Big Bear Lake or Copper Mountain?

Big Bear Lake at least gives you water to swim in. In midsummer the lake reaches about 19°C, and the supervised swim beach at Meadow Park is a sensible spot for children, although most of the shore is rock and granite with only a few sandy patches.

Copper Mountain has nothing comparable. Summit County's snowmelt reservoirs are too cold for bathing, so a swim means a heated lodge pool. Neither place is a beach destination, but at Big Bear a cool dip on a warm afternoon is a real option.

Both places serve the same hearty resort food: burgers, pizza, Mexican plates and a beer after a day outdoors, and many visitors cook in rented cabins or condos. Big Bear's Village offers a little more choice of its own, with a few lakeside tables. From Copper, the better evenings out are a short drive away in Frisco or Breckenridge.

Neither is a place for sightseeing. Big Bear has a little more on its doorstep: the Discovery Center on the forest, a small history museum and a dirt-road drive past gold-rush relics in Holcomb Valley. Copper is purely a lift-base village, and its region's mining history lives in neighbouring towns.

Evenings are early in both. Copper's après-ski is a little more lively, with bars full of skiers in boots at the lift base and music on the plaza on busy weekends, and Breckenridge is close for a later night. Big Bear's version is more of a brewpub or sports bar in the Village, then back to the cabin fire.

Both are proper mountain bases, but Copper Mountain is in a bigger league. Its slopes run up into treeless bowls above 3,600m, Vail and several Summit County resorts are within a short drive, and in summer the Colorado Trail and the Vail Pass path start right in the village.

Big Bear's skiing is more modest and depends on snowmaking. Its strength is the lake: fishing, kayaking and sailing, short hikes to Castle Rock and Cougar Crest, the Pacific Crest Trail and wintering bald eagles. Choose it for variety at an easier altitude, and Copper for the scale of the mountains.

Copper Mountain makes a much better base for exploring. Breckenridge's Victorian main street and the silver-boom streets of Leadville are each about half an hour away, Vail is just over the pass, and Georgetown's narrow-gauge railway and Denver can be reached on the way to or from the airport.

From Big Bear, the winding descent slows every outing. Lake Arrowhead and the Oak Glen orchards make good half-days, and Riverside's Mission Inn is about an hour and a half away, but anything further means a long day on the road.

Both work well for families, in different ways. Big Bear offers easy snow play for children who rarely see snow, an Alpine Zoo with rescued bears and bobcats, an alpine slide and pedal boats on the lake, and the lower altitude is easier on small children.

Copper is better organised for a ski week, with a car-free core, a strong children's ski school, tubing and an indoor trampoline centre. At nearly 3,000m, though, the altitude needs watching with young children.

Once you arrive, Copper Mountain is the easier place to be without a car. Walkways, lifts and a free shuttle link the villages, and free county buses run on to Frisco, Breckenridge and Keystone, although getting there still means a two-hour drive or a shuttle from Denver.

At Big Bear the Village is walkable, and a bus and seasonal trolley serve the ski areas. Most cabins sit up hilly forest roads, however, so you end up driving to the shops and trailheads, and the mountain highways may require chains in winter.

Neither is worth visiting for the shops. Big Bear's Village has a few blocks of fudge shops, bear souvenirs and the odd antique dealer to browse for an hour. Copper sells little beyond ski gear and resort-branded clothing, though the Silverthorne outlet mall and Breckenridge's galleries are close by.

Big Bear Lake is the more affordable trip. A shared cabin with a kitchen, booked midweek or outside the peak season, keeps costs reasonable, and the hiking and sledding are cheap. Winter weekends do push prices up sharply.

Copper Mountain is expensive for most of the winter, with lift access, slope-side condos and equipment hire all costing a lot. Staying in Frisco or Silverthorne, or coming in summer, makes it noticeably cheaper.

There is little on stage in either. Big Bear has a small community arts centre, free summer concerts by the lake and an autumn Oktoberfest with Bavarian bands. Copper has bands on the plaza on summer weekends, and Breckenridge's summer classical season is the closest real programme.

Big Bear Lake is the more restful choice. A cabin among the pines with a wood stove and a private hot tub, quiet midweek days and a few day spas in town make it easy to slow down, provided you avoid busy winter weekends.

At Copper, relaxing comes down to the condo hot tub and the athletic club's pools and massages. The hot springs are a long drive away, and the higher altitude often disturbs sleep for the first nights.