Moab or Whitefish?

Neither town offers a seaside vacation, but Whitefish at least gives you real lake afternoons. City Beach on Whitefish Lake has sand, a swimming dock and paddleboards, and Flathead Lake to the south is big, clear and lined with pebbly state park shores, although the water is only pleasant from mid-July to late August.

In Moab, cooling off means a dip in Mill Creek's shallow pools, a visit to Ken's Lake or a careful wade from a sandbar into the cold, silty Colorado. For most visitors the motel pool is the only real swim.

Both towns feed hungry hikers rather than food travellers, but Whitefish has a little more character on the plate. Elk and bison burgers, Montana beef, trout and huckleberries in pies, milkshakes and cocktails give it a regional flavour, and there is a local distilling tradition.

Moab's Main Street of burgers, tacos, pizza and brewpubs is hearty and casual, but there is no local cuisine. Utah's alcohol rules also make a drink with dinner more formal than visitors may expect. In both towns a week means going back to the same few places.

Neither is a museum town, and the interest in each lies in very different periods. Moab's cultural depth is ancient and outdoors: petroglyph panels along Potash Road and Kane Creek, the Sego Canyon panels and dinosaur trackways, with the small Museum of Moab to give context.

Whitefish's history is the railway. The timber-framed Great Northern depot holds a local museum about the railway and logging days, and the downtown has some early twentieth-century frontages. Either can be seen in a morning.

Whitefish gives you more of an evening. Its saloons and taprooms on Central Avenue have pool tables and a mix of ranchers, ski bums and visitors, après-ski drifts down from the mountain in winter, and summer patios stay busy, though there are no clubs.

Moab's few brewpubs fill with bikers and rafters swapping stories, and the town is mostly in bed by eleven. That is because everyone is up for sunrise, and the best thing after dark is the sky.

Both are outstanding outdoor bases, and the difference is the kind of landscape. Moab is desert stone: Arches a few minutes from town, the canyon maze seen from Island in the Sky and Dead Horse Point, world-class mountain biking on Slickrock and the Whole Enchilada, plus rafting, canyoneering and climbing at Wall Street.

Whitefish is alpine. Glacier's peaks, turquoise lakes and trails such as the Highline are home to grizzlies and mountain goats, and Big Mountain above town is a full ski area in winter, with fly fishing and paddling in between. Moab is at its best in spring and autumn, while Glacier's high country is open only in high summer.

Most outings from either base are into wild country, but Whitefish has more towns worth a stop. Kalispell's Victorian Conrad Mansion is twenty minutes away, Bigfork is a gallery village on Flathead Lake, and there are cherry orchards along the east shore.

From Moab the towns are small and far apart. The best cultural day heads south to the Ancestral Puebloan sites at Edge of the Cedars and Hovenweep, and that fills a long day in the car.

Both towns suit outdoorsy families equally well, but the ages they suit differ. Moab works best for school-age children who love to climb, with rock scrambles to Sand Dune Arch, dinosaur tracks, Junior Ranger programmes and gentle river floats. The summer heat and unfenced drops make it hard work with toddlers.

Whitefish is easier with younger children. City Beach is calm, Trail of the Cedars is flat, and Big Mountain has a ski school in winter and an alpine slide and zip line in summer. The long drives into Glacier are the main drawback.

Whitefish is easier to reach and get around without a car, though only up to a point. The long-distance train stops at the downtown depot, a free shuttle runs to the ski area in winter, and a park shuttle covers Glacier's main road in summer. You will still want a car for the lake and most trailheads.

In Moab, Main Street is walkable and a paved path runs to the Arches entrance, but beyond that a car is unavoidable. Many trailheads are reached by dirt track, so a high-clearance vehicle opens up much more, and visitors without one depend on outfitters' tours.

Whitefish makes a better afternoon's browse. Central Avenue has western-wear and boot shops, galleries of wildlife art and Montana-made gifts such as huckleberry jam, and Kalispell nearby has the big stores.

Moab is for practical buys: bike and climbing gear, rock shops full of geodes and fossils, and some Navajo jewellery and weavings in its galleries.

Both are pricey small resort towns with scarce rooms in their busy seasons, so neither is cheap. Moab has more free ways round it: dispersed camping on public land, no-cost hikes and much cheaper winters. Guided rafting and jeep tours add up quickly, though.

Whitefish is easier on the wallet in late spring and autumn, and staying in Kalispell or Columbia Falls cuts the bill. Once you are inside, Glacier itself is good value.

Whitefish has a modest stage life that runs through the year. It has a community performing arts centre, a professional summer theatre company, the valley symphony's summer festival in Kalispell and free outdoor concerts.

Moab has one remarkable event and little else. The Moab Music Festival at the end of summer takes chamber music into canyon grottoes reached by boat. Outside that, expect a band in a brewpub.

Whitefish is more restful. It has spas in the lakeside and mountain lodges, yoga studios in town and slow lakeside mornings, although the nearest hot springs are a couple of hours away.

A trip to Moab is built around effort, and its few massage studios mostly treat sore legs from the bike. Its calm comes from desert evenings, red cliffs at sunset and a ranch or La Sal cabin away from town.