Telluride or Tucson?

Neither city has a beach, so swimmers should look elsewhere. Telluride's nearest bathing spot is a cold reservoir about an hour away, and summer water time there means rafting or fishing rather than swimming. In Tucson the resort pool is the real swimming option, the sea is a four-hour drive into Mexico, and Sabino Canyon has seasonal creek pools after the rains.

Tucson has a cuisine of its own, and Telluride does not. Sonoran Mexican cooking is the reason to eat here: carne asada grilled over mesquite, paper-thin flour tortillas and bacon-wrapped hot dogs from south-side stands. The family kitchens along South 12th Avenue are the place to find it, and desert ingredients such as tepary beans and cholla buds turn up on menus and at the farmers' markets.

Telluride cooks well for its size, with elk, Colorado lamb and trout in a few serious dining rooms and wine lists deeper than you would expect. Over a week, though, you keep coming back to the same small circle of places, and in peak weeks tables are hard to get.

Tucson has more to see over two or three days. Mission San Xavier del Bac, with its painted and gilded interior, is a sight of national rank. The adobe streets of Barrio Viejo, the Native American collections of the Arizona State Museum and the hundreds of aircraft at the Pima Air & Space Museum add plenty.

In Telluride, the town itself is the attraction. Its intact mining-boom main street is a National Historic Landmark, and a museum in the old miners' hospital tells its story. A couple of hours covers it.

Neither city is a place for clubbing, but Tucson keeps going later and offers more choice. Fourth Avenue's dive bars and patios and the cocktail bars and rooftops of Congress Street sit within walking distance of each other, and they fill with students and locals on term-time weekends. Telluride's evenings are après-ski and a few Victorian saloons, lively in peak weeks and festival weekends. Out of season it is quiet early.

Telluride has the more dramatic setting and puts it closer to hand. The San Juan peaks rise above 4,000m straight from town, and Bridal Veil Falls and the trails to Blue Lake are a short walk or drive away. In summer there are wildflower meadows and jeep roads over high passes, and in winter some of the best views in American skiing. Autumn gold in the aspens rounds out the year.

Tucson's desert is a fine second. Saguaro forests flank the city, Sabino Canyon trails climb into rock, and the drive up Mount Lemmon passes from cactus to pine. Birders and road cyclists come from far away. Here, though, summer heat cuts the outdoor day short, while in Telluride the same months are the high season.

From Telluride the choices are few and the drives are long. Ridgway, Ouray and Silverton are all old mining or ranching towns reached over mountain roads, Mesa Verde's cliff dwellings sit at the far limit of a day, and in winter the passes can close the way altogether.

Tucson gives you far more to fill spare days with, even if nothing on the list matches Mesa Verde. The Victorian mining town of Bisbee and Wild West Tombstone are each well under two hours away, and closer in are the artists' village of Tubac, the Tumacácori mission ruins, the Sonoita wineries and Biosphere 2.

Tucson gives children more to do, at least from October to April. The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, Reid Park Zoo, the Children's Museum, the planetarium and the giant aircraft fill several days. You will be driving between them, though.

Telluride suits active families who will ski or walk. The free gondola is a treat, the ski school has a good reputation, and the waterfall walks are easy. On a wet day there is little to do indoors, and the altitude can disturb small children's sleep at first.

Once you have arrived, Telluride is far simpler. The old town is a walkable grid, and a free gondola and free buses link it to Mountain Village and the slopes, so many visitors never need a car. The catch is reaching it: the local airport is often affected by weather, and the larger ones are one to two hours' drive away.

Tucson works the other way round. It is easy to fly into, but a single streetcar line serves only downtown and the university. The national park, the mission and Mount Lemmon all need a hire car.

A few blocks of Colorado Avenue make up most of Telluride's shopping: galleries, Western boutiques and outdoor gear shops, pleasant to browse but steeply priced.

Tucson is the better place to come home with something, and most of it is regional. Look for Native American jewellery, Tohono O'odham baskets and Mexican folk art, plus vintage shops on Fourth Avenue. Its winter gem and mineral show draws collectors from around the world.

The cost gap between them is wide. Telluride's scarce rooms are priced for second-home owners, and lift tickets, guided trips and dinners all sit at the very top of the market. Staying out in Ridgway saves money but adds a daily drive.

Tucson is reasonable for an American city. Hotels are moderate, eating Mexican food cheaply is easy, and summer rates fall sharply. The real extras are the hire car and the upmarket resorts.

Telluride's music arrives in a summer rush. The famous Bluegrass Festival fills Town Park beneath the canyon walls, followed by jazz, chamber music and the Labor Day film festival. Outside these weeks, the Sheridan Opera House offers only a few shows a week.

For an ordinary evening out, Tucson gives you more to choose from, with a steady programme right through the cooler months. A symphony orchestra, Arizona Opera and the Arizona Theatre Company perform from autumn to spring, touring Broadway shows play Centennial Hall, and mariachi runs deep in the city's life.

Tucson is the better place to unwind. Long-established destination spas in the Catalina foothills and towards Oracle build whole stays around fitness, desert walks and massage, and the mild winters are calm and sunny.

Telluride has resort spas in Mountain Village, and one thing Tucson lacks: natural hot springs at Ouray and near Ridgway, about an hour away. Even so, the altitude can make the first nights restless.