Beaver Creek or Scottsdale?

Neither place has a beach worth the name, so in both the swimming happens in hotel pools. What you get beyond the pool differs. Beaver Creek has only little Nottingham Lake down in Avon, fed by cold snowmelt, so the heated outdoor pool with a mountain view is the real swim. In Scottsdale the pool is closer to the centre of the stay, and the desert lakes of the Tonto National Forest add sandy coves and boat hire, with summer tubing on the Salt River.

Scottsdale gives a food lover more to work with. Alongside the steakhouses and patio grills it has Sonoran-style Mexican cooking, with carne asada and huge flour tortillas, plus farmers' markets and local wineries, and Phoenix's more characterful kitchens are a short drive away.

Beaver Creek serves polished elk, lamb and trout menus, and the sleigh or snowcat ride up to an on-mountain lodge for dinner is a real occasion. But the menus repeat from one kitchen to the next, and for anything everyday you go down to the taquerias and brewpubs of Avon.

Beaver Creek was laid out as a ski resort around 1980, so there is nothing old to see. A stroll past the stone and timber lodges and the plaza sculptures takes about an hour, and real history means driving to the mining towns.

Scottsdale has a proper sight in Taliesin West, Frank Lloyd Wright's desert studio, which is part of a UNESCO listing. Add the western art at Western Spirit, the Heard Museum's Native American collections in Phoenix and the Musical Instrument Museum, and there is enough for several days of sightseeing.

Scottsdale has an actual night out, though it is concentrated in a few blocks of Old Town, where clubs, sports bars and rooftop lounges get loud at weekends and fill with groups in spring. Beaver Creek's evening is a drink by a plaza fire pit at last lift, dinner, and then quiet, and anyone wanting more drives to Vail.

Beaver Creek is one of the great mountain settings in the West. In winter it has the uncrowded ski area linked to Bachelor Gulch and Arrowhead. In summer the lifts carry hikers and bikers up into the aspens, and beyond lie the Holy Cross Wilderness, the Gore Range, gold-medal trout water on the Eagle River and rafting near Glenwood Canyon.

Scottsdale's desert has a strong appeal of its own, with saguaro trails in the McDowell Sonoran Preserve, scrambles up Camelback and Pinnacle Peak, and balloon flights at sunrise. Its range is narrower, though, and in summer the heat confines hiking to the hour after dawn.

Scottsdale's outings are more varied. Sedona's red rock, the cliff dwelling at Montezuma Castle, hillside Jerome and Tucson's San Xavier mission are each about two hours away, and the Goldfield ghost town makes an easy half-day.

From Beaver Creek, almost every option is another mountain town: Vail's pedestrian village, Victorian Leadville, gold-rush Breckenridge and the spa town of Glenwood Springs. They are pleasant, but they start to feel alike after the second one.

Both work well for children, in very different ways. Beaver Creek is built around the ski week, with a large ski school, gentle children's terrain, an ice rink, a car-free plaza and warm cookies at last lift. But on a stormy day there is nothing indoors to fall back on, and the altitude tires small children.

Scottsdale has the indoor backups that Beaver Creek lacks: the OdySea Aquarium, Butterfly Wonderland, the railroad park and the Phoenix Zoo, plus resort lazy rivers. The catch is that everything needs a drive, and summer afternoons have to be spent in the water.

Once you have arrived, Beaver Creek is far easier. The village is pedestrian, escalators link its levels, many lodgings are ski-in ski-out and free shuttles cover the hillside. The hard part is getting there, either from Eagle airport or by a long mountain drive from Denver over passes that storms can close.

Scottsdale is a long strip of arterial roads that the light rail never reaches. Apart from compact Old Town and its free trolley, you will need a hire car or ride-hailing to reach trailheads, resorts and Phoenix, though the driving itself is simple.

Beaver Creek's shops serve the guests already staying in the village: western boots and leather, jewellery, and prices pitched at a luxury resort. Anything practical or discounted, from outlet stores to a forgotten pair of gloves, means a trip down the valley to Avon or Edwards.

Scottsdale has much more to offer. Beaver Creek has a few galleries of bronzes and landscape painting, but Old Town has a whole gallery district along Main Street and Marshall Way. The plaza's racks of ski wear compare with the big fashion houses and department stores in the mall on Scottsdale Road. The dealers in Native American silver and pottery are the closest either place comes to buying something that belongs to the region. Neither suits someone who enjoys small independent labels or market stalls.

Neither is cheap, but Scottsdale leaves more room to save. Its resorts cut their rates sharply in the hot months, motels and business hotels line the main roads, Mexican food keeps meals modest and the desert trails are free.

Beaver Creek has no budget version. Lift tickets, ski school, rental gear and slopeside rooms all cost a great deal. Sleeping down the valley in Avon and coming in summer help only at the margins.

The two offer about as much, but at different times of year. Beaver Creek's peak comes in summer, when Bravo! Vail brings leading orchestras to an open-air amphitheatre and the Vail Dance Festival follows. The rest of the year depends on the intimate Vilar Performing Arts Center.

Scottsdale is better in winter, when it can draw on a whole metro area: the symphony, Arizona Opera and Ballet Arizona in Phoenix, touring Broadway at Tempe's Gammage, and world music at the Musical Instrument Museum.

Rest is a main reason people come to Scottsdale. There are many resort spas, several open to day guests, along with yoga retreats, dry air and long, slow days by palm-lined pools.

Beaver Creek's large spas are aimed at sore ski legs, with hot tubs set in the snow, and the village's quiet evenings help you rest. It also has something Scottsdale lacks, a real bathing outing: the mineral pools of Glenwood Springs, in use since the 1880s, are about an hour west.