Beaver Creek or Las Vegas?

Neither city is a place to swim in the wild, and the difference is mainly in kind. Beaver Creek's option is the small sandy patch at Nottingham Lake in Avon, where the snowmelt water stays cold even in summer.

Las Vegas has Lake Mead, whose gravel shore at Boulder Beach is properly warm in summer but has no shade. Its resort pools are also more of an attraction, with wave pools and lazy rivers where Beaver Creek offers heated pools with mountain views.

Las Vegas offers far more to eat. The Strip has celebrity-chef outposts, steakhouses and tasting menus. Off the Strip, Spring Mountain Road runs for kilometres with Sichuan, Korean, Thai and Vietnamese cooking, and the suburbs have good Mexican food.

Beaver Creek has polished alpine dining, with elk, trout and lamb, and dinners reached by snowcat sleigh, but the menus all look alike. For cheaper meals you have to go down to the taquerias and brewpubs of Avon and Edwards.

Neither city is a destination for heritage, but Las Vegas gives you more to see. The Neon Museum and the Mob Museum tell the city's short story well, and the themed resorts and the Fremont Street light show are worth an evening's wander. Beaver Creek is a planned resort from around 1980, with some outdoor art on its plaza. For real history you have to drive to old mining towns such as Leadville.

This is where the two differ most. Las Vegas keeps going until dawn: resort nightclubs with DJ residencies, dayclub pool parties, and you can carry a drink down the Strip. Downtown and the arts district have looser dive bars and cocktail lounges.

Beaver Creek was designed to go quiet. After a glass of wine at après-ski and a few hotel lounges, the village is asleep. Anyone wanting more than that has to drive to Vail.

Beaver Creek is the stronger choice because the mountain is right on your doorstep. Lifts rise to about 3,500m over glades and long cruising runs, linked to the neighbouring areas of Bachelor Gulch and Arrowhead, and Vail's much larger terrain is a short ride away. In summer the same lifts carry hikers and bikers towards the Holy Cross Wilderness, and the Eagle and Colorado Rivers are good for fly-fishing and rafting.

Las Vegas has striking desert within reach: the sandstone cliffs and climbing of Red Rock Canyon, the flame-coloured rock of Valley of Fire, and the pine forests of Mount Charleston. You need a car to reach any of them, and from June to September the heat confines hiking to dawn.

Beaver Creek has the better spread of outings, even though the towns are similar to each other. Vail is twenty minutes away, and Victorian Leadville, gold-rush Breckenridge and spa town Glenwood Springs are each about an hour's drive.

From Las Vegas, the one classic day out is Hoover Dam with Boulder City. The Grand Canyon and Zion trips sold on the Strip are long journeys to see landscapes rather than places to explore.

Beaver Creek is built around family ski vacations. It has a well-organised ski school, children's terrain, warm cookies when the lifts close, and a summer adventure area with ropes courses. Altitude and cold can be hard on babies, and there is nothing indoors for a wet day.

Las Vegas does have the attractions Beaver Creek lacks, including a shark aquarium, a children's museum and an indoor amusement park. But children are not allowed to linger on casino floors, adult advertising is hard to avoid, and summer heat makes walking a struggle.

Within the resort, Beaver Creek is the easier place to get about. The core is pedestrian, outdoor escalators link the levels, and free shuttles run to the lodges and the Avon base. The drive from Denver, however, crosses passes that winter storms can close.

The Las Vegas Strip looks walkable, but the resorts are so large that walking anywhere takes far longer than you expect. Footbridges and casino interiors lengthen every route, so most visitors take taxis or the monorail. In both places you need a car once you leave town.

Las Vegas is far better for shoppers. The Forum arcade at Caesars Palace, the Venetian's canal-side shops and Fashion Show mall stock most of the big fashion houses, two outlet centres serve bargain hunters, and the malls stay open late.

Beaver Creek has a small plaza of ski wear, western boots and galleries selling bronzes, which is nice for a rest-day browse. Neither city sells much that is made locally.

Las Vegas can be done far more cheaply if you plan for it. Midweek rooms, downtown hotels and meals in Chinatown keep costs down, although weekends, resort fees and Strip nightlife quickly push them back up.

Beaver Creek has no budget version at all. Lodging, lift tickets, ski school and mountain dining are all at luxury level. Staying in Avon or coming in summer softens the cost only slightly.

Las Vegas is one of the main reasons to travel for a show. Every night there are acrobatic water spectacles, magicians and comedians, and stars play long residencies that you might not catch on tour. The Smith Center adds Broadway tours and the Philharmonic.

Beaver Creek has the intimate Vilar Performing Arts Center, and in summer Bravo! Vail fills the Vail amphitheatre with orchestras and chamber music. Outside the festival weeks, though, there is little on.

Beaver Creek is the more restful place to stay. Its large resort spas have outdoor hot tubs in the snow, the village is quiet at night, and the Glenwood Springs hot springs make an easy day out.

Las Vegas spas are just as lavish, with salt rooms, ice rooms and thermal circuits. The difficulty is everything outside them, because the casinos stay lit and loud around the clock. To relax there you need to pick a non-gaming hotel and book your treatments early in the day.