Beaver Creek or Steamboat Springs?

Neither place has anything you could call a beach, so this is a choice between kinds of cold water. Beaver Creek offers the little sandy swimming area at Nottingham Lake down in Avon and a lot of heated outdoor hotel pools with mountain views.

Steamboat's summer water is more of an activity: floating through town on a tube down the Yampa, or a brisk dip in Steamboat Lake or Stagecoach reservoir in July and August.

Beaver Creek eats better, though the gap is in polish, not character. Its restaurants serve refined mountain menus of elk, trout and Colorado lamb with long wine lists, and the dinners at on-mountain lodges reached by chairlift or sleigh are a real occasion. Vail next door and the cheaper taquerias and diners in Avon and Edwards add range.

Steamboat cooks heartier and plainer, with steakhouses, Mexican places, pizza and a few breweries along Lincoln Avenue, reflecting the ranching valley around it. It is satisfying after a day outside, but there are fewer special-occasion meals.

Steamboat has more history to show, if only a little. Its western storefronts on Lincoln Avenue, the Tread of Pioneers Museum in a Victorian house and Howelsen Hill, one of the oldest ski areas in North America, tell a real story of homesteaders and ski jumpers.

Beaver Creek dates only from around 1980, and beyond the stone-and-timber village and its outdoor sculpture there is nothing historic to visit without driving to the old mining towns.

Steamboat has the livelier evenings. Après-ski at the gondola base moves on to saloons and brewpubs downtown, and in ski season a few of them stay busy into the late evening, though there are no clubs.

Beaver Creek winds down after a drink by the fire pits on the plaza and dinner, with a few hotel lounges and little else. Guests who want more drive to Vail.

Both are first-rate mountain destinations, and the difference lies in style. Beaver Creek is about long groomed runs and steep glades with famously quiet slopes, linked to Bachelor Gulch and Arrowhead and close to Vail's vast terrain. In summer it opens onto the Gore Range, the Holy Cross Wilderness and gold-medal fishing on the Eagle and Colorado Rivers.

Steamboat is the place for powder and variety. It has the light Champagne Powder in aspen glades, backcountry and snowmobiling on Rabbit Ears Pass, and Nordic and night skiing at Howelsen Hill in town. In summer come Emerald Mountain's bike trails, Fish Creek Falls and the alpine lakes of the Mount Zirkel Wilderness, with elk and moose often in sight.

Beaver Creek sits in a far better spot for outings. Vail's pedestrian village is twenty minutes away, and within about an hour lie the Victorian mining street of Leadville, Breckenridge's gold-rush centre and the spa town of Glenwood Springs. Several days of varied excursions are easy.

Steamboat is remote. The nearby ranching towns are coffee stops at most, and the next real destinations are two hours or more of mountain driving away, so excursions here mean heading into the hills, not to other towns.

Both work equally well for families who like the outdoors, and they suit them in different ways. Beaver Creek makes the logistics easy: a car-free plaza where older children can roam, escalators up from the car parks, an ice rink, warm cookies at the end of the ski day and a summer adventure area with ropes courses and mini golf.

Steamboat feels more like a small town. It has the slides and climbing wall at Old Town Hot Springs, a quiet beginner hill right in town, tubing on the Yampa and the summer rodeo. Neither has a zoo or museum for a wet day.

Getting around is about equally manageable in both, but they are laid out differently. Beaver Creek is compact and stacked on the hillside, with a pedestrian core, escalators, free shuttles to the lodges and Avon, and valley buses to Vail. Eagle airport is about half an hour away.

Steamboat is split between flat, walkable Lincoln Avenue and the ski base a few kilometres east, linked by the town bus. Its hot springs, waterfalls and lakes lie up roads without buses, and Denver is a longer drive, so a car matters more here.

Shopping is a pleasant hour in either place and a reason to come in neither, but the goods differ. Beaver Creek's plaza leans to luxury: technical ski wear, designer outerwear, jewellery and galleries selling bronze sculpture.

Steamboat's Lincoln Avenue is more western and down to earth, with boots, hats and saddle-blanket goods from a family outfitter that has been trading for over a century, alongside gear shops and a few galleries.

Both are expensive, but Beaver Creek is in another bracket. Luxury slopeside hotels, costly lift tickets and ski school, and dining priced for a wealthy clientele leave little room to save, even if you stay down the valley in Avon.

Steamboat still charges resort prices in ski season, yet self-catering condos, town buses and free trails go further, and summer, spring and late autumn are noticeably cheaper.

Beaver Creek has the stronger stage, largely thanks to its neighbour. The Vilar Performing Arts Center in the village runs a season of concerts, comedy and dance. In summer, Bravo! Vail brings major American orchestras to Vail's open-air amphitheatre, with a dance festival and jazz series as well.

Steamboat's high point is the long-running Strings Music Festival in its pavilion, plus free outdoor concerts and student productions at Perry-Mansfield in Strawberry Park. Outside summer, both are quiet.

Steamboat is the better place to unwind, because hot water is part of the town itself. Locals soak in the spring-fed pools of Old Town Hot Springs all year, and Strawberry Park's rock-lined pools in a snowy creek valley are a highlight of any stay.

Beaver Creek offers comfort of a different kind: large resort spas with steam rooms and outdoor hot tubs, and a calm, car-free village. For natural springs, its guests drive about an hour to Glenwood Springs.