Aspen or Chamonix?

Neither town is a swimming destination, but Chamonix has a little more to offer. Lac de Passy, lower down the valley, has a sandy strip facing Mont Blanc and warms up in high summer. Lake Annecy, clear and among the warmest lakes in the Alps, makes a full day out.

In Aspen the water stays cold in the reservoirs and alpine lakes even in July. Rafting the Roaring Fork is the more natural way to get wet, and a hotel pool is the realistic place for a swim.

The two eat about equally well, in very different styles. Aspen's downtown grid serves an imported menu of steak, sushi, Italian and long wine lists, with a June food and wine festival on top, but it has no local dishes and little at the cheaper end.

Chamonix has a cuisine of its own: fondue, raclette and tartiflette made with cheeses from the surrounding pastures, served in refuges on the trails as well as in town. Its cheese shops and bakeries suit picnic lunches. In both towns, a fair number of kitchens close between seasons.

Both give you about half a day of history, and the stories differ. Aspen's is silver mining: red-brick Victorian blocks around the Wheeler Opera House, painted miners' cottages in the West End and the ghost town of Ashcroft. It adds a contemporary art museum and Herbert Bayer's modernist Aspen Institute campus.

Chamonix tells the story of mountaineering, from the first ascent of Mont Blanc in 1786 to the first Winter Olympics in 1924. That history is told in the Musée Alpin, the old guides' quarter and the climbers' cemetery.

Both are small, seasonal scenes that come alive in ski season, but the crowds differ. Aspen goes out in style, from slopeside decks to hotel bars and a few small clubs, and the money and dress code peak around Christmas and the X Games.

Chamonix is louder and more casual. Its evenings centre on a run of pubs along one narrow lane in the old town, where young, mostly English-speaking seasonal workers, guides and visitors drink together until late.

Here the choice is between sheer scale and ease of access. Aspen sits at about 2,400m among the drier Elk Mountains. It has four ski areas of very different character linked by free shuttles, the Maroon Bells a short bus ride away and wilderness routes up to high summits. It suits hikers, mountain bikers and fly-fishers as well as skiers.

Chamonix's valley floor is far lower, yet the Mont Blanc massif rises almost 4km above it to the highest ground in Western Europe. Cable cars reach glaciers and granite needles in minutes, and this is the valley for real alpinism: the Vallée Blanche, guided climbs, via ferrata and paragliding. The weather up high is less predictable.

Chamonix has much better day trips because it sits where three countries meet. Courmayeur and the Roman town of Aosta lie through the Mont Blanc Tunnel, Annecy and Geneva are about an hour away, and the Mont Blanc Express climbs into Switzerland to Martigny.

Aspen's choices are smaller mountain towns: Glenwood Springs, Carbondale, Redstone and Marble. In summer you can add Leadville over Independence Pass. Once that pass closes in winter, the list gets noticeably shorter.

Altitude is what really separates the two for parents. Aspen itself sits at about 2,400m, so young children may be tired or headachy for the first day or two. Once they have adjusted, the gentle slopes at Buttermilk and Snowmass, good ski schools and the summer coasters and ropes courses keep them busy.

Chamonix's valley floor is much lower, and altitude only matters on the top cable cars, which are best skipped with small children. Summer is its stronger season for families, with the ibex and marmots at the Merlet animal park and the little red train to the Mer de Glace. In either town, a wet day leaves little to do.

You can manage both without a car. Each has a flat, walkable centre with lifts leaving from town and free public transport. Aspen's free buses link its four ski areas, and a small airport sits a few minutes away. Beyond the valley, though, mountain passes make a car close to essential.

Chamonix has a valley train as well as buses, free with the guest card, and most visitors arrive by shuttle from Geneva. The trade-off is crowded ski buses in winter, because its ski areas are strung out along the valley.

Aspen is far better for shopping, at least if you like luxury. Its pedestrian malls hold international designer boutiques, jewellers, high-end ski wear, Western leather and a cluster of art galleries, and window-shopping is part of an evening out.

Chamonix is a specialist's town. Its long-established climbing and ski shops carry technical gear and expertise that serious mountaineers plan purchases around. Beyond that, it is mostly cheese, génépi, crystals and souvenirs.

Neither is cheap, but Aspen is in a class of its own. Lodging, lift tickets, ski school and meals are all priced for the very wealthy, and many visitors on a budget stay down the valley in Glenwood Springs and travel in.

Chamonix is expensive in peak weeks, and guides and paragliding flights cost a lot, but it is easier to economise. You can self-cater in apartments, picnic in the hills, use free transport with the guest card and walk trails that start without any lift.

Aspen is clearly the stronger choice for live music. For about eight weeks each summer, its music festival fills the Benedict Music Tent with orchestral, chamber and opera performances, and you can listen free from the lawn. Ballet, jazz and the year-round programme at the Wheeler Opera House add to that.

Chamonix offers a summer jazz festival with some sets played high in the mountains, then church concerts and mountain film evenings. For opera or a symphony orchestra, you have to go to Geneva.

Aspen offers quiet, while Chamonix has hot water on the doorstep. In Aspen, summer and the quiet seasons bring clear air, an unhurried pace, yoga in the parks and hotel spas. For mineral pools, though, you face an hour's drive to Glenwood Springs or a long hike to Conundrum Hot Springs.

Chamonix has a large day spa in town built on the Italian thermal model, with outdoor pools looking up at the glaciers, and the old springs of Saint-Gervais are less than half an hour away. The town itself is less restful, with early starts and streets full of climbers.