Phoenix or Vail?

Neither city is a beach destination, so the difference is the kind of water you get. Phoenix at least has warm water to play in: Salt River reservoirs such as Saguaro Lake, set among desert cliffs, summer tubing on the lower Salt, and resort pools with slides and lazy rivers.

Vail's mountain lakes are for paddling and sunbathing rather than swimming. The water stays cold even in July, so a swim there usually means the hotel pool or a hot tub.

Phoenix eats better and more cheaply. Its Sonoran roots give it a food culture of its own, from carne asada and paper-thin flour tortillas to bacon-wrapped hot dogs from evening carts. It also has good wood-fired pizza and an independent scene around Roosevelt Row, although you will drive between meals.

Vail offers polished resort dining in Vail Village and Lionshead, with elk, lamb, trout and fondue on the menus. There is little that is local or inexpensive, though, and many kitchens close in the quiet weeks between seasons.

Phoenix is no great sightseeing city, but it has real museums, and Vail has almost none. The Heard Museum's Native American collection, the Musical Instrument Museum and Taliesin West each deserve a morning, and the Hohokam ruins at Pueblo Grande add older history.

Vail's chalet village is a 1960s imitation of a Tyrolean town. The Colorado Snowsports Museum, with its story of the Tenth Mountain Division, is about all there is to see.

Phoenix gives you more choice: clubs and rooftop bars in Old Town Scottsdale, student bars on Tempe's Mill Avenue, and craft beer and cocktails downtown. The districts are far apart, though, so you usually pick one for the night.

In Vail the evening peaks early, with après-ski on the slopeside terraces, and only a few bars and one small club stay open late on winter weekends. Summer evenings are calm, and the off-seasons are almost silent.

Both cities are good for the outdoors, but Vail is the stronger of the two. It has a vast ski area with the Back Bowls and Blue Sky Basin and dry powder all winter. In summer there are trails through the Gore Range and Holy Cross wilderness among peaks above 4,000m, as well as fly fishing and rafting, so it works as a mountain base all year.

Phoenix's desert is striking in its own way. Camelback, Piestewa Peak, South Mountain and the saguaro forest of the McDowell Sonoran Preserve rise right beside the suburbs, but summer heat makes hiking after mid-morning dangerous.

Phoenix has a bit more variety within a drive. You can reach Sedona's red rock country and Montezuma Castle, the hillside mining town of Jerome, Prescott's Western square, and Tucson with the white Mission San Xavier del Bac. From Vail the outings are mostly other mountain towns, such as Breckenridge, Beaver Creek and silver-boom Leadville, and Glenwood Springs is the best of them. From either city you need a car.

Both work for families, but in different ways and seasons. Phoenix has the usual attractions: a zoo, an aquarium, a science centre and a children's museum, plus water parks and pool resorts. It also means long car journeys, and in summer it is unsafe for small children to spend much time outdoors.

Vail is built around ski school, with gentle learning terrain and a car-free village, and in summer there are a mountain coaster and ropes courses at the top of the gondola. Beyond that there is little for children, and the altitude and cold can be hard on toddlers.

This is one of the clearest differences between the two. In Vail the village is pedestrian, the lifts start in town and a free bus runs the length of the valley, so many visitors never need a car once they arrive. Getting there over Vail Pass or from the distant airports takes more planning.

Phoenix is built for driving: a huge grid of arterial roads, one useful light rail line from the airport through downtown to Tempe, and walking only in a few small centres. Plan on renting a car.

Phoenix has the wider range. There are large malls in Scottsdale and near the Biltmore, but the better buys are Navajo and Zuni silver and turquoise, Hopi katsina carvings and pottery from museum shops and reputable galleries. Vail's village lanes have a narrow, upmarket mix of ski clothing, fur, boots and galleries of mountain landscapes. That is fine for gear or a luxury souvenir, but not enough for a shopping trip.

Phoenix is by far the cheaper trip, though not a cheap one. Summer hotel rates fall sharply, chain hotels along the freeways are good value all year and hiking costs nothing; the rental car is the main extra cost.

Vail is among the most expensive places to vacation in North America, with lodging, lift tickets, ski school and meals all well above normal American levels. Staying further down the valley or coming outside the winter season helps, but only a little.

The two are about even here, but on opposite calendars. Phoenix has a standard big-city season from autumn to spring: the symphony, Arizona Opera, Ballet Arizona and touring shows at ASU Gammage, Frank Lloyd Wright's round auditorium. The Musical Instrument Museum's concert hall adds a varied programme.

Vail puts everything into summer. Bravo! Vail brings visiting orchestras to the open-air Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater, followed by the dance and jazz festivals. In winter there is little beyond après-ski bands.

Phoenix is the better place simply to rest. Its large desert resorts below Camelback Mountain and in north Scottsdale combine spas using sage, clay and agave with several pools and golf courses, and the dry winter warmth makes a week by the pool easy.

Vail's spas are mainly for recovering after skiing, with massage, saunas and outdoor hot tubs under the peaks. For real bathing you go an hour down the canyon to Glenwood Springs, with its mineral pools and vapour caves.