Beaver Creek or Copper Mountain?

Neither place has a coast, so this comes down to how you cool off in summer. Beaver Creek at least has a small sandy swimming area at Nottingham Lake down in Avon, cold but usable with children on a hot afternoon. Copper Mountain's Summit County reservoirs are for boats rather than swimmers. In both places the realistic swim is a heated pool or a hot tub.

Beaver Creek eats better. Its restaurants aim for refined mountain cooking such as elk, Colorado lamb and trout with serious wine lists, and dinners at lodges reached by chairlift or snowcat sleigh make a whole evening of it. Avon and Edwards, below the resort, add taquerias and brewpubs.

Copper Mountain feeds hungry skiers rather than diners: burgers and chilli on the mountain, pizza and pub food in the village, and the condo kitchen on many nights. For a proper dinner out you drive to Frisco or Breckenridge.

Culture is no reason to pick either resort. Beaver Creek at least has a handsome planned village of stone and timber with outdoor art around the plaza, enough for an hour's stroll. Copper's base is condos and lodges with nothing much to look at. The mining-era history both resorts lack belongs to Leadville and Breckenridge, which are closer to Copper.

Both go quiet early, but in different moods. At Beaver Creek an evening means wine by a fire pit on the plaza, then a hotel lounge and an early night, with Vail twenty minutes away for anything livelier.

Copper's après-ski is louder: skiers still in their boots fill the bars at the base, and there is music on the plaza on busy weekends. It fades by late evening, and the village goes very quiet out of season. Breckenridge's main street is the nearer escape for a later night.

Both are first-rate mountains, and the difference is one of character. Beaver Creek is known for uncrowded slopes, long groomed runs and steep glades, and it links to Bachelor Gulch and Arrowhead. In summer it adds the Holy Cross Wilderness, plus fly-fishing and rafting on the Eagle and Colorado Rivers.

Copper Mountain sits higher, with treeless bowls above 3,600m and terrain neatly divided by ability, and several other big Summit County ski areas are a short drive away. Summer walkers get the Colorado Trail on the doorstep, the bike path over Vail Pass and fourteen-thousand-foot peaks such as Mount Elbert within an hour. The price is thinner air and afternoon storms.

Copper Mountain is better placed for outings. Breckenridge and Leadville, the strongest historic mining towns nearby, are each about half an hour away. The road towards Denver passes Georgetown, Silver Plume and their narrow-gauge railway before reaching a proper city with museums.

From Beaver Creek, Vail is close, but Leadville and Breckenridge are an hour away and the main extra is the old spa town of Glenwood Springs to the west. Denver is too far for a comfortable day trip from there.

Both resorts build a family stay around ski school and a car-free village, so the choice turns on the extras. Beaver Creek's are gentle and cosy: an outdoor ice rink, escalators up from the car parks, cookies when the lifts close, and in summer a hilltop adventure area with ropes courses and mini golf.

Copper's extras are more energetic, with snow tubing, a mountain coaster and an indoor centre full of trampolines and foam pits for older children. Its village sits about 500m higher, though, so altitude is harder on small children there.

Inside either resort you will not need a car, since free shuttles and lifts do the work, and Beaver Creek adds outdoor escalators between the village levels. The real difference is getting there. Beaver Creek has Eagle's airport about half an hour away, while Copper relies on Denver, two hours away along I-70, though Copper's free county buses to Frisco, Breckenridge and Keystone make outings without a car easier.

Beaver Creek has a small but real selection to browse around the plaza: galleries selling bronze sculpture and landscape painting, western boots and leather, jewellery and luxury outerwear. Copper has rental shops, outdoor gear and resort-branded clothing and little else, so shoppers there head for the Silverthorne outlets or the boutiques of Breckenridge.

Neither is cheap, but Copper Mountain costs less. It is a little gentler on the budget than the grandest neighbouring resorts, condos with kitchens cut the cost of eating, and Frisco or Silverthorne offer cheaper beds.

Beaver Creek is at the very top of the price range, with luxury slopeside hotels, expensive ski school and dining priced for its clientele. Staying in Avon or Edwards and coming in summer bring the cost down, but they do not make it a budget trip.

Beaver Creek has a real programme. The Vilar Performing Arts Center in the village puts on touring concerts, dance and family shows. In summer Bravo! Vail brings leading orchestras to the open-air amphitheatre in Vail, and the Vail Dance Festival runs alongside it.

At Copper, live performance means bands on the plaza on summer weekends and acoustic sets at après-ski. For anything on a stage you drive to Breckenridge for its summer classical season and small theatre.

For a slow, restful stay Beaver Creek is clearly the better base. Its resort spas are among the largest in the Rockies, and the village is car-free and calm. The hot springs at Glenwood Springs, where people have bathed since the 1880s, are about an hour west.

At Copper, relaxing mostly means an outdoor hot tub at your condo, plus the pools and massages of the resort athletic club. Hot springs are a long drive away, and the higher altitude can spoil your sleep for the first few nights.