Alta, Utah or Fort Collins?

Neither place is a swimming destination, but Fort Collins at least has open water you can use. Horsetooth Reservoir has a designated swim beach and coves for paddleboards, and it warms nicely in high summer.

Alta has nothing comparable. The Great Salt Lake is not a place for bathing, so swimming means a lodge pool or a hot tub.

Fort Collins is the place to eat and especially to drink. Its craft-beer scene can fill several days, and Old Town adds gastropubs, taco spots, a few farm-to-table kitchens and summer farmers' markets with Colorado produce.

In Alta, meals mostly come with the room: set dinners at long communal tables and cafeteria lunches on the mountain. For any variety you have to drive down the canyon to Salt Lake City.

Neither city is a sightseeing trip, but Fort Collins gives you something to wander. Its red-brick Old Town centres on a tree-lined square, and it has the Museum of Discovery, the Victorian Avery House and the university's art museum, enough for a pleasant day.

Alta's history as a silver camp turned pioneering ski area survives only as mine traces on the slopes. There are no museums or historic buildings, so cultural visits mean a trip to Salt Lake City.

Fort Collins has an actual night out. Its pubs, rooftop patios, cocktail bars and busy taprooms cluster around the main square, though the scene is casual, student-heavy and short on clubs.

Alta deliberately has almost none of this. After a lodge-bar drink the village goes to bed, which suits regulars who want to be at the lifts early.

Both are excellent outdoor bases, but Alta has the edge for sheer mountain intensity. It sits at around 2,600m in the Wasatch, with legendary powder, serious backcountry touring and, in summer, the Albion Basin meadows and climbs to Cecret Lake and Sugarloaf.

Fort Collins offers more variety at a gentler altitude. You get foothills trails at Horsetooth and Lory State Park, rafting and fly fishing on the wild Cache la Poudre, and long riverside cycle paths, with Rocky Mountain National Park within reach. What it lacks is downhill skiing.

Fort Collins has the wider choice of outings. Boulder beneath the Flatirons, Denver's museums, Estes Park, Golden and Cheyenne across the Wyoming line are all within about an hour or so by car.

From Alta the options narrow to Salt Lake City, Park City's mining-era Main Street and Ogden. In winter every trip depends on a canyon road that closes after storms.

Fort Collins suits a wider range of families. It has playgrounds in every neighbourhood, flat river cycle paths, the hands-on Museum of Discovery, a small city farm and gentle tubing in summer.

Alta works only if everyone skis. It has a good ski school and easy terrain near the base, but no attractions for children, and the altitude and storm days spent indoors can wear on young ones.

The centres are easy in both. Alta's lodges sit at the lifts with a winter shuttle between them, but reaching the village depends on one canyon road that jams on powder mornings and closes for avalanche control.

Fort Collins is less hostage to the weather. Its compact Old Town is linked by a rapid-bus line and some of the best cycling infrastructure in the country, although its suburbs and every excursion still call for a car.

Fort Collins offers pleasant browsing in Old Town, with independent boutiques, bookshops, vintage clothing and Colorado-made gifts. In Alta, shopping stops at ski rental, tuning and branded souvenirs.

Fort Collins is the cheaper stay by a clear margin. It has ordinary mid-range chain hotels, reasonably priced taprooms and plenty of free trails, and the main extra expense is a hire car.

Alta has only a handful of lodges, priced high in season and often with compulsory dinner. Visitors watching costs sleep in the Salt Lake valley and come up each day.

Fort Collins has a respectable regional programme. The Lincoln Center brings touring Broadway shows and the local symphony, the university arts centre stages opera and theatre, and Old Town bar stages book bluegrass and indie bands.

Alta has no stage at all. A concert or play means the long drive to Salt Lake City.

Alta is slightly the more restful of the two, mostly because of its stillness. Steaming outdoor hot tubs, lodge saunas, snow-muffled storm days and evenings with nothing to keep you up all suit tired skiers, even though the spas are small.

Fort Collins offers ordinary day spas and yoga studios and an unhurried pace along its shaded river paths. The nearest hot-spring soak is well over an hour's drive away.