Aspen or Denver?

Neither city is a place for a beach. Both sit deep in the interior, and the water in the mountain lakes stays cold even in July. In Aspen the summer water is on the Roaring Fork, by raft, or in chilly alpine lakes and small reservoirs, and a hotel pool is the only place for a proper swim.

Denver has more conventional options on its edge: sandy reservoir beaches at Cherry Creek and Chatfield state parks, plus outdoor public pools in the city.

Denver has more variety and more range in what a meal costs. Green chile, breakfast burritos, the Vietnamese and Mexican kitchens along Federal Boulevard and a brewing culture that fills RiNo with taprooms give it a regional character that Aspen lacks.

Aspen's strength is the polished end: chef-led dining rooms, steak and sushi, serious wine lists and après-ski on the terraces at the foot of Aspen Mountain. It does that end better than Denver, where fine dining is thin. But there is little that is cheap in between, and many kitchens shut in the quiet seasons.

Aspen's history fits into an afternoon. You can walk the red-brick blocks around the Wheeler Opera House and the miners' cottages of the West End, and see Herbert Bayer's modernist Aspen Institute campus and the contemporary Aspen Art Museum.

Denver has enough to fill two or three days. The Civic Center area alone holds the gold-domed State Capitol, the Denver Art Museum with its Native American collection, and the Clyfford Still Museum. LoDo, Larimer Square and the Beaux-Arts Union Station add a well-kept old commercial core.

Denver gives you the steadier night out, and it stays that way all year. There are breweries and cocktail bars in RiNo, game-night crowds in LoDo, dive bars on East Colfax and easier neighbourhood bars in Highland and South Broadway. Aspen's nightlife is glossier but tied to winter: after skiing the drinking moves from the slopeside decks to downtown lounges, and in the peak weeks the hotel bars and a few small clubs stay busy late.

Outside ski season Aspen turns to drinks on patios, and in spring and autumn it goes close to silent. Neither is really a clubbing city.

Both cities face the Rockies, but Aspen sits inside them. The ski mountains, the Maroon Bells, the drive over Independence Pass and the wilderness routes to summits above 4,000m all begin in or close to town, so the high country is part of every day rather than an excursion.

Denver's outdoors are excellent, but you have to drive to reach them. The red sandstone of Red Rocks and the foothills above Golden are within half an hour, and the Flatirons behind Boulder are not much further. Rocky Mountain National Park and the I-70 ski resorts take a couple of hours, on a road known for weekend traffic. In return, Denver has paved bike trails through the city and dry, sunny weather in every season.

Denver sits at the centre of a much wider network. Boulder and Golden are close, and the Victorian mining towns of Georgetown and Idaho Springs are up the mountain corridor. Colorado Springs with Manitou Springs, Fort Collins and Estes Park, the gateway to the national park, are all within a day by car.

Aspen's choices are fewer and smaller: Glenwood Springs and Carbondale down the valley, Redstone and Marble up the Crystal River, the ghost town of Ashcroft, and Leadville over Independence Pass in summer. Once the pass closes for winter, the list gets noticeably shorter.

With children, Denver has the attractions that Aspen lacks. City Park holds the zoo and the Museum of Nature & Science with its dinosaurs and planetarium, and the Children's Museum, an aquarium and an amusement park are grouped by the South Platte.

Aspen is better only for a family ski week, thanks to the gentle slopes and ski schools at Buttermilk and Snowmass, or for the summer coasters and ropes courses at the top of the lifts. You need to plan for the altitude in both, and Aspen is the higher of the two.

Within its own valley, Aspen is far easier to manage without a car. The flat downtown grid takes minutes to cross, the gondola leaves from its edge, and free buses reach all four ski mountains, with a shuttle out to the Maroon Bells in summer.

Denver's walkable core, from Union Station along the 16th Street Mall to Civic Center, has a free shuttle and a train link to the airport. Beyond that the city spreads out, and the mountains, Red Rocks and nearly every day trip need a hired car. Aspen's weakness is the journey in and out, over passes that winter storms can close.

Aspen wins for luxury. A few downtown blocks hold international designer boutiques, high-end ski wear, jewellers and commercial art galleries, and window-shopping in the pedestrian malls is part of an evening out.

Denver is broader in price but plainer in style. Cherry Creek has an upscale mall surrounded by boutiques, and South Broadway does vintage clothes and records. For outdoor gear and Western boots and hats, its big flagship stores beat anything in Aspen.

Denver is by far the cheaper base, though it is not a cheap one. Expect big-city hotel prices and the cost of a hired car, softened by taquerias, breweries and free trails.

Aspen sits at the very top of the market, with lodging, lift tickets, ski school and meals all priced for a very wealthy clientele. Summer only eases the cost a little, and even staying down the valley in Glenwood Springs or Carbondale still leaves an expensive trip.

Denver has the deeper programme across the year. Red Rocks Amphitheatre, set between huge sandstone monoliths, is a concert stage people travel to see. The Denver Center for the Performing Arts houses resident theatre, touring musicals, the Colorado Symphony, Opera Colorado and the Colorado Ballet, and there is jazz in Five Points and rock in the old theatres on Colfax.

Aspen is mainly a summer draw. The Aspen Music Festival fills about eight weeks with orchestral, chamber and opera performances in the Benedict Music Tent, and you can listen free from the lawn outside. The Wheeler Opera House keeps a smaller programme going through the year.

Outside the peak ski weeks, Aspen is the more restful choice. It has clear mountain air, riverside paths, yoga in the parks and resort spas with altitude-recovery treatments. The big mineral pools and cave vapour baths of Glenwood Springs are an hour away, and Conundrum Hot Springs rewards a long hike.

Denver's wellness is city-style, with day spas and yoga studios. Its nearest hot springs are the historic pools and steam caves at Idaho Springs, under an hour west. Its sunny parks help, but it is a city rather than a retreat.