Big Sky or Steamboat Springs?

Neither town has anything like a beach, and in both the water stays cold all summer. What differs is the kind of day you get on the water. Big Sky's Gallatin River is too fast and rocky for most swimming, which leaves small ponds and the hotel pool. Steamboat's Yampa runs gently enough through town for tubing, and Steamboat Lake and Stagecoach reservoir are there for a brave dip.

Both serve the hearty western cooking of a ski resort, with a narrow range and a few local breweries, so food is no reason to pick one over the other. Big Sky leans on bison, elk and trout. Its restaurants are spread thinly across three villages and the canyon roadhouses, and some cut their hours between seasons.

Steamboat's eating is concentrated on Lincoln Avenue, where steakhouses and Colorado lamb sit beside casual Mexican places, so walking out to dinner is easier there.

Steamboat Springs has a little more history to look at. Old western storefronts survive on Lincoln Avenue, the Tread of Pioneers Museum tells the story of the homesteaders and of how skiing arrived, and Howelsen Hill in town is one of the oldest ski areas on the continent.

Big Sky was built as a resort from the 1970s on, and its heritage comes down to the log cabins of the Crail Ranch homestead in Meadow Village. In either place an hour covers the sights, but only Steamboat feels like a town with a past.

Neither has clubs, and both empty early because skiers want the first lift. Big Sky's evenings centre on the decks at the base of the lifts in Mountain Village, with a few old roadside saloons in the Gallatin Canyon for pool and a ranch-country crowd.

Steamboat moves its après-ski downtown in the evening. There a handful of brewpubs and saloons on Lincoln Avenue can stay busy into the late evening during the season, and you can walk from one to the next.

Both are outstanding, and Big Sky goes a step further. Lone Peak rises to 3,403m over one of the largest ski areas in North America, with steep, high terrain. Summer trails lead into the Spanish Peaks and the Lee Metcalf Wilderness, and Yellowstone's geysers and wolves are about an hour south.

Steamboat's strengths are of a different kind. It has its famously light Champagne Powder and tree skiing through aspen glades, backcountry at Rabbit Ears Pass, alpine lakes in the Mount Zirkel Wilderness and gold aspens in autumn. What it lacks is a national park on the doorstep.

Big Sky is better placed for days out. Bozeman, an hour down the canyon, has a lively main street and the Museum of the Rockies with its dinosaur fossils, and the gold-rush boardwalks of Virginia City and Nevada City make a longer day.

Steamboat is more isolated. Hayden, Oak Creek and Yampa nearby are small ranching stops, and Vail or Denver mean two to three hours of mountain driving, so a day out from Steamboat nearly always means heading into the hills.

Both suit outdoor families, with good ski schools and gentle slopes, and Steamboat has the edge once you are off the mountain. Its Old Town Hot Springs, with warm pools, slides and a climbing wall, gives children something to do on a freezing day, which Big Sky lacks, and Howelsen Hill offers quieter first turns.

Big Sky's answer is a summer adventure park of zip lines and ropes courses at the base, plus bison-spotting in Yellowstone. Its base sits higher, at about 2,300m against Steamboat's 2,050m, so small children may feel the altitude more.

Steamboat is easier without a car. Downtown is flat and walkable, and the town bus runs through the day to the base area a few kilometres east. You will still need a car for Strawberry Park and the trailheads.

Big Sky stretches some 15km from the canyon to Mountain Village. A free bus links its three villages, but you can only walk within each one. Bozeman airport is an hour away, and Yellowstone is out of reach without a hire car.

Neither is a shopping destination, but Steamboat makes a better hour of it. Lincoln Avenue is a proper western-wear street of boots, hats and saddle-blanket goods, with a family outfitter trading since the early twentieth century, plus galleries and gear shops. Big Sky's shops are mostly ski and outdoor gear, a few Western boutiques and wildlife-art galleries, and for real shopping you drive to Bozeman.

Both are costly and neither suits a tight budget, but Big Sky is harder on the wallet. Slopeside lodges and luxury resorts set its winter prices, and the way to save money is to stay in the canyon or in Bozeman and drive.

Steamboat is still expensive, especially over Christmas and the spring school breaks. Self-catering condos, free town buses and free trails help, though, and summer and the shoulder seasons are noticeably gentler.

Both are seasonal, but Steamboat has more to offer. Through the summer the Strings Music Festival brings chamber music, jazz and bluegrass to its pavilion, and Perry-Mansfield, founded in 1913, adds student theatre and dance.

Big Sky's small arts centre in Meadow Village is the better bet in winter, with touring musicians and theatre, and its summer brings free lawn concerts and a short classical festival. Between seasons both go quiet.

Here Steamboat pulls well ahead. The town is named after a spring, and soaking is part of daily life, from the spring-fed pools of Old Town Hot Springs in the centre to the rock-lined pools of Strawberry Park about 11km up a mountain road, best on a snowy evening.

In Big Sky, relaxing means a hot tub on the deck and a massage at a lodge spa, and the nearest natural hot springs are an hour away towards Bozeman. It is pleasant, but you go to Big Sky for the mountain, not the water.