Big Bear Lake or Colorado Springs?

Neither town is a place for a beach trip, but Big Bear Lake at least has open water on its doorstep. The lake is cool, around 19°C in midsummer, and there is a supervised swim beach at Meadow Park for children, with rocky shoreline and a few sandy patches elsewhere. Colorado Springs has little natural swimming beyond pools and chilly reservoirs, so a day on the water there usually means rafting the Arkansas River.

Big Bear Lake's food is resort fuel: big diner breakfasts, burgers, pizza and a brewpub after the slopes. So many visitors cook in their cabins that eating out is rarely part of the draw.

Colorado Springs eats better, though not by a wide margin. Green chile Southwestern cooking and a strong craft beer scene give it more range. It also has pleasant areas to eat in, from Tejon Street to Old Colorado City and Manitou Springs, and the Broadmoor's dining rooms for a formal evening.

Here the gap is wide. Big Bear Lake has the Discovery Center, a small history museum and a dirt-road drive past the gold-rush remains of Holcomb Valley, which fill an afternoon at most.

Colorado Springs has a handful of worthwhile stops. They include the aluminium spires of the Cadet Chapel, the Olympic and Paralympic Museum, the Fine Arts Center's Southwestern collection and the Pioneers Museum in the old courthouse, and Manitou Springs adds Victorian streets to wander.

Who you end up drinking with says a lot here. In Big Bear Lake the evening crowd is skiers. In winter they come off the slopes for après-ski in the bars near the lifts or a pint in a Village pub, and by mid-evening most have gone back to a hot tub at the cabin. Outside ski season there is even less, a brewpub or a sports bar and little else.

Colorado Springs has more going on and a younger crowd. At weekends the downtown blocks of Tejon Street fill with college students and soldiers from the nearby bases, which makes Friday and Saturday nights livelier than a mountain resort can manage. Manitou Springs is the place for a calmer drink on its main street. Weeknights are another matter, as the taprooms close well before midnight and the town goes quiet early.

Both are serious mountain bases, so the choice is about which kind you want. Big Bear Lake is built around water and snow. It has two ski areas above town, a lake for kayaks, paddleboards and fishing, the Pacific Crest Trail along the north side and wintering bald eagles.

Colorado Springs has the edge in scale and variety. Pikes Peak rises to more than 4,300m right over the city, the red sandstone of Garden of the Gods draws climbers, and the dry climate keeps the trails open for much of the year, with rafting and the Great Sand Dunes within reach. What it lacks is skiing nearby.

From Big Bear Lake, the winding mountain roads slow every outing. Lake Arrowhead and the Oak Glen orchards are manageable, Riverside's Mission Inn is about an hour and a half away, and Palm Springs or Los Angeles makes a long day.

Colorado Springs is the far better base for excursions. Manitou Springs is next door and Denver is a little over an hour away. The mining towns of Cripple Creek and Victor and the Royal Gorge Bridge each make an easy day out.

Both work for families, in different ways. Big Bear Lake is about snow play for children who rarely see it, plus the alpine slide, pedal boats and a small zoo of rescued mountain animals, all from a roomy cabin.

Colorado Springs has more to fill a week. Children can hand-feed giraffes at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, ride the cog railway up Pikes Peak, tour the caves at Cave of the Winds and explore the Manitou Cliff Dwellings. The catch is the time spent driving between them.

You need a car for both, but Big Bear Lake is easier once you arrive. The Village is walkable, and a local bus and a seasonal trolley reach the ski areas, although snow chains and weekend traffic can slow the drive up.

Colorado Springs spreads its sights along the foothills and has a thin bus network. Outside the walkable centres of downtown, Old Colorado City and Manitou Springs, you will drive to almost everything.

Big Bear Lake's Village is good for an hour of browsing among fudge shops, bear-themed souvenirs and ski and lake gear. Colorado Springs has more to look at, with galleries, Western wear and rock and gem shops in Old Colorado City and Manitou Springs, plus outlets on the north side, though it is not a shopping destination either.

Neither is a budget destination, though Colorado Springs comes out somewhat cheaper, and what drives the bill differs. In Big Bear Lake it is timing. A shared cabin midweek or in the shoulder seasons can be economical for a group cooking its own meals, while winter weekends and school vacations push rates up sharply, and lift tickets and ski hire add more.

In Colorado Springs, the chain hotels and motels along the interstate are fairly priced, and the best sights, Garden of the Gods and the canyon parks, cost nothing to enter. The cost you can't avoid is car hire, and tipping adds to the price of eating out.

Big Bear Lake's stage life is small and seasonal. It has a community arts centre, free concerts by the lake in summer and Bavarian bands in the beer hall at the autumn Oktoberfest. Beyond that, you might find a guitarist in a bar on a weekend night.

Colorado Springs has a proper local season, though nothing to plan a trip around. The Philharmonic plays at the Pikes Peak Center, the Fine Arts Center's theatre company stages plays and musicals, and touring bands play the outdoor amphitheatre in summer. On the right evening there is a concert or a play worth booking.

Neither town is a spa destination, and the two are closely matched, so the difference is in kind. In Big Bear Lake, relaxing is a private affair: a hot tub on the cabin deck, a wood stove and quiet midweek days among the pines, with no springs or bathhouses.

Colorado Springs has a spa history in Manitou Springs. You can fill a cup with carbonated mineral water from the public fountains there and soak in outdoor tubs facing the mountains, and the Broadmoor has a full resort spa.