Page, Arizona or Taos?

Page is the only one of the two where swimming is part of the trip. In summer Lake Powell is warm enough for long swims. You can camp or drive down onto the sand at Lone Rock, or take a boat into sandstone coves and jump off the rock into deep water. There are no lifeguards, and the beaches shift as the lake level rises and falls.

Taos has nothing like it. The Rio Grande in its gorge is for rafting, and the mountain lakes stay cold even in July, so a hotel pool or a hot spring is as close as you will get to a swim.

Taos eats better, because it has a regional cuisine to offer. Northern New Mexican dishes such as posole, carne adovada and enchiladas come with red or green chile at old family-run places around the plaza and on the road to Ranchos, and Taos Pueblo sells bread baked in its hornos. A few kitchens cook with local lamb, and there are good coffee shops and breweries.

Page's main strip is made up of diners, barbecue and chains that feed tour groups quickly. The Navajo taco on frybread is the one local dish worth seeking out.

Taos has the far richer cultural side. Taos Pueblo is a UNESCO-listed adobe village that has been lived in for around a thousand years and is still home to its Tiwa-speaking community. Add the buttressed church at Ranchos de Taos, painted by O'Keeffe, and small museums such as the Harwood and the Millicent Rogers, and you have two or three unhurried days.

Page was built in the 1950s for the dam workers, so its sights are the Carl Hayden Visitor Center at the dam and a small museum devoted to John Wesley Powell. The deeper culture lies out in the Navajo Nation, not in town.

Both towns go quiet early and neither has clubs, though Taos gives you a little more to do after dinner. You can have a margarita in an old adobe hotel bar off the plaza or hear a band in a saloon, and in winter the ski valley has an après-ski crowd. In Page you get a brewpub and a handful of bars, and with canyon tours starting before sunrise, the best evening is often simply looking up at the dark, star-filled desert sky.

Both are superb bases, but Page just has the edge for the sheer number of famous sights close to town. Horseshoe Bend and the Antelope slot canyons, toured with Navajo guides, are minutes away. Lake Powell's red canyons and Rainbow Bridge are explored by boat, Lees Ferry is where Grand Canyon rafting trips start, and the Vermilion Cliffs and the Wave are within an hour or two.

Taos is mountain country instead of red rock and water. You can hike up Wheeler Peak, at 4,013m the highest point in New Mexico, raft the Taos Box in spring, ride the West Rim of the gorge, drive the Enchanted Circle and ski steep runs in winter.

Taos has much better day trips. Santa Fe, with its plaza and the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, is about an hour and a half away. The High Road there passes Truchas, the adobe church at Las Trampas and the sanctuary at Chimayó. Abiquiu and Ghost Ranch, in O'Keeffe country, make a second good day out.

Around Page the land is spectacular, but there are few towns or heritage sites to visit. Lees Ferry's pioneer buildings and Lonely Dell Ranch make an easy half day. Kanab, a small Western town with a film-set past, is about an hour and a quarter away, and Pipe Spring is near it. The cliff dwellings at Betatakin take about two hours each way, and anything further out means long drives to small towns.

Both suit outdoorsy families and have no zoos or theme parks, but they work in different ways. In Page, children get easy summer days on Lake Powell and short Antelope Canyon tours. The drawbacks are punishing heat, steep ladders on some tours and unfenced cliff edges at Horseshoe Bend.

Taos works in every season, with a ski school in winter and gentle float trips, horse riding and a big recreation centre pool in summer. The altitude can tire young children for the first day or two.

Plan on a car in both, though Taos is slightly easier. Its old centre around the plaza, Kit Carson Road and Bent Street is walkable, a basic bus covers parts of town, and Albuquerque's airport is about two and a half hours away by road. Page has no useful public transport, and its sights, from Horseshoe Bend to the marinas, are all outside town. The nearest major airports are hours away, so most people arrive in Page as part of a road trip.

Taos is a real place to shop for art and craft. Galleries line the lanes around the plaza and Kit Carson Road, and the local specialities are micaceous pottery, Rio Grande weaving, carved santos and turquoise jewellery. Collectors can easily spend days browsing.

Page has one good reason to shop: Navajo silver, turquoise, rugs and pottery bought at trading posts and roadside stalls, often straight from the maker. Beyond that, its shops sell boating gear and supplies for stocking a houseboat.

Neither is cheap, and overall costs are similar, but the money goes on different things. In Page the bill grows with paid extras: Antelope Canyon can only be seen on a guided tour, and boats and houseboats are expensive. Camping at Lone Rock or Wahweap and coming in winter keep costs down.

Taos is slightly gentler on the budget. Its simple motels and diners are fairly priced, while historic inns and ski-valley lodging charge resort rates. Spring and late autumn, between the ski and summer seasons, are the cheapest times to visit.

Taos has a few performances worth planning around. On certain feast days, especially San Gerónimo in late September and around Christmas, the Pueblo holds traditional dances that the public may watch, with no photography allowed. A summer chamber music festival brings serious classical concerts, and a community arts centre shows films and theatre. In Page, the most you will find is a Navajo dance presentation put on for visitors or a local band in a bar.

If you want to slow down, Taos is far better. Ojo Caliente, about fifty minutes away, has outdoor pools fed by different mineral waters beneath the cliffs. Primitive hot springs sit beside the Rio Grande at the bottom of the gorge, and the town has day spas, yoga studios and retreat centres.

In Page, wellness means a motel pool and quiet desert evenings. Days there are built around early tours and long drives, so a stay is active rather than restful.