Rapid City or Wisconsin Dells?

Neither town is near the sea, but Wisconsin Dells is the better place for a swim. Devil's Lake has proper sandy beaches at both ends under quartzite bluffs, and its water warms to around 24°C in high summer. Most children will spend their time in the waterparks anyway.

Around Rapid City, swimming happens in Sheridan Lake, Pactola Reservoir and Sylvan Lake, which are clear, cooler lakes in the pines with small gravel or sandy shores. They make a pleasant break on a driving day but not much more.

Neither is a place to travel to for food, and the difference is one of region rather than quality. Rapid City serves Great Plains food: bison steaks, chislic, and Indian tacos on Lakota fry bread. Downtown has a handful of brewpubs and more ambitious kitchens, and there are wineries and distillers out in the hills.

The Dells belongs to the Upper Midwest, with old supper clubs, prime rib and brandy old fashioneds, a Friday fish fry and squeaky cheese curds. Serious eaters save their appetite for Madison.

Rapid City has more to see. The Journey Museum follows the Black Hills from their geology through Lakota history to the gold rush, the School of Mines holds fine Badlands fossils, and the bronze presidents on downtown corners make an easy walk.

Wisconsin Dells is built for fun rather than heritage. Its one real historic stop is the H.H. Bennett Studio, which shows how photographs of the river gorges first brought tourists here. The upside-down houses and wax museums on Broadway are entertainment, not history.

Both towns are quiet after dark, but in different ways. In Rapid City, going out means brewpubs and country-music bars around Main Street Square that close early, except in early August when the Sturgis rally fills the region with riders and the bars stay loud and late.

The Dells is quiet once the waterparks close, with taverns, taprooms and cocktails in supper-club bars. A casino near Baraboo is open late, and for a real night out people drive to Madison.

This is where Rapid City clearly wins. The Black Hills give you granite spires, ponderosa forest, the Needles Highway and the bison of Custer State Park. Below ground there are long tours in Wind Cave and Jewel Cave, and the eroded ridges of the Badlands are an hour east.

The Dells has a gentler, smaller landscape: sandstone canyons along the Wisconsin River best seen by boat or kayak, and Devil's Lake, with bouldery trails and good climbing on its quartzite bluffs. The autumn colour is lovely, but nothing here matches the scale of the Black Hills.

Rapid City has the more famous destinations within a day's drive. Mount Rushmore is half an hour away and Crazy Horse just beyond it. Deadwood's gold-rush streets, the mammoth bones at Hot Springs and the Minuteman Missile silo are all within reach.

From the Dells, the trips are quieter and more mixed. Madison's Capitol and lakes, Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin and the House on the Rock at Spring Green, and Circus World in Baraboo make a good list, just a shorter one. You need a car in both places.

Wisconsin Dells is made for children. It has huge indoor waterpark resorts that run all winter, America's largest outdoor waterpark, go-karts and rollercoasters, and hotels with their own slides, so younger children hardly need to leave the building. The weak spot is teenagers who get tired of water rides.

Rapid City is a classic family road trip, with a reptile park, a drive-through park with bears and wolves, Storybook Island, gold panning and bison stopping traffic. It holds the interest of older children better, but the days involve much more driving.

You need a car in both, and the driving is very different. Around Rapid City the distances are long but the roads are part of the pleasure, with hairpins and narrow tunnels through the hills. Downtown is easy to walk, and seasonal tour buses cover the main sights.

In the Dells every trip is a few minutes along busy commercial strips that are unpleasant to walk, and only the few blocks of Broadway work on foot.

The two towns differ less in how much there is to buy than in what you take home. Rapid City's shops lean towards things made in the region. There is gold jewellery worked into leaves of pink, green and yellow, the downtown galleries sell Lakota beadwork and quilts, and there are boots and hats for anyone who wants the Western look. A piece of Native American craft is the souvenir worth looking for here.

In the Dells you choose between novelty and familiar labels. The T-shirt, taffy and cheese counters along Broadway keep children amused for half an hour. Adults are more likely to head for the outlet centre on the edge of town, where the familiar American labels fill a rainy spell between waterparks.

Rapid City is somewhat easier on the budget. Its motels and casual meals are reasonably priced and many sights are free. A rental car, fuel and park fees can't be avoided, and rally week in August pushes room prices very high.

In the Dells the extra costs come from tickets, rides and resort extras, which add up quickly for a family on a summer weekend. Older motels on the strips and the free state parks help keep costs down.

Rapid City's stage runs to a symphony orchestra, summer plays at a playhouse among the pines of Custer State Park, and powwows. The large autumn powwow at the civic centre is the most distinctive performance a visitor can see in either place.

The Dells sticks to family entertainment: magic shows, dinner shows, and touring country and tribute acts at a theatre in Lake Delton. Anyone who cares about theatre drives to Spring Green for its outdoor classical stage in summer.

Both are thin on relaxation, though each has its own retreat. For Rapid City it is Hot Springs, an hour south, where a historic indoor pool fed by warm springs has drawn bathers since the 1890s. Quiet cabins in the hills add to the calm.

The Dells has full-service spas in the larger resorts and a long-established adults-only retreat in the woods, but the town itself is noisy in summer. The calm comes early in the morning or in the off-season.