooking, with red and green chile, blue corn, posole and sopaipillas, is a cuisine found in few other places. You can eat it in old adobe dining rooms near the Plaza, and the town also has a fine-dining tier and the long-established farmers' market in the Railyard.

Mammoth Lakes eats like the ski town it is: big breakfasts, burgers, pizza, steak and beer brewed in town. It is welcome after a day outdoors but has no local cooking of its own. Neither town offers much international choice.

This is where the two differ most. Santa Fe's history is visible in its streets: the low adobe centre founded in 1610, the Palace of the Governors on the Plaza, the Loretto Chapel's spiral staircase and the cathedral. Museum Hill's folk art and Native American collections and the O'Keeffe Museum add two or three well-spent days.

Mammoth Lakes is a modern resort of lodges and condominiums. Its small history museum in a log cabin is close to the full list, and the region's real heritage lies an hour or more away by road.

Both towns go to bed early and neither has clubs, but their evenings differ in kind. Mammoth Lakes goes out in the late afternoon, with après-ski in the Village and brewery taprooms that fill in winter and can run late on ski weekends. Once the season ends it falls quiet.

In Santa Fe a night out means a long dinner, then a margarita or mezcal on a rooftop facing the sunset over the Jemez Mountains, or a drink in one of the few bars around the Railyard. For anything bigger, people drive to Albuquerque.

Both have mountains on the doorstep, but Mammoth Lakes has more of them and more variety. One of North America's largest ski areas sits above town, with a season that can reach early summer. When the snow goes there is the bike park, the Lakes Basin, Devils Postpile and Rainbow Falls, Mono Lake's tufa towers and, over Tioga Pass, Tuolumne Meadows.

Santa Fe's strength is where mountain meets desert. Piñon trails start at the edge of town, with aspen slopes and the Pecos Wilderness above. To the west lie the mesas, the elk grassland of Valles Caldera and the red cliffs around Abiquiu. Its ski area is a much smaller affair.

Santa Fe is the far better base for excursions. The High Road to Taos runs through Chimayo and Truchas to Taos Pueblo, which has been lived in for about a thousand years. Bandelier's cliff dwellings, Los Alamos, Pecos and the Turquoise Trail villages each make a full day, and the Rail Runner reaches Albuquerque's Old Town without a car.

From Mammoth Lakes the list is short and strung out along the highway: the ghost town of Bodie, the Manzanar internment camp and the small town of Bishop. Most outings head up into the mountains instead, and the Sierra passes close in winter.

For children who like being outside, Mammoth Lakes is the easier choice. In winter it has a large ski school, gentle slopes and a tubing hill, and in summer there are short lakeside walks and the bike park for older children. Its weakness is a snowbound day, because there is no children's museum or aquarium to fall back on.

Santa Fe has the indoor options Mammoth Lakes lacks, such as the Children's Museum and the toys and miniatures in the folk art collection. Even so, the town works best for older children who enjoy history and hiking. In both places the altitude can tire small children for the first day or two.

Outside town, you need a car in both places, but getting around in town works differently. Mammoth Lakes is spread along a few roads. Free winter shuttles and the gondola from the Village to the slopes make a ski trip possible without driving, and in summer a trolley and a shuttle reach the Lakes Basin and Reds Meadow.

Santa Fe has the walkable centre that Mammoth Lakes lacks, with the Plaza, Canyon Road and the Railyard all within about twenty minutes of each other on foot. Beyond that the buses are infrequent, and the Rail Runner to Albuquerque is the only train in either town.

Santa Fe is a real shopping destination in one field, art and craft. Native American artists sell silver, turquoise and pottery under the portal of the Palace of the Governors, and Canyon Road and the Railyard are packed with galleries. The summer Indian, Spanish and International Folk Art markets draw collectors from far away.

Mammoth Lakes sells what you need for the mountains, with good ski, climbing and fly-fishing shops and a few galleries of landscape photography. Neither town is a place for fashion.

Neither town is cheap, but Santa Fe is easier on a budget. Hotels and restaurants near the Plaza charge resort prices, but cheaper rooms along Cerrillos Road and free hiking and gallery browsing help, though a hire car adds to the cost.

A winter stay in Mammoth Lakes is costly, with lift tickets among the most expensive anywhere and peak-week lodging and ski rental priced to match. Summer and the shoulder months are easier, since trails and lakes cost little, and a condominium kitchen helps in any season.

Santa Fe has a real summer season built around the Santa Fe Opera, staged in an open-sided theatre on a hill north of town as the sun sets. A chamber music festival and a long flamenco tradition sit alongside it, and the historic Lensic theatre keeps a programme going through the rest of the year.

Mammoth Lakes offers smaller pleasures. There is a community theatre company on the college campus, a long-running summer jazz festival, and outdoor concerts in a meadow with the peaks behind. These make a pleasant evening but are not a reason to travel.

Hot springs are a big part of relaxing in both places, but they are offered in very different ways. Around Mammoth Lakes they are primitive pools out in the sagebrush, reached by dirt road, with no facilities and the Sierra across the valley. The big lodges in town add spas and hot tubs for ski-tired legs.

Santa Fe is more polished, with onsen-style soaking tubs among the pines on the road to the ski area and an unusual number of spas, yoga studios and healers. The historic mineral pools of Ojo Caliente are about an hour north.