Big Sky or Jackson Hole?

Neither place is for swimmers, but Jackson Hole at least offers a real swim in late summer. String Lake is shallow and sandy-bottomed and warms up enough by August to make a good break from a Teton hike.

Big Sky has nothing like it. The Gallatin River stays rocky and cold, and the local ponds only suit a quick paddle, so a hotel pool is the realistic option.

Jackson Hole eats noticeably better. The money that passes through the valley pays for chef-driven dining rooms, good wine lists, coffee roasters and bakeries around the Town Square, and in summer there is a farmers' market. Huckleberries give the regional cooking its own signature.

Big Sky offers the same elk, bison and trout in plainer form, spread thinly across three villages and the canyon roadhouses. Some kitchens cut back between seasons, and for real variety people drive to Bozeman.

Big Sky's history fits into a single stop: the Crail Ranch homestead in Meadow Village, two early log cabins kept as a small museum. The resort has grown since the 1970s, and everything else is timber-clad lodges and condos.

Jackson Hole has enough for a full day between hikes. The National Museum of Wildlife Art looks out over the elk refuge, and the antler arches and boardwalks give the Town Square its Western face. In the park, the Mormon Row barns and the log Chapel of the Transfiguration, whose window frames the Tetons, are small but memorable.

At Big Sky an evening out often starts with ski boots still on, on the sunny decks at the foot of the Mountain Village lifts. After dinner there are a couple of taverns in Town Center and some old pool-table saloons down the Gallatin Canyon, and most people head to bed early so they can make the first lift.

Jackson Hole gives you more places to go once the après-ski crowd in Teton Village thins out. In town there is the historic saloon with its country dancing, plus brewpubs and cocktail bars around the square. It still goes quiet well before midnight, and neither valley has a club.

Here the two are equals, and the choice comes down to what kind of mountain trip you want. Big Sky is the bigger ski hill, with Lone Peak above one of North America's largest ski areas. In summer it offers lift-served biking, the Spanish Peaks and Lee Metcalf Wilderness, and fly fishing on the Gallatin, with Yellowstone's west gate about an hour away.

Jackson Hole has the more dramatic setting and better wildlife. The Tetons rise straight out of the valley, Grand Teton National Park is minutes from town and the tram serves some of the steepest lift terrain in North America. Moose, bison, grizzlies and the thousands of elk wintering on the refuge are part of daily life there.

Big Sky has the better reasons to leave the resort. Bozeman, an hour away, adds a lively college-town main street and the Museum of the Rockies with its dinosaur fossils, and the preserved gold-rush boardwalks of Virginia City and Nevada City are about two hours off. Livingston's railway-town centre is another option.

From Jackson Hole, almost every outing heads into the parks. Victor, Driggs and Pinedale are pleasant drives but hardly worth a day for their own sake.

Both suit outdoorsy families, and Jackson Hole is slightly easier with children. Junior Ranger badges, sleigh rides through the elk herd, the summer rodeo and the staged shootout on the square all add up to more ready-made fun, and the compact town and lower valley floor are gentler on small children.

Big Sky's strength is its summer adventure park at the base, with zip lines, ropes courses and a climbing wall. Mountain Village sits around 2,300m, though, and the families there are more spread out.

Jackson Hole is the easier of the two. The town is a few walkable blocks, the airport is a short drive away inside the park, and a bus covers the 20km to Teton Village.

Big Sky is strung along about 15km of road between villages you cannot walk between. A free bus links them, and Bozeman airport is an hour off. Both need a car for the national parks, and both demand good tyres in winter.

Jackson Hole is a real place to browse. Its boardwalks around the Town Square are lined with Western and wildlife art galleries, as well as shops selling handmade cowboy hats, boots, leather and turquoise jewellery, with a few upscale boutiques besides.

Big Sky has gear shops, a handful of Western-styled boutiques and some galleries, enough for new gloves or a fly rod, but serious shopping means driving to Bozeman.

Both are among the most expensive mountain stays in the American West, and neither will suit a careful budget in ski season or high summer. The ways to save differ. At Big Sky you can drop down to the canyon or stay in Bozeman.

At Jackson Hole the cheaper beds are over Teton Pass in Idaho. Its best sights, the trails, viewpoints and roadside wildlife of the parks, cost little beyond the park fees.

The two are close, but their seasons differ. Big Sky's small arts centre in Meadow Village gives it a winter programme of touring musicians, chamber music and theatre, and in summer it adds free lawn concerts and a short classical festival.

Jackson Hole saves its best for summer. The Grand Teton Music Festival, running since the 1960s, fills a timber hall in Teton Village with orchestral players for several weeks, alongside chuckwagon dinner shows and country bands in the saloons.

The real difference is natural hot water. At Big Sky there is none close by, so unwinding means a hot tub on a deck under the stars or a massage at one of the big lodge spas, and the nearest springs are an hour away towards Bozeman.

Jackson Hole has its springs inside the valley. One pool sits in a forested canyon south of town, and in winter you reach it by snowmobile or dog sled. A riverside park on the Snake has several soaking pools, and the resort spas and yoga studios cover everything else.