Beaver Creek or Breckenridge?

Neither town is a place for a swimming vacation, and the small differences are about what kind of water you get. Beaver Creek has a little sandy area at Nottingham Lake down in Avon, where families paddle in chilly snowmelt water on hot afternoons. Breckenridge has Lake Dillon for sailing and paddleboarding, but the water is too cold for swimming, so in practice you swim in the recreation centre's indoor pools or warm up in a hot tub.

The two eat at a similar level but in different styles. Beaver Creek is more polished: refined mountain menus with elk, lamb and trout, and dinners at on-mountain lodges you reach by chairlift or snowcat sleigh. For cheaper, everyday meals you go down to the taquerias and diners in Avon and Edwards.

Breckenridge is more varied and more casual along Main Street. You will find pizza, sushi, Mexican kitchens, breakfast burritos with green chile and a strong home-brewed beer and whiskey scene. Neither has a local cuisine worth travelling for.

Breckenridge has much more to show here. It grew out of the 1859 gold rush, and its historic district is one of the largest in Colorado: painted Victorian storefronts, miners' cabins, restored houses, a mine tour where you can pan for gold, and the old dredges in the Blue River valley.

Beaver Creek was built as a ski resort around 1980. Its plaza of stone and timber with outdoor art takes about an hour to see. Neither has a major museum, but only Breckenridge gives you a town with a past to walk through.

If you want to go out, Breckenridge is the livelier of the two. Après-ski crowds pack the bars at the lift bases and along Main Street, and on winter Saturdays the brewpubs, old saloons and a couple of dance bars stay open past midnight. It is still a small-town scene, with no real clubs.

Beaver Creek was designed for calm evenings. A cocktail by a fire pit as the lifts close, a hotel lounge after dinner and an early night are the usual pattern. Anyone wanting more drives over to Vail.

Both are first-rate mountain bases, and the difference is in the terrain. Beaver Creek is known for long, uncrowded groomed runs and steep glades linked to Bachelor Gulch and Arrowhead, with Vail close by. In summer it opens onto the Holy Cross Wilderness and the Gore Range, plus fly-fishing and rafting on the Eagle and Colorado Rivers.

Breckenridge skis across five peaks of the Tenmile Range, with runs above the treeline, and Keystone, Copper Mountain and Arapahoe Basin are nearby. In summer, Quandary Peak and trails starting at the edge of town are the main draw. The town sits about 500m higher than Beaver Creek's village, so acclimatise more carefully there.

The day trips from both towns are similar: mostly other mountain towns, with Denver about two hours away from either. Leadville's silver-mining streets are an easy outing from both, slightly closer to Breckenridge over Hoosier Pass.

The difference is direction. From Beaver Creek, Vail is twenty minutes away and the old spa town of Glenwood Springs is to the west. Breckenridge looks east towards Georgetown, with its narrow-gauge railway, and the hot springs at Idaho Springs, which gives it a slightly more varied choice.

Both work well for families who ski and both struggle on a bad-weather day, with no zoo or children's museum in either. Beaver Creek's appeal is ease: covered escalators, a car-free plaza where older children can roam, an ice rink and warm cookies when the lifts close. In summer there are ropes courses and mini golf on the mountain.

Breckenridge has a free gondola from town to the slopes, a summer alpine coaster, and recreation-centre pools and an ice rink in town. At almost 3,000m, altitude sickness is more of a concern there for young children.

Breckenridge is easier to manage without a car. The historic centre is compact and walkable, a free gondola runs to the ski base, and free town and county buses reach Frisco, Dillon, Keystone and Copper Mountain. Many visitors never drive. The catch is the two-hour journey from Denver's airport on I-70.

Beaver Creek is easy inside the resort, with a pedestrian core, escalators, ski-in ski-out lodging and free shuttles. Once you leave it, a car helps. It does have Eagle airport about half an hour away, which makes arriving much simpler.

Neither is a shopping destination, and the difference is mainly the kind of shop. Beaver Creek's plaza leans to luxury outerwear, western boots and leather, jewellery and galleries selling bronze sculpture. Breckenridge's Main Street is more practical and more fun to browse, with gear shops, rental outfitters, sweet shops and souvenirs, and the Silverthorne outlets are a short drive north.

Both are among the most expensive mountain vacations in North America, and both are noticeably cheaper in summer. Beaver Creek offers no real budget route: slopeside lodging is luxury hotels and large condos, and even staying in Avon or Edwards only helps a little.

Breckenridge has a few more ways to save. Free buses and the gondola mean local transport costs nothing, many trails are free to use, and staying in Frisco or Silverthorne cuts the cost of a bed.

On live music and performance the two are close, and summer is the high season in both. Beaver Creek has its own intimate theatre, the Vilar Performing Arts Center, which keeps a programme going in winter too. In summer, Bravo! Vail and the Vail Dance Festival are twenty minutes away.

Breckenridge's Riverwalk Center, an open-sided hall by the Blue River, hosts a festival orchestra and a national orchestra academy through July and August. The town also has a small theatre company of its own. In winter, though, the offer there is mostly bands in bars.

Beaver Creek is the better place to rest. Its resort spas are among the largest in the Rockies, with steam rooms and outdoor hot tubs in the snow. The quiet, car-free village encourages slow days, and Glenwood Springs' historic hot springs pool is about an hour west.

In Breckenridge, wellness mostly means a condo hot tub or a massage after skiing. Early starts and the thin air at almost 3,000m leave many visitors tired rather than rested. Its calmest times are the shoulder seasons and summer evenings by the river.