Beaver Creek or Keystone?

Neither resort has a beach worth travelling for, and in both you swim in a heated pool. The small difference is in summer: Beaver Creek families can use the sandy patch at Nottingham Lake in Avon on hot afternoons. Keystone's Dillon Reservoir is mostly closed to swimming and is used for boating instead.

Beaver Creek eats better. Its mountain restaurants serve elk, lamb and trout with serious wine lists, and you can ride a chairlift or a snowcat sleigh to dinner at an on-mountain lodge. Taquerias and diners in Avon and Edwards cover the cheaper meals.

In Keystone the food is mostly slopeside grills, pizza and après-ski burgers, with a handful of more ambitious rooms such as the dining room at the top of the gondola. Colorado craft beer gives it some local character, but many guests cook in their condo or drive to Frisco or Breckenridge for a wider choice.

Both are purpose-built ski resorts with nothing to sightsee, so on this count they are level. Beaver Creek's stone-and-timber plaza with its outdoor art is the more attractive place to stroll for an hour. Keystone has the better traces of the past close at hand: mining cabins and ruins line the Snake River valley above Montezuma.

The nights are equally quiet in both: a drink as the lifts close, dinner, then bed. Beaver Creek's après-ski is more of a wine-by-the-fire-pit affair in hotel lounges, while Keystone's River Run decks are louder, with skiers still in their boots. For a later night, Beaver Creek guests head to Vail and Keystone guests to Breckenridge's Main Street.

There is little to choose between the two mountains in quality, so it comes down to what kind of skier you are. Beaver Creek suits those who like long, quiet cruising: the groomed runs are famously uncrowded, and the links to Bachelor Gulch and Arrowhead let you ski from village to village at an easy pace. Its summers lean towards rivers and forest, with fly-fishing and rafting on the Eagle and Colorado and walks through aspen into the Holy Cross Wilderness.

Keystone is for the restless skier who wants higher ground and a different mountain most days. Its bowls run above 3,600m, Arapahoe Basin is minutes up the road, and Breckenridge and Copper are within an hour. In summer it draws people who want to climb a summit, with Grays and Torreys Peaks close by, though the extra height means a day or two longer to adjust.

Keystone is better placed for days out. Breckenridge, Frisco and Dillon are close, and Georgetown and Silver Plume with their loop railway are just over the Divide. Leadville and Vail are both reachable, and Denver's museums are about an hour and a half away when I-70 is clear.

From Beaver Creek the choice is narrower: Vail, Leadville, Breckenridge and the old spa town of Glenwood Springs. They are pleasant, but they feel much alike, and Denver is really too far for a comfortable day trip.

Both work well for family ski trips, with large ski schools, gentle terrain and an outdoor ice rink. Beaver Creek is more compact. Its car-free plaza lets older children roam, there are covered escalators up from the car parks, and warm cookies are handed out when the lifts close.

Keystone suits families who want space and activities. It offers condos with kitchens, tubing, a giant snow fort on the mountain and one of the country's largest skating rinks on the lake. In both resorts, altitude and cold are hard on small children.

The two are much the same overall, but each works differently. Beaver Creek is one compact, walkable village with escalators, ski-in ski-out lodging and Eagle airport about half an hour away. Keystone is spread across three bases linked by shuttles. Its free county buses to Breckenridge and Frisco mean you can manage there without a car more easily, but the drive up from Denver on I-70 can be slow and snowy.

Neither is a shopping trip, but the shops differ. Beaver Creek's plaza has a small run of upmarket boutiques selling luxury outerwear, western boots, jewellery and bronze sculpture in galleries. Keystone has little beyond gear and gifts at River Run, but the large outlet centre in Silverthorne, ten minutes away, is better for bargains on brand-name clothes.

Keystone is the cheaper of the two, though both are expensive. Free buses, condo kitchens and nearby supermarkets make self-catering a real way to cut costs, and summer is gentler on the wallet.

Beaver Creek is among the dearest vacations in North America, with luxury slopeside hotels and dining priced to match. Staying down in Avon or Edwards helps a little, but it cannot be done on a budget.

Beaver Creek has the stronger programme. The Vilar Performing Arts Center in the village runs a season of concerts, comedy and dance in both winter and summer. In summer the Bravo! Vail orchestras and the Vail Dance Festival are only twenty minutes away.

Keystone's live performance is mostly outdoor summer music, either on the village stages or at Dillon's amphitheatre by the reservoir, plus Breckenridge's classical festival. Its best year-round option is the professional theatre company in Silverthorne.

Beaver Creek is the place to slow down. Its resort spas are among the biggest in the Rockies, with steam rooms and snowy outdoor tubs, and the village is quiet and car-free. The great outdoor hot springs pool at Glenwood Springs is about an hour west.

Keystone's wellness is simpler and more about recovering from skiing: massages and a hot tub at almost every lodge. The nearest natural springs mean a drive over the pass to Idaho Springs.