Aspen or Whitefish?

In Aspen, swimming means a hotel pool, the chilly shore of a reservoir or a raft on the Roaring Fork, whose water stays cold even in July.

Whitefish does better because it has a lake at the edge of town. City Beach on Whitefish Lake has a sandy strip, a swimming dock and paddleboards, and the clear water and pebbly state park shores of Flathead Lake are a short drive south. The season runs only from mid-July to late August, but in those weeks an afternoon at the lake is a real part of the trip.

Aspen eats like a much larger and richer place. It has chef-led dining rooms, sushi and steak counters, serious wine lists and après-ski terraces at the foot of Aspen Mountain, and the Food & Wine Classic arrives every June. Cheap meals are hard to find, though, and many kitchens close in spring and autumn.

Whitefish's food is plainer and more regional: elk and bison burgers, trout, Montana beef, and huckleberries in everything from pie to cocktails, with craft breweries to go with it. It is satisfying after a day outdoors, but you will be repeating restaurants within a week.

Neither town is a sightseeing destination, but Aspen gives you more to look at. Its silver-boom downtown keeps red-brick Victorian blocks around the Wheeler Opera House, and the West End is lined with painted miners' cottages. The Aspen Art Museum and Herbert Bayer's modernist Aspen Institute campus add a twentieth-century and contemporary layer.

Whitefish has the timber-framed Great Northern depot, with its small railway and logging museum, and some early twentieth-century shopfronts. That is a quick look rather than an afternoon.

In ski season Aspen has a real late-night scene. Après-ski on the slopeside decks moves into downtown lounges and hotel bars, and around Christmas, New Year and the X Games a few small clubs stay busy with a well-dressed, high-spending crowd. In spring and autumn it goes quiet.

Whitefish's nightlife is saloons and brewery taprooms, with pool tables and a mix of ranchers and ski bums. It is friendly and sometimes rowdy, but there are no clubs and nights end earlier. Go to Aspen if you want to dress up and stay out, and to Whitefish for a beer at a wooden bar.

Both towns exist for the mountains, and either will satisfy an outdoors trip. The difference is in kind. Aspen is the stronger ski base, with four linked mountains ranging from gentle Buttermilk to steep Highlands and vast Snowmass, plus backcountry huts. In summer the Maroon Bells and summits above 4,000m are a short bus ride away.

Whitefish's draw is Glacier National Park, about forty minutes away. It has the Highline Trail, Grinnell Glacier, turquoise lakes and grizzlies, mountain goats and bighorn sheep, a wilder kind of country than Aspen's valley. Big Mountain gives you one good ski area rather than four, and the high country is reliably open only from July to September.

Both towns offer short lists of day trips, and the difference is in character. From Aspen the outings are to old mining and ranching towns: Glenwood Springs down the valley, Redstone and Marble up the Crystal River, and the ghost town of Ashcroft. Victorian Leadville is over Independence Pass, which closes in winter.

Whitefish's outings are gentler and lakeside: the Conrad Mansion in Kalispell, the galleries of Bigfork and the cherry orchards along Flathead Lake. The mission church at St Ignatius is a longer drive. In practice, most days out from Whitefish head into Glacier rather than to another town.

Aspen is the easier of the two with children, above all in winter. Buttermilk and Snowmass have gentle terrain, kids' areas and well-run ski schools, and the free buses spare parents the driving between mountains. In summer the lifts lead up to alpine coasters and ropes courses, the environmental centre runs nature programmes, and the downtown fountains keep small children busy. The altitude can tire them for the first day or two.

Whitefish has a zip line, an alpine slide, the calm water of City Beach and flat Glacier walks such as the Trail of the Cedars. The long drives into the park are harder on small passengers. With no zoo or theme park in either town, children who don't enjoy hiking or paddling run out of things to do sooner here.

Within the valley, a car is optional in Aspen. The flat downtown grid is walkable in minutes and the gondola leaves from its edge. Free buses run to all four ski areas and down the valley, and in summer a shuttle serves the Maroon Bells. You only need your own wheels to go beyond the valley, and winter storms can close those roads.

Whitefish has a walkable centre and the rare advantage of a long-distance train stopping at the depot, plus a winter shuttle to the ski area. After that you will want a hire car, since Glacier, Flathead Lake and the trailheads are spread along rural highways.

Aspen's few downtown blocks hold international luxury boutiques, designer labels, jewellers, high-end ski wear, Western leather and fur, and commercial art galleries. Window-shopping in the pedestrian malls is part of an evening out, though it suits luxury buyers more than browsers.

Whitefish's shops are down-to-earth: outdoor outfitters, boot and western-wear shops, wildlife art and huckleberry jam on Central Avenue. They fill a pleasant afternoon and sell more local souvenirs, but for anything bigger you drive to the stores in Kalispell.

Neither town is cheap, but Aspen is far more expensive. Ski-season rooms, lift tickets, ski school and meals are priced for a very wealthy clientele. Even staying down the valley in Glenwood Springs or Carbondale does not make it a budget trip, and the free buses are the one real saving.

Whitefish is expensive in July, August and the ski season too, and you will usually pay for a hire car, but overall it costs noticeably less. Late spring and autumn are easier, Kalispell and Columbia Falls are cheaper bases, and once you are inside Glacier the days cost little.

Aspen has a proper summer music season. The Aspen Music Festival and School runs for about eight weeks, with orchestral, chamber and opera performances in the Benedict Music Tent, and you can picnic on the lawn outside and listen for free. Jazz festivals, the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet and Aspen Institute talks round out the calendar, and the Wheeler Opera House has a programme all year.

Whitefish has community theatre, a professional summer theatre company, the valley symphony in Kalispell and free outdoor concerts. They are enjoyable if you come across one, but not worth planning a trip around.

Aspen gives you more ways to unwind. There are resort spas with altitude-recovery programmes, yoga in the parks and riverside paths. The mineral pools and cave vapour baths of Glenwood Springs are about an hour away, and Conundrum Hot Springs waits at the end of a long hike. Only the peak ski weeks feel less restful.

Whitefish's calm comes mostly from its setting: quiet mornings by the lake, lodge spas and a few yoga studios. The nearest hot springs pools are a couple of hours' drive away, though the town itself rarely feels hurried.