Aspen or Canmore?

Neither town is a place to swim, and both offer only cold mountain water. Canmore has the edge with Quarry Lake on the edge of town, where a grassy shore makes a quick plunge on a hot afternoon easy. In Aspen the lakes, reservoirs and rafting on the Roaring Fork are more for floating than swimming, so for a proper swim you would use the hotel pool.

Aspen eats better, and at a higher price. It has chef-led rooms, steak and sushi counters, serious wine lists, slopeside après-ski terraces and the Food & Wine Classic every June. What it lacks is anything cheap and cheerful in between.

Canmore does hearty breakfasts and after-hike meals best, with bakeries, brewpubs and a few kitchens cooking Alberta beef, bison and game. For an ambitious dinner, people drive to Banff or Calgary.

Neither town has a major museum, but Aspen has more to see. Its silver-boom brick blocks, the painted cottages of the West End, the Aspen Art Museum and Herbert Bayer's modernist Aspen Institute campus fill a good afternoon.

Canmore's coal-mining story is told by the small Canmore Museum, the old Mounted Police barracks and a few miners' cottages, along with the Nordic Centre built for the 1988 Olympics. For more history, you go to Banff's museums.

In ski season Aspen has a real late-night scene. Après-ski spills into the downtown lounges, and around Christmas, New Year and the X Games the hotel bars and small clubs stay busy late. Summer is gentler, with drinks on patios rather than dancing.

Canmore is a pub town. A typical night is a brewpub pint, perhaps a band in the corner, and bed before midnight among climbers and weekenders from Calgary. Anyone wanting more takes the bus to Banff's bar strip.

Both are outstanding mountain bases, and the difference is one of kind. Aspen is ski country first, with four separate mountains a free shuttle ride apart, from Highlands' steep expert terrain to gentle Buttermilk and the sheer size of Snowmass. In summer it adds the Maroon Bells and wilderness routes to summits above 4,000m.

Canmore feels wilder and opens onto a far larger area. Climbing and scrambling start from town, elk and bighorn sheep walk the streets, and bears are a real presence on the trails. Lake Louise, the Icefields Parkway and Kananaskis Country all lie around it, but the downhill resorts are near Banff rather than at your door.

Canmore has the slightly better outings. Banff, with its museums, the Cave and Basin site and the Upper Hot Springs, is twenty minutes away, and Calgary's museums and Heritage Park are about an hour off. Lake Louise and Field make smaller stops.

From Aspen the trips are to small towns: Glenwood Springs, Carbondale, Redstone, Marble, the Ashcroft ghost town and, in summer, Leadville over Independence Pass. When the pass closes in winter, the list gets shorter.

Both work equally well for outdoorsy families, and neither has a zoo, aquarium or theme park. Aspen is built around the ski vacation with children, with ski schools and kids' areas at Buttermilk and Snowmass, plus alpine coasters and ropes courses in summer. The altitude can tire small children for the first day or two.

Canmore is more about short walks to Grassi Lakes, bike rides along the river and spotting elk. A recreation centre with a pool and climbing wall covers wet days, but bears and the need for a car take some planning.

Aspen is far easier without a car. The flat downtown grid has the gondola at its edge, free buses run to all four ski mountains, a summer shuttle goes to the Maroon Bells, and the airport is minutes from town.

Canmore's centre and river paths are pleasant on foot or by bike, and buses run up to Banff. Many trailheads, Kananaskis and the Icefields Parkway are only practical by car, though, and Calgary airport is over an hour away.

Of the two, Aspen is the town for shopping. Its few pedestrian blocks hold international luxury labels, high-end ski wear, jewellers and commercial galleries, though there is little for bargain hunters. Canmore's Main Street is the place to replace boots or a waterproof, with gift shops and galleries of mountain scenes and Indigenous work alongside. For real shopping, people go to Calgary.

Neither town is cheap, but Canmore costs noticeably less. In Aspen, rooms, lift tickets, ski school, meals and drinks are all priced for the very wealthy. Staying down the valley in Glenwood Springs or Carbondale only softens the bill.

In Canmore the big costs are rooms at resort prices in summer and ski season, a hire car and park passes. Condos, supermarket picnics and free hiking keep the rest under control.

Aspen's summer is a real classical occasion. For about eight weeks the Music Festival brings soloists, orchestras and opera to the Benedict Music Tent, and you can listen for free from the lawn. Ballet, jazz and the Wheeler Opera House's year-round programme add to it.

Canmore's big moment is its long-running folk festival over the August long weekend. Otherwise there is a small arts centre and bands in the pubs, and the Banff Centre up the valley adds concerts, theatre and the mountain film festival.

Both towns are calm places to rest, and neither has a bathing tradition of its own, so the real difference is where you go to soak. From Aspen, the mineral pools and cave vapour baths of Glenwood Springs are an hour away and Conundrum Hot Springs needs a long hike, while the resort spas offer altitude-recovery treatments. Peak ski weeks are less restful.

Canmore has warm water closer by. Banff Upper Hot Springs is about half an hour away, and the Nordic-style spa at Kananaskis Village has outdoor hot and cold pools beneath the peaks.