Aspen or Santa Monica?

Aspen has no beach in any real sense. A summer swim means a chilly alpine lake, a raft trip on the Roaring Fork or the hotel pool, and the water stays cold even in July.

Santa Monica is built around its shore. A broad band of pale sand runs past the pier, with lifeguard towers along it, and the quieter coves of Zuma and Point Dume lie up the Malibu coast. The Pacific is cool and many people wade rather than swim, but for days on the sand the two are not comparable.

Santa Monica eats better and more broadly. Its cooking follows the produce of the Wednesday farmers market, with good seafood and brunch. Main Street and Montana Avenue have the neighbourhood places, and Venice next door has more casual options.

Aspen eats well for its size, with chef-led dining rooms, steak and sushi, and the après-ski terraces at the foot of Aspen Mountain. Still, the range is narrow, there is almost nothing cheap, and many kitchens close in the quiet seasons. Neither town has a cuisine of its own.

Neither is a sightseeing destination, but Santa Monica has more within reach. Its own landmarks are the pier and the end of Route 66, Bergamot Station gathers the galleries, and the Getty Center and Getty Villa, with European art and Roman antiquities, are a short drive away.

Aspen's culture comes from its silver-boom past: the Wheeler Opera House, the Victorian brick blocks and the miners' cottages of the West End. Add Herbert Bayer's modernist Aspen Institute campus and the Aspen Art Museum, and you have a pleasant afternoon rather than a reason to travel.

Neither town is a big night out. The real difference is timing. Aspen's late nights belong to winter. Around Christmas, New Year and the X Games, hotel bars and a handful of small clubs stay full into the night with a dressed-up, free-spending crowd. Summer brings slower evenings on patios, and between the seasons much of the town shuts.

Santa Monica keeps much the same pattern all year, and it is built around a drink rather than a dance. Hotel rooftops look out over the bay, the streets around the Third Street Promenade have wine and sports bars, Main Street has its pubs, and Venice draws a more local crowd. Most people are home early, and anyone who wants a club heads to Hollywood.

Aspen is one of the great mountain bases. It sits high in the Elk Mountains with four ski areas linked by free shuttles. In summer you have the Maroon Bells, high passes, rafting and fly-fishing on the Roaring Fork, and mountain-bike trails leaving from town.

Santa Monica's outdoors is gentler but lasts all year. There are chaparral trails in the Temescal and Topanga canyons, bluff walks at Point Dume, a 35km beach path for cycling, surf lessons and whale-watching in winter. It is good, but on a far smaller scale than Aspen's wilderness.

From Aspen, the choice is mostly small mountain towns: Glenwood Springs, Carbondale, Redstone and Marble, plus the ghost town of Ashcroft. Leadville, over Independence Pass, works only in summer, because the pass closes in winter.

Santa Monica has far more to do beyond town. Santa Barbara with its mission and wine country, Ojai, Laguna Beach and Catalina Island by ferry all make full days out. So do the Huntington Library and gardens in Pasadena, as long as the traffic allows.

Aspen comes into its own on a ski vacation, with gentle slopes at Buttermilk and Snowmass and well-run ski schools. In summer, lift rides lead to alpine coasters and ropes courses. Otherwise the town is aimed at adults, and the altitude can tire young children for the first day or two.

Santa Monica is easier with children in every season. The beach is wide and lifeguarded, the pier has rides over the water, a carousel and a small aquarium, and the flat beach path suits family bike rides. Theme parks are possible, but each one takes up most of a day.

Aspen is the easier place to manage without a car. The flat downtown grid takes minutes to cross and the gondola leaves from its edge. Free buses reach all four ski mountains, and in summer a shuttle serves the Maroon Bells. You only need a car to leave the valley, over passes that storms can close.

Santa Monica is walkable at its centre, and the E Line light rail runs to downtown Los Angeles. However, the Getty Center, Hollywood and the Malibu canyons are poorly served by public transport, and freeway traffic makes most outings slow.

Aspen sells luxury and Santa Monica sells a bit of everything. Aspen's few downtown blocks have an unusual number of international designer labels, along with high-end ski wear, jewellers and art galleries, but there is little for browsers on an ordinary budget.

Santa Monica covers more ground. The Third Street Promenade has the chains, Montana Avenue has upmarket boutiques, Main Street has surf shops, and Abbot Kinney in Venice has design-led stores. For the designer labels Aspen has on its doorstep, people here drive to Rodeo Drive.

Aspen is the costlier of the two by some distance. In ski season, rooms, lift tickets, ski school and meals are all priced for a very wealthy clientele. Summer is a little easier, and staying down the valley in Glenwood Springs helps, but neither makes it a cheap trip.

Santa Monica is expensive too, with high hotel prices near the ocean plus car hire and parking. Still, the beach, the trails and the bike path cost nothing, and staying a little inland brings room prices down.

Aspen has the stronger summer stage. For about eight weeks the Aspen Music Festival puts on orchestral, chamber and opera performances in the Benedict Music Tent, where people picnic on the lawn and listen for free. The Wheeler Opera House hosts concerts and comedy all year, but outside summer there is much less on.

Santa Monica's own stage is smaller: the Broad Stage, a few small playhouses, folk and acoustic rooms, and free summer concerts on the pier. The Philharmonic and the Hollywood Bowl are within reach, but across town in heavy traffic.

The real difference is water. Aspen has resort spas, clear mountain air and riverside paths, and genuine hot springs within reach: the mineral pools and vapour caves of Glenwood Springs are an hour down the valley, and Conundrum Hot Springs waits at the end of a long hike. It is restful in summer and the quiet seasons, but the full streets of ski season are not.

Santa Monica has no bathing culture at all. Instead, yoga on the sand, beachfront spas and morning runs along the ocean set an easy pace for unwinding, though the restorative side is mostly up to you.