Phoenix or Steamboat Springs?

Neither city is anywhere near a coast, so swimming means lakes, rivers and pools in both. The difference is the water temperature. Phoenix has warm water: the Salt River reservoirs, Saguaro Lake and Canyon Lake, have small beaches under bare desert cliffs, and from May to September resort pools with slides and lazy rivers are where much of a stay is spent.

In Steamboat the mountain reservoirs stay cold, and only July and August are warm enough to swim in them. Both places tube down a river in summer, the Salt in Arizona and the Yampa right through Steamboat, but the Yampa is more of a float than a swim.

Phoenix has a regional cuisine to try: Sonoran carne asada and machaca, flour tortillas so thin you can see through them, bacon-wrapped hot dogs from evening carts, and some highly regarded wood-fired pizza. The catch is the distances, as the good places are spread from central Phoenix to Scottsdale and you'll usually drive to eat.

Steamboat's dining is hearty and western, with steakhouses, Colorado lamb and local breweries along Lincoln Avenue and at the ski base. It's a satisfying meal after a day outdoors, but there's no street food or market culture, and the choice runs out quickly.

Phoenix makes up for having no historic centre with museums worth planning around. The Heard Museum is one of the great collections of Native American art, the Musical Instrument Museum can fill an afternoon, and Taliesin West shows Frank Lloyd Wright at work in the desert. Each one means a separate drive.

Steamboat's heritage is more pleasant than substantial. The western storefronts on Lincoln Avenue, the Tread of Pioneers Museum and Howelsen Hill, one of the oldest ski areas in North America, together make a morning's interest at most.

Phoenix gives you a choice of crowds. Old Town Scottsdale has clubs and rooftop bars, Tempe's Mill Avenue has student bars, and Roosevelt Row has craft beer and cocktails. The districts are far apart, so you pick one for the evening and take a ride-hail home.

In Steamboat, evenings follow the ski day. Après-ski starts at the gondola base as the lifts close and then moves to a few saloons and brewpubs on Lincoln Avenue. There are no clubs, and outside the busy weeks the town is quiet well before midnight.

Steamboat Springs is built around the outdoors in every season. In winter there's Champagne Powder, aspen glades, backcountry on Rabbit Ears Pass and Nordic trails in the valley. In summer the same hills become mountain-bike and hiking terrain, and you can head for Fish Creek Falls, the alpine lakes of the Mount Zirkel Wilderness, fly fishing on the Yampa and elk and moose by the road.

Phoenix's desert is striking in a completely different way. Camelback Mountain, South Mountain and the saguaro forest of the McDowell Sonoran Preserve rise straight out of the suburbs, and Sedona's red rock is within reach. But that's a winter and spring landscape: in summer the heat makes hiking after mid-morning dangerous.

From Phoenix there are real towns and sights within a couple of hours. You can drive north to Jerome, Prescott, Montezuma Castle and the red rock of Sedona, or south to Tucson's adobe barrios and the white Mission San Xavier del Bac.

Steamboat is too remote for that. The nearby ranching towns are coffee stops, Vail is about two hours of mountain roads away and Denver about three. Outings from Steamboat go into the hills, not to other towns.

Both work well with children, but the trips are very different. Phoenix is the conventional choice, with a zoo, an aquarium, a science centre, water parks and spring training baseball. The downsides are long drives between them and summer heat that keeps small children indoors.

Steamboat suits families who like being outdoors: ski school, gentle first runs on Howelsen Hill, the slides and climbing wall at Old Town Hot Springs, and tubing and the rodeo in summer. It has no zoo, aquarium, theme park or science museum to fall back on, and the altitude can tire young children for the first day or two.

In Phoenix you need a car for nearly everything. The light rail is useful only between the airport, downtown and Tempe, buses are slow, and Scottsdale and the hiking areas are long drives across a flat grid of wide roads.

Steamboat is easier to manage. Downtown is flat and easy to walk, the town bus links it with the ski base, and slopeside lodgings let you walk to the gondola. Beyond those two centres, though, a car is close to essential. The hot springs, Fish Creek Falls, the lakes and the passes are all up roads that the buses don't serve, and in winter those roads call for proper tyres.

Phoenix has the bigger range, with luxury and open-air malls in Scottsdale and around the Biltmore district. Its distinctive buy is Native American craft: Navajo and Zuni silver and turquoise, Hopi katsina carvings, pottery and rugs, best bought from museum shops and reputable galleries. Steamboat is an hour on Lincoln Avenue, browsing western boots and hats at a century-old family outfitter, a few galleries and the ski shops.

Phoenix is the cheaper of the two and easier to fit to a budget. Summer room rates fall sharply, freeway chain hotels are good value all year and Sonoran Mexican food is a cheap way to eat well. The unavoidable extra is a rental car.

Steamboat is expensive in every season. In ski season lift access, equipment hire, slopeside condos and resort dining all add up. Summer is gentler on the wallet, and self-catering and free trails help, but it never becomes a cheap stay.

Phoenix has a full city programme. The Phoenix Symphony, Arizona Opera and Ballet Arizona all run regular seasons, touring Broadway shows play in Wright's round ASU Gammage auditorium, and the Musical Instrument Museum has an intimate concert hall. Most of it runs from autumn to spring.

Steamboat's music comes in summer, the opposite season. The Strings Music Festival puts on chamber music, jazz and bluegrass in its pavilion, and the Perry-Mansfield school, founded in 1913, stages student theatre and dance. In winter there's little beyond bands in the bars.

Steamboat has the more distinctive way to relax: natural hot springs. The rock-lined pools of Strawberry Park Hot Springs sit in a wooded creek valley about 11km up a mountain road, and a snowy evening soak there is a highlight of the region. The spring-fed pools in town are open all year too.

Phoenix's relaxation happens inside resorts. Big spa resorts at the foot of Camelback Mountain use desert ingredients such as sage and agave, and lying by the pool through a dry, sunny winter week is easy. There are no public baths or springs to visit, though, and the best of it costs resort money.