Beaver Creek or Fort Collins?

Neither place is a swimming destination. The difference lies in what fresh water each has to offer. Beaver Creek's only option is the small sandy corner of Nottingham Lake down in Avon, where the snowmelt stays chilly, so most swimming happens in heated hotel pools with a mountain view.

Fort Collins has more room on the water. Horsetooth Reservoir has a proper swim beach and coves full of paddleboards and boats, and in July and August the water warms up properly.

Fort Collins has the better table, and the reason is beer. Its big breweries north of Old Town and its spread of taprooms with food trucks outside make it a destination for drinkers, and the summer farmers' markets bring in Palisade peaches and Colorado honey.

Beaver Creek eats in a more polished but narrower way: elk, lamb and trout on refined menus, and dinner at a mountain lodge reached by sleigh is a real occasion. Still, the kitchens tend to cook the same menu, and everyday food means heading down to Avon.

Fort Collins gives you a modest day of sightseeing, which is more than Beaver Creek can. Its late nineteenth-century Old Town is a real place to wander, and the Museum of Discovery, the Victorian Avery House and the university's art museum fill out an afternoon.

Beaver Creek is a planned resort village from around 1980. Its stone and timber plaza with outdoor art takes about an hour, and anything historic is a drive away.

After dark Fort Collins is clearly the livelier of the two, thanks to its students. Pubs, sports bars and rooftop patios around the main square stay busy at weekends, though there are only a handful of clubs. Beaver Creek's evening is a drink by a plaza fire pit as the lifts close and a quiet hotel lounge after dinner. For anything later, you have to drive to Vail.

Both are outdoor towns, but Beaver Creek puts you on the mountain itself. You get lift-served skiing on reliable dry snow, then summer chairlifts into aspen forest, the Holy Cross Wilderness and the Gore Range, plus fly-fishing and rafting on the Eagle and Colorado Rivers. The thin air takes a day to get used to.

Fort Collins sits where the plains meet the foothills. Horsetooth Mountain and Lory State Park are a short drive out, and the protected Cache la Poudre canyon is good for rafting and camping. Rocky Mountain National Park takes about an hour and a half, and the riverside cycle trails start in town. Winter here means snowshoes rather than ski lifts.

Fort Collins has the wider range of outings. Boulder sits under the Flatirons, Denver has big museums and a whole city to explore, and Estes Park leads into the national park. Cheyenne's frontier museum and rodeo country lie just across the Wyoming line.

From Beaver Creek, the options are mostly other mountain towns that feel alike. Vail is twenty minutes away, while Leadville's silver-mining main street, Breckenridge's gold-rush centre and the old spa town of Glenwood Springs each take about an hour.

Beaver Creek is the easier family choice, as long as the trip is about the mountain. The well-run ski school, the children's terrain, the ice rink, the warm cookies at the end of the ski day and a car-free plaza where older children can roam all make life simple. Summer adds ropes courses and climbing on the hilltop.

Fort Collins is the better bet when the weather turns. It has the hands-on Museum of Discovery, the city farm at Lee Martinez Park and the children's garden, plus reservoir days and gentle river tubing in summer. It lacks big headline attractions, though, and there is no altitude to tire small children.

Getting around is about equally easy, but in different ways. In Beaver Creek, the pedestrian village, outdoor escalators, ski-in ski-out lodging and free shuttles mean you rarely need to think about transport. Leaving is the hard part: Denver is two hours over passes that storms can close, though Eagle airport is half an hour away.

Fort Collins is a bike town. It has protected lanes, bike-share, long off-street trails and a rapid-bus line through the flat centre. Its spread-out suburbs and every outing into the hills still call for a car.

Neither town is a shopping trip, and the stock in each is very different. Beaver Creek's plaza sells luxury ski wear, western boots and leather, and bronze sculpture in its galleries, all at resort prices. Fort Collins has a few more ordinary pleasures: independent bookshops, vintage clothing, cycling gear and Colorado-made gifts in Old Town, plus a regional mall.

On cost the two are worlds apart. Beaver Creek is one of the most expensive vacations in North America, with luxury slopeside lodging, costly lift tickets and ski school, and mountain dining priced to match. Staying down the valley and coming in summer only soften the bill.

Fort Collins is mid-priced for the country. Its taprooms and casual meals are reasonable, and its trails and river paths are free. The main extra cost is a hire car, and hotel rooms jump on university graduation and football weekends.

The two offer much the same amount of live performance, but at different times of year. Beaver Creek's peak is summer. The village's intimate Vilar Performing Arts Center adds touring acts, and the valley's big weeks are Bravo! Vail's orchestras and the Vail Dance Festival in the open-air amphitheatre twenty minutes away.

Fort Collins is busiest during term. The Lincoln Center hosts the local symphony and touring shows, the university stages opera and theatre, and small Old Town venues book bluegrass and indie bands most of the year.

Beaver Creek is far better for a restful break. Its large resort spas have steam rooms and outdoor hot tubs in the snow, the village is calm in the evenings, and the historic hot-spring pool at Glenwood Springs is an hour away.

Fort Collins offers day spas, massage and yoga, and a gentle pace along shaded river paths. The nearest mineral soak is close to two hours off.