Beaver Creek or Big Sky?

You won't swim much in either. Beaver Creek has a small sandy patch at Nottingham Lake down in Avon, cold with snowmelt but usable on a hot afternoon. Big Sky offers a quick paddle in a pond or a picnic beside the fast, rocky Gallatin. In both places the hotel pool is the realistic option.

Beaver Creek eats better. Its restaurants are more refined, with Colorado lamb, trout and long wine lists, and dinner at an on-mountain lodge reached by chairlift or snowcat sleigh is memorable. Down the valley, Avon and Edwards add taquerias and diners, and Vail is twenty minutes away for more choice.

Big Sky's cooking is heartier and plainer: bison, Montana beef, wood-fired pizza and local beer, spread across three villages and canyon roadhouses. Some kitchens close between seasons, and the nearest wider choice is an hour away in Bozeman.

Both are modern ski resorts with very little history. Beaver Creek's village is the more attractive place to walk, a planned alpine design in stone and timber with outdoor art around the plaza. Big Sky has little to look at in its lodges and condos, but it does keep the Crail Ranch log cabins, a small homestead museum in Meadow Village.

Both go quiet early, but the evenings feel different. In Beaver Creek, après-ski is a glass of wine by a fire pit on the plaza and then a hotel lounge, and Vail is a short drive away if you want a busier bar.

Big Sky's après is louder and more casual, with skiers in boots on the sunny decks at the base area. Later, a few Town Center taverns and old canyon saloons with pool tables and a ranch-country crowd stay open, but neither resort has clubs.

Both are first-rate mountains, with a different character. Big Sky is bigger and wilder: Lone Peak's high, steep runs and wilderness trails into the Spanish Peaks. Yellowstone's geysers, bison and wolves lie about an hour south, and Beaver Creek has nothing to match that.

Beaver Creek is known for uncrowded groomers and glades linked to Bachelor Gulch and Arrowhead, with Vail's terrain next door. In summer it adds the Gore Range, the Holy Cross Wilderness, gold-medal fly-fishing and Glenwood Canyon.

Beaver Creek has more places within easy reach. Vail's pedestrian village is twenty minutes away, and Victorian Leadville, gold-rush Breckenridge and the spa town of Glenwood Springs are each about an hour.

Big Sky's town outings are fewer and further apart. Bozeman and its Museum of the Rockies, with its dinosaur fossils, are an hour away, and the boardwalk gold-rush towns of Virginia City and Nevada City are about two hours. Its best day out is into the landscape rather than to a town.

Beaver Creek is set up with more care for children. It has a large ski school, an outdoor ice rink, a car-free plaza where older children can roam and the warm cookies handed out when the lifts close. In summer there is a hilltop adventure area.

Big Sky suits outdoorsy families: zip lines, horse riding, gentle rafting and bison-spotting in Yellowstone. Its spread-out layout and harder winters ask more of parents. Neither has a zoo or a museum for a rainy day.

Beaver Creek is much easier to manage without thinking about it. The village core is pedestrian, with escalators between levels and free shuttles to the hillside lodges and Avon. Eagle's airport is about half an hour away, though Denver is around two hours over passes that storms can close.

Big Sky stretches along about 15km of road between three villages. A free bus links them, but walking between them is not practical. Bozeman airport is an hour away, and a car is close to essential.

Neither is a shopping destination, but Beaver Creek gives you more to browse. Around its plaza you'll find luxury outerwear, Western boots and leather, jewellery and galleries of bronze sculpture, with everyday shops in Avon and Edwards. Big Sky's shops are mostly practical, the place to replace gloves or buy a fly rod, plus a few Western boutiques and wildlife galleries.

Both are among the most expensive places to ski in North America, and summer is cheaper in each. Where they differ is in how you can save. Beaver Creek's cheaper beds in Avon and Edwards are a short shuttle ride from the lifts. At Big Sky, staying in the canyon or in Bozeman means real driving every day.

Beaver Creek has the richer calendar. The Vilar Performing Arts Center sits in the village itself, and in summer the Bravo! Vail festival brings leading American orchestras to the open-air amphitheatre twenty minutes away, alongside the Vail Dance Festival and a jazz series.

Big Sky's offer is smaller and more informal. It has a modest arts centre in Meadow Village, free concerts on the Town Center lawn, a short classical festival and bands at the base area.

Beaver Creek is the better place to unwind. Its resort spas are among the largest in the Rockies, with hot tubs out in the snow. Glenwood Springs, about an hour west, has a huge outdoor mineral pool that has drawn bathers since the 1880s.

At Big Sky, relaxing usually means a hot tub on the deck under a starry sky, or a massage at one of the lodge spas. The nearest natural hot springs are an hour away towards Bozeman.