Big Bear Lake or Breckenridge?

Neither town is a swimming destination, but Big Bear Lake is the only one where a swim outdoors is realistic. In July and August the lake is cool but swimmable, and the supervised beach at Meadow Park gives children a safe spot. Rocky shores and granite outcrops make for a quick dip elsewhere.

In Breckenridge, Lake Dillon and the alpine lakes fed by snowmelt are for sailing and paddling, not swimming. In practice your swimming happens in the recreation centre's indoor pools or a hot tub.

Both towns feed hungry skiers rather than curious eaters, but Breckenridge has more range and ambition. Along Main Street you'll find sushi, wood-fired pizza and a handful of chef-led restaurants cooking Colorado lamb, elk and trout, and the town's own brewery and distillery add to it.

Big Bear Lake keeps to diner breakfasts, burgers, barbecue and Mexican plates in the Village, with a brewpub to finish the day. Many visitors simply cook in their cabins.

Breckenridge has the more rewarding history to walk through. Its gold-rush district of painted Victorian storefronts and miners' cabins is one of Colorado's largest, and you can add a gold-mine tour with panning and the old dredge remains on the Blue River.

Big Bear Lake's Village is modern chalet-style building. Its past is told at a small history museum and on a dirt-road drive past the 1860s mining remains of Holcomb Valley. Neither town has museums worth a trip on their own.

Breckenridge is clearly the livelier place after dark. Après-ski crowds fill the bars at the lift bases and along Main Street, and on winter weekends the saloons in old Victorian buildings and a couple of dance bars stay open past midnight. Remember that the altitude makes each drink hit harder.

Big Bear Lake offers a pub or sports bar after dinner in ski season, and that is about it. Most evenings end in the hot tub by the cabin fire.

Both are real mountain bases, and Breckenridge is the bigger one. Its ski terrain spreads over five peaks and climbs above the treeline, with Keystone, Copper Mountain, Arapahoe Basin and Vail within reach. In summer you can climb Quandary Peak or ride trails through aspen meadows straight from town.

Big Bear Lake has two modest ski areas that rely on snowmaking. The lake itself is the bigger draw: fishing, sailing and paddleboarding, with the Pacific Crest Trail, Castle Rock and the San Gorgonio Wilderness close by and bald eagles in winter. At about 2,000m, the climbs are also easier on the lungs.

Breckenridge has the better spread of outings. Leadville's silver-boom streets and national mining museum are under an hour over Hoosier Pass. Georgetown's narrow-gauge railway, the hot springs at Idaho Springs and Vail's pedestrian village all make easy days out.

From Big Bear Lake, the winding roads slow everything down. Lake Arrowhead and the Oak Glen orchards are the realistic choices, and Riverside's Mission Inn is a longer drive. Palm Springs and Los Angeles really need a full day each.

Both work well for families, but in different ways. Big Bear Lake is built around giving lowland children their first snow, with sledding hills and snow-play areas. The Alpine Zoo has rescued bears and bobcats, and summer brings pedal boats, mini-golf and an alpine slide, all at a gentler altitude.

Breckenridge is the stronger pick for families who come to ski. It has ski schools that take young children, wide beginner slopes reached by a free gondola, and a summer activity park on the mountain. The trade-off is altitude sickness in the first days at almost 3,000m.

Breckenridge is far easier once you arrive. The historic centre is compact, a free gondola rises from Main Street to the slopes, and free town and county buses reach Frisco, Keystone and Copper Mountain, so many visitors go a whole week without driving. Getting there from Denver's airport still takes a shuttle or car over I-70.

Big Bear Lake means a car from start to finish. You drive up steep mountain highways that can need snow chains, and most cabins are scattered on forest roads. The Village is walkable, and a local bus and seasonal trolley cover only part of the town.

Breckenridge offers more to browse: galleries of Western landscape art and photography, a few clothing boutiques and well-stocked technical gear shops along Main Street. The outlet malls in Silverthorne are a short drive away.

Big Bear Lake's Village is fudge shops, bear-themed souvenirs, some antiques and rental outfitters, enough for an hour. In both towns the serious stores are elsewhere.

Big Bear Lake is the cheaper of the two, though it is no bargain. A cabin shared by a group or family that cooks for itself can be fairly economical midweek or out of season, while winter weekends push rates up sharply.

Breckenridge is expensive almost throughout the ski season, with slope-side condos, lift tickets, lessons and meals all at full resort rates, and the Christmas, New Year and spring-break weeks dearer still. Free buses and the gondola help a little. So do summer visits and staying in Frisco or Silverthorne.

Breckenridge has a real summer music season. At the open-sided Riverwalk Center by the Blue River, a festival orchestra and a national academy of young professionals play symphonic and chamber programmes through July and August. A local theatre company stages plays for much of the year.

Big Bear Lake has a small community arts centre, free lakeside concerts in summer and Bavarian bands at its autumn Oktoberfest. Apart from that, live music means a guitarist in a bar.

Neither town has thermal springs or a bathing tradition, and in both, unwinding mostly means a hot tub after a day outdoors. In Big Bear Lake that tub is usually private, on the deck of your own cabin among the pines. A few day spas cover massages, and quiet midweek days are the most restful.

Breckenridge has more polished spas in its resort hotels, and natural hot springs are about an hour away at Idaho Springs. Winter days there are active, though, and the thin air leaves many visitors more tired than rested.