Aspen or Durango, Colorado?

Neither town is a place for a beach, and in both the water stays cold well into summer. The difference is in how people cool off. In Aspen it means a raft on the Roaring Fork, an alpine lake or a hotel pool. Durango has a small swimming area at Lake Nighthorse, a few sandy edges at Vallecito Lake, and the summer custom of floating the Animas through town on an inner tube.

The two eat about equally well, but in very different styles. Aspen cooks for wealthy winter visitors, with polished chef-led restaurants, sushi and steak counters, deep wine lists and the June Food & Wine Classic. Many of its kitchens close in the quiet spring and autumn weeks.

Durango is more relaxed and more Western, with green-chile plates, breakfast cafés for hikers and a few kitchens cooking Colorado lamb and trout. Its real strength is beer: there are far more craft breweries than a town its size would suggest.

Durango has slightly more to see, and most of it comes from the railway. The steam locomotives, the old depot and the roundhouse museum sit alongside a historic district of brick and sandstone Victorian buildings. The college on the mesa also holds a respected collection of Native American material.

Aspen's silver-mining past shows in the Wheeler Opera House and the painted cottages of the West End. It adds modern touches in the Aspen Art Museum and Herbert Bayer's Aspen Institute campus. In either town, a few hours covers the sights.

Aspen has a real party season. Après-ski starts on the decks at the base of Aspen Mountain, then moves into downtown lounges, hotel bars and a few small clubs that stay busy late around Christmas, New Year and the X Games. Outside winter it goes much quieter.

Durango's evenings are a pint in a taproom, a patio on Main Avenue or a Victorian saloon with a piano player. Apart from a few student bars at weekends, the town is mostly asleep before midnight.

Both are superb mountain bases, and Aspen has the edge in sheer concentration. Four ski mountains are linked by shuttle, and the gondola rises from downtown. In summer, the Maroon Bells and wilderness routes over 4,000m are a short bus ride away.

Durango leans towards summer sport. It is one of the country's best-known mountain-biking towns, the Colorado Trail starts just north of it, and the jagged Weminuche Wilderness is close by. It has a single ski resort about half an hour away, rather than four on the doorstep.

Durango has far stronger day trips. Mesa Verde's cliff dwellings are the headline, the narrow-gauge steam train climbs the canyon to Silverton, and the Puebloan ruins at Aztec and Chimney Rock are within easy reach.

From Aspen the options are smaller mountain towns, such as Glenwood Springs, Carbondale and the quarry village of Marble. Leadville is reachable over Independence Pass, but the pass closes in winter and the list shrinks.

Both work about equally well for children, and both need some care with the altitude in the first days. Aspen is mainly for a ski vacation, with gentle slopes and good ski schools at Buttermilk and Snowmass, and lift-served coasters and ropes courses in summer. Durango is better for a summer adventure, with the steam train, gentle tubing on the river and Mesa Verde's ladders, though the long drives add up.

Aspen is far easier without a car. The flat downtown grid is walkable in minutes, free buses run to all four ski mountains and down the valley, and a summer shuttle goes to the Maroon Bells. The airport is a few minutes away.

Durango's centre is just as walkable, and the paved Animas River trail is handy for cycling. Beyond that, the trailheads, the ski area and Mesa Verde are spread along highways with little public transport, so a hire car is almost essential.

Aspen is well ahead for shopping, though it caters mostly to people who spend freely. Its jewellers and its Western leather and fur shops sit alongside the designer names, and strolling past the lit windows after dinner is part of an Aspen evening. What it lacks is a middle ground: there are no department stores and few local crafts or affordable independent shops.

Durango's Main Avenue suits a more practical shopper. Its outdoor shops are good for picking up bike parts or fishing and climbing gear before a day out, and its Western stores sell proper boots. The Navajo and Pueblo silver is the closest either town comes to local craft.

Durango is clearly the cheaper of the two. In Aspen, rooms, lift tickets, ski school and meals are all priced for a very wealthy clientele. Even if you stay down the valley in Glenwood Springs or Carbondale, it is not cheap. The free buses are the one real saving.

Durango is still a US mountain resort. Restaurants charge full American prices plus a tip, the steam train and guided rafting add up, and you will need a hire car. Even so, the overall bill is much lower, and in spring and late autumn prices drop further.

Aspen's summer is the stronger draw. The Aspen Music Festival fills about eight weeks with orchestral, chamber and opera performances in the Benedict Music Tent, where you can listen free from the lawn. The Wheeler Opera House keeps going all year.

Durango has a smaller summer chamber festival and touring shows at the college concert hall. Its own character comes through in Western fun, such as the boo-the-villain melodrama and chuckwagon suppers with cowboy music.

Both are calm places to unwind outside the busy season, and the difference is how close the hot water is. In Durango, spring-fed mineral pools are a few minutes north of town, and Pagosa Springs and Ouray are within reach. From Aspen, the nearest big pools are an hour away at Glenwood Springs, unless you hike to Conundrum, but its resort spas are grander.