Moab or Taos?

Neither town is a beach destination, since both sit in high desert far from any coast. The difference is how you cool off. In Moab's hotter summer that means the shallow pools at Mill Creek, Ken's Lake or a sandbar on the fast, cold Colorado. In Taos the Rio Grande is for rafting, the mountain lakes stay cold, and the water most worth getting into is a hot spring.

Moab's food keeps you going, while Taos serves food you could not find elsewhere. On Moab's Main Street that means burgers, tacos, pizza, brewery pints and coffee from early morning, plus a few more ambitious Southwestern dinners, all eaten in dusty boots. Utah's rules make a drink with dinner more formal than many visitors expect.

Taos has a regional cuisine of its own. Posole, carne adovada and blue-corn dishes come under red or green chile at old family-run places around the plaza and on the road to Ranchos, and bread is baked in the Pueblo's hornos. There is not much range beyond that, but every meal tells you where you are.

Moab's cultural interest lies outside town, in Ancestral Puebloan and Fremont rock art along Potash Road and Kane Creek and in dinosaur trackways. Add the small Museum of Moab and you have a morning's worth.

Taos has far more. Taos Pueblo is a UNESCO-listed adobe town that is still lived in and should be visited on its community's terms. The buttressed church at Ranchos de Taos, painted by O'Keeffe, and the Harwood, Millicent Rogers and Fechin collections fill two or three unhurried days.

Both towns go to bed early, so the choice comes down to the kind of evening you want, not how much there is to do. Moab's brewpubs fill with mountain bikers and rafters comparing their day, and the real attraction is the star-filled sky outside. In Taos you are more likely to end the day with a margarita in an old adobe hotel bar off the plaza or a band in a saloon, and in winter there is an après-ski crowd up at the ski valley.

Moab has the edge because so much lies so close. Arches, with its two thousand stone arches, begins minutes from Main Street. Island in the Sky looks out over the canyons of the Colorado and Green, and the Slickrock Trail and the long descent from the La Sal Mountains make it a world centre for mountain biking. Rafting, climbing at Wall Street, canyoneering and jeep tracks fill out the week.

Taos offers mountains in place of canyons. It has steep skiing at Taos Ski Valley, the climb up Wheeler Peak at 4,013m, alpine lakes, the Rio Grande gorge with whitewater in the Taos Box, and the Enchanted Circle drive. Skiers and high-country walkers will prefer it.

From Moab, nearly every worthwhile outing leads to more landscape, and the towns within reach, such as Green River, Monticello and Bluff with its old pioneer stone houses, are small. The richest cultural day heads south into Ancestral Puebloan country. It takes in the museum and ruins of Edge of the Cedars at Blanding and, at the far edge of a day, the stone towers of Hovenweep.

Taos has far better days out. Santa Fe, with its plaza, Canyon Road galleries and the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, is about an hour and a half away on the direct road. The High Road is slower but much more rewarding, winding through the old villages of Truchas and Las Trampas to the sanctuary at Chimayó. Abiquiu and Ghost Ranch lead into O'Keeffe country, and Bandelier's cliff dwellings make a long but worthwhile day.

Moab is somewhat better for children who like to scramble. The short walks to Sand Dune Arch and the Windows, the dinosaur tracks and dinosaur trail park, gentle raft floats and the national park Junior Ranger programmes keep school-age children busy. Midday heat in summer and long unfenced drops at the viewpoints mean toddlers need close watching.

Taos has a well-regarded ski school in winter, plus horse riding, calm Rio Grande floats and a public pool. However, the altitude can tire small children for the first few days, and its museums are art collections that children may not enjoy. Neither town has anything built specifically for children.

You need a car in both, but Taos is slightly easier without one. Moab's motels and outfitters line one walkable Main Street, and a paved path runs to the Arches entrance. Beyond that you depend on outfitters' shuttles, and many trailheads are easier to reach with a high-clearance vehicle.

Taos has a walkable centre around the plaza and Kit Carson Road, plus a basic local bus. The Pueblo, the gorge and the ski valley are spread across a wide valley, though, and the usual route in is a two-and-a-half-hour drive from Albuquerque.

In Moab, shopping is mostly practical: bike, climbing and camping shops, rock shops selling geodes and fossils, and a few galleries with Navajo weaving and jewellery.

Taos is clearly better for anyone who collects. The lanes around the plaza are lined with galleries in the art-colony tradition. Turquoise and silver, micaceous pottery, Rio Grande weaving and carved santos are local specialities, and at Taos Pueblo you can buy pottery or bread straight from the people who made it.

Taos is the gentler of the two on the budget, though neither is cheap, and both need a hire car. Moab has few rooms and heavy demand in spring and autumn, so simple motels charge resort prices then, and rafting or jeep tours add up quickly. Free dispersed camping, a single park pass for the week and free hikes help balance the cost.

Taos has fairly priced motels and New Mexican diners, with higher rates kept mostly to historic inns and ski-valley lodging. The quiet weeks between the ski season and summer are the easiest time to keep costs down.

Moab has one standout, the Moab Music Festival at the end of summer, when chamber concerts are held in canyon grottoes reached by boat. For the rest of the year there is little more than a band in a brewpub.

Taos has more spread across the year. Visitors may watch traditional dances at Taos Pueblo on feast days such as San Gerónimo in late September, provided they keep quiet and take no photographs. There is also a summer chamber music festival, and a community arts centre shows films and stages theatre.

A trip to Moab is active rather than restful. The few massage studios are mostly booked by sore cyclists, and the calmest moments come at dusk, when the cliffs turn red and the dark sky comes out.

Taos has long attracted people who want to slow down. Ojo Caliente, about fifty minutes away, has outdoor pools fed by several mineral waters. Primitive hot springs lie beside the Rio Grande at the bottom of the gorge, and the town has yoga studios and retreat centres for a quiet, unhurried stay.