Aspen or Estes Park?

Neither town is any use for a beach vacation. Both sit around 2,300 to 2,400m in the Rockies, and their lakes stay cold with snowmelt all summer.

What differs is what people do on the water instead. In Aspen, summer means rafting on the Roaring Fork River. At Estes Park, people paddle and fish on Lake Estes, and if you want a swim, it has an indoor aquatic centre as well as hotel pools.

Aspen eats far better. Its downtown grid has chef-led dining rooms, sushi and steak counters and serious wine lists. Après-ski on the terraces at the base of Aspen Mountain is an occasion in itself, and every June the Food & Wine Classic brings chefs to town.

Estes Park cooks for hikers rather than diners: burgers, barbecue, elk and bison, big breakfasts, a few craft breweries, and taffy and fudge on Elkhorn Avenue. Neither town has much cheap variety, and both cut back out of season. In Estes Park, though, a special dinner usually means driving down to Boulder or Denver.

Neither town is a culture destination, but Aspen has a little more to show. Its silver-boom past survives in the red-brick Victorian downtown, the Wheeler Opera House and the miners' cottages of the West End. The Aspen Art Museum and Herbert Bayer's Aspen Institute campus add a modern layer.

Estes Park rests on one famous building, the Stanley Hotel that inspired The Shining, with its tours and ghost stories. Around it are a museum on homesteading and the historic MacGregor Ranch. Together they fill a rainy afternoon, while Aspen's town walk and the ghost town of Ashcroft fill a little more.

Aspen has real nightlife in ski season. It starts on the slopeside decks when the lifts close and moves into downtown bars, lounges and a few small clubs, which stay busy late around Christmas, New Year and the X Games. In summer it calms down to drinks on patios.

Estes Park has nothing like that. A brewery taproom or saloon on Elkhorn Avenue after a day's hiking is the whole scene, and the town is mostly asleep by ten because visitors are up early for elk and trails.

Both towns exist for the mountains and both are outstanding, so the difference is in what you do there. Aspen is a ski town first, with terrain ranging from Buttermilk's gentle runs to the steep slopes of Highlands. In summer it has the Maroon Bells, the drive over Independence Pass and wilderness summits above 4,000m.

Estes Park is the gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park. Trail Ridge Road crosses the alpine tundra, there are lakes such as Bear and Emerald, and Longs Peak rises over it all. Its particular strength is wildlife: elk in town, their bugling during the autumn rut, bighorn sheep and moose. There is no ski resort nearby, though.

Estes Park has more varied day trips, because its canyons lead down to proper towns on the plains. Boulder has Pearl Street and the Flatirons, Fort Collins has its Old Town and breweries, and Denver's museums are about an hour and a half away. In summer, Grand Lake over Trail Ridge Road is another option.

From Aspen, the choices are smaller mountain places: Glenwood Springs about an hour away, Carbondale, Redstone and Marble, and Leadville over Independence Pass in summer. When the pass closes in winter, the list gets shorter still.

Both are small, safe mountain towns that work well with children, and in both the altitude can tire young ones for the first day or two. Aspen is the better choice for a ski vacation, with gentle slopes, ski schools and kids' areas at Buttermilk and Snowmass. In summer, the lifts take families up to alpine coasters and ropes courses.

Estes Park suits families who would rather watch wildlife. There are elk in the streets, junior ranger activities and flat walks around Sprague and Bear lakes, plus mini golf, go-karts, riding stables and the Prospect Mountain tramway. Neither town has a zoo or aquarium for a rainy day.

Aspen is far easier without a car. The flat downtown grid takes minutes to walk, and the gondola leaves from its edge. Free buses run to all four ski mountains, a valley line reaches Glenwood Springs and a summer shuttle serves the Maroon Bells.

Estes Park's Elkhorn Avenue and Riverwalk are pleasant on foot, and in the warmer months shuttles run to the Bear Lake corridor. Most trailheads, Trail Ridge Road and the towns on the plains, however, are reachable only by car. Summer weekends also bring heavy traffic and parking trouble in town.

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

Estes Park's Elkhorn Avenue is good for an hour's browse among souvenirs, taffy, western wear, outdoor gear and wildlife art. For anything more serious, you would drive to Boulder or Denver.

Neither town is cheap, but Estes Park is much easier on the budget. Prices peak in summer and early autumn, when the national park is busy, but winter and spring rooms are far cheaper. Cabins with kitchens let you cook for yourself, and the park costs nothing beyond the entrance fee. If you have no car, allow for a rental.

Aspen is among the most expensive places to vacation anywhere. Ski-season lodging, lift tickets, ski school and meals are all priced for very wealthy visitors. Summer and the quieter seasons ease the cost a little, as does staying down the valley in Glenwood Springs or Carbondale, but it never becomes a cheap trip.

Aspen has a serious summer of music. The Aspen Music Festival and School fills about eight weeks with orchestral, chamber and opera performances in the Benedict Music Tent, and you can listen free from the lawn outside. Jazz festivals, the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet and year-round shows at the Wheeler Opera House add to the programme.

Estes Park has free summer concerts in its riverside performance park, occasional evenings at the Stanley Hotel, and pipe bands and Celtic music at the Scottish-Irish Highland Festival in September. Both towns are quieter outside summer, but Estes Park then has almost nothing on, and theatre or orchestras mean a drive to Boulder or Denver.

Aspen has more for a restful trip. Its large resort hotels have full spas with altitude-recovery programmes, and there is yoga in the parks. About an hour down the valley are the mineral pools and cave vapour baths of Glenwood Springs, and Conundrum Hot Springs lies at the end of a long hike.

Estes Park has no hot springs and only a few lodge spas and massage studios. Its calm is simpler: a cabin by the river, elk at dusk and quiet evenings, at their best in winter and spring. Aspen, too, is most restful away from the peak ski weeks.