You will hear hundreds of answers to this question depending on the various observers' preferences. Quite simply, the best telescope for you is the one that will get used and enjoyed often.
Some folks talk about a third type - the catadioptric .
A cat is actually a combination of a reflector and a refractor. Reflectors use a pair of mirrors to collect and focus the light. The light is bounced off of the primary and reflected back to the top of the tube off of the secondary to the eyepiece. Reflectors are generally preferred for deep-sky objects such as nebula and galaxies. They also offer excellent high powered viewing of the planets and moon.