Moab or Vail?

Neither is a place for a beach vacation, and the swimming each offers is quite different. In Moab's summer heat people cool off in the shallow pools of Mill Creek, at Ken's Lake or on Colorado River sandbars, though the river is fast and silty.

Vail's swimming means small mountain lakes and reservoirs that stay cold even in July. In both towns most visitors end up in the hotel pool.

Vail is the better place to eat, if you want a proper dinner out. Vail Village and Lionshead have steak and game restaurants, fondue rooms, sushi and long wine lists, and you can lunch at a mountain lodge between runs, with Colorado lamb, elk and trout on many menus.

Moab's Main Street is about refuelling: burgers, tacos, pizza, breweries and a few more ambitious Southwestern dinners, all in dusty boots. It is more casual and cheaper than Vail, but there is less choice, and both towns go quiet in their off-seasons.

Neither town is worth visiting for its sights, but their history is of very different ages. Around Moab, the depth is ancient: Ancestral Puebloan and Fremont petroglyph panels along Potash Road and Kane Creek, dinosaur trackways and the small Museum of Moab.

Vail's culture dates from the 1960s, a ski resort built to look like a Tyrolean village. The Colorado Snowsports Museum, with its story of the Tenth Mountain Division, and the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens fill a few hours.

Vail has the livelier evenings. Après-ski fills the slopeside terraces of Vail Village and Lionshead as the lifts close, and on winter weekends a few bars and a small club stay open past midnight, though summer and the off-seasons are much calmer.

Moab offers a couple of brewpubs where bikers and rafters swap stories, and the town is mostly asleep by eleven. Its real night-time draw is the dark, star-filled desert sky.

Both are outstanding outdoor bases, but the landscapes could hardly be more different. Moab is red-rock desert: Arches starts minutes from town, Canyonlands and Dead Horse Point overlook the canyons of the Colorado and Green rivers, and the Slickrock Trail and Whole Enchilada make it a mountain-biking capital, with rafting, canyoneering and climbing besides.

Vail is high alpine country at about 2,500m. It has a vast ski area in winter, and in summer gondolas, the Gore Range and Holy Cross wilderness, fly fishing on Gore Creek and gold aspens in autumn. Choose by season and taste: desert in spring and autumn, or mountains in winter and summer.

Vail has more places to visit within a short drive. Beaver Creek is next door, Breckenridge's Victorian main street is under an hour away, Leadville's silver-boom streets make a half day, and Glenwood Springs is an hour down the canyon.

From Moab, nearly every day out is more landscape, and the towns within reach are small. The best cultural outing is a long drive south to Bluff, Edge of the Cedars in Blanding and the towers of Hovenweep.

Vail is the easier choice with children. It has large ski schools and gentle learning terrain, a car-free village, and in summer ropes courses, a mountain coaster and tubing at the top of the gondola. Altitude and winter cold are hard on toddlers, though.

Moab can thrill school-age children who love scrambling on rocks, with short walks to Sand Dune Arch, dinosaur tracks, gentle river floats and Junior Ranger programmes. But summer heat, unfenced drops and long hours in the car make it a better fit for older, active families.

Vail is much easier without a car. The village cores are pedestrian, the lifts start in town and a free bus runs the length of the valley, so many visitors manage a week on foot and by bus. Reaching other towns still calls for a car.

In Moab, a car is essential beyond Main Street and the bike path to the Arches entrance. There is no useful public transport, the parks lie along long desert roads, and a high-clearance vehicle reaches far more trailheads.

Vail has more shopping, though of a narrow, upmarket kind: ski clothing, fur and leather, jewellery, Western boots and galleries along its pedestrian lanes.

Moab's shops are practical, with bike, climbing and camping stores. Its most distinctive buys are geodes and fossils from its rock shops, and Navajo jewellery and weavings.

Moab costs much less, though it is not cheap. Motels charge resort rates in spring and autumn, and rafting or jeep tours add up. But one park pass covers a week, camping is inexpensive or free, and most hikes cost nothing, especially in the cheaper winter months.

Vail is among the most expensive vacations in North America, with slopeside lodging, lift tickets, ski school and meals all well above normal American prices. Staying further down the valley or coming outside winter softens the cost only a little.

Vail has a serious summer of music and dance: Bravo! Vail brings orchestras to the open-air Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater, and the Vail Dance Festival and a jazz festival follow. Winter brings little beyond après-ski bands.

Moab's highlight is the Moab Music Festival at the end of summer, with chamber concerts held in canyon grottoes reached by boat. It is memorable but brief, and the rest of the year is quiet.

Vail is the better place to rest, with polished hotel spas, saunas and hot tubs under the peaks, an unhurried pace outside busy weekends, and the mineral pools and vapour caves of Glenwood Springs an hour away.

Moab has only a few small massage studios, and its days are early and hot. Its restful side is the quiet desert evening as the cliffs turn red.