Big Sky or Durango, Colorado?

Neither is a swimming destination, and in both a cool dip on a hot summer afternoon is only an extra. The difference is in what you swim in. Big Sky offers little more than a hotel pool, a small pond or a riverbank on the cold, rocky Gallatin. Durango has a swimming area at Lake Nighthorse, sandy edges at Vallecito Lake and the local habit of tubing the Animas right through town.

Both lean on mountain staples like trout and local meat, but Durango gives you more choice. Main Avenue mixes green-chile Southwestern plates with steakhouses, breakfast cafés and a few ambitious kitchens using local farm produce. The town's real strength is its unusual number of brewery taprooms.

In Big Sky you eat resort food, spread across three villages and the canyon roadhouses: bison, elk, wood-fired pizza and a handful of hotel kitchens that aim higher. It costs more, the range is narrower and some places cut back between seasons, which is why people drive to Bozeman for variety.

Durango has a real past you can walk through. There is the 1880 railway depot with working steam locomotives and a roundhouse museum, several blocks of brick and sandstone Victorian buildings, and the college's collection of Southwestern and Native American material. All of it fills a morning, not a week.

Big Sky was built for skiing from the 1970s and has almost nothing of this kind beyond the log cabins of the Crail Ranch homestead in Meadow Village. Anyone after history has to drive out for it.

Neither town is made for late nights, but Durango has a little more going on after dinner. Brewery taprooms, patios along Main Avenue, saloons with piano players and a few student bars at weekends give you some choice.

Big Sky's social hour is après-ski at the foot of the lifts. It is loud and cheerful in the late afternoon and mostly over by the time Durango's taprooms fill up. Out of ski season the resort is almost silent after dark.

Both are superb mountain bases, and Big Sky has the edge for sheer scale. Lone Peak's high, steep terrain sits above one of North America's largest ski areas. In summer the lifts give hikers and bikers access to the Spanish Peaks and the Lee Metcalf Wilderness, and Yellowstone's geysers and wildlife are an hour away.

Durango is strong in other ways: singletrack from the edge of town, the start of the Colorado Trail, the jagged Weminuche Wilderness and rafting through the town centre. Its ski resort is half an hour north rather than on the doorstep, so for a pure ski trip Big Sky wins.

Durango is much better placed for days out. Mesa Verde's cliff dwellings, the steam train up the Animas canyon to Silverton, the Aztec ruins of the Chaco listing and Pagosa Springs are all within an hour or two. Together they mix ancient sites with old mining towns.

From Big Sky, the days out beyond the wild country itself are modest. There is Bozeman with its Museum of the Rockies, the gateway town of West Yellowstone, and the gold-rush boardwalks of Virginia City about two hours away. In both places you need a car for nearly all of it.

For children who like being outside, the two are evenly matched, and neither has zoos, aquariums or rainy-day museums. Big Sky relies on the resort: ski school, gentle slopes, a summer adventure park at the base, horse riding and bison-spotting in Yellowstone. Its altitude of about 2,300m and its winter cold take more planning.

Durango offers more variety: the steam train, tubing on the river, the ladders at Mesa Verde's cliff dwellings and riverside parks in a small, easy town, all at a slightly gentler altitude.

Durango's compact, flat centre is the easier base. You can walk from the depot to the top of Main Avenue in a quarter of an hour, and the riverside trail links the neighbourhoods on foot or by bike.

Big Sky stretches along about 15km of road between three villages. Each is walkable on its own, but they are linked only by the free bus. In both places anything beyond town really needs a car, and Big Sky's canyon road calls for extra care in winter.

Neither is a place to shop, but Durango's Main Avenue makes the better stroll. Navajo and Pueblo silver, turquoise jewellery and rugs sit alongside outdoor shops, Western boots and galleries. Big Sky's few gear shops, Western boutiques and wildlife art galleries will cover forgotten gloves or a new fly rod, and serious shoppers head to Bozeman.

Big Sky is far more expensive. Slopeside lodging, lift passes, ski school and guided fishing all need a generous budget, and staying in the canyon or in Bozeman saves money only at the cost of more driving.

Durango is still a US mountain resort, with full restaurant prices and few rooms at peak times. But it costs clearly less than the big-name ski towns, and its trails, river and views are free. In both places spring and late autumn are the cheaper times to go.

Both have small, seasonal stage lives, and Durango offers a little more, with more local character. Its long-running summer music festival, the college concert hall and Western fun such as a boo-the-villain melodrama and chuckwagon suppers give you several options.

Big Sky has a small arts centre with winter concerts and theatre, free summer concerts on the Town Center lawn and après-ski bands, and very little between seasons.

Durango is the better place to unwind because of its hot springs. There are mineral pools a few minutes north of town, terraced pools at Pagosa Springs and spring-fed pools at Ouray.

In Big Sky, relaxing means a hot tub on the deck and the full-service lodge spas aimed at sore ski legs. The nights are quiet and starry, but the nearest natural springs are an hour away towards Bozeman.