Big Sky or Telluride?

Both are high, landlocked resorts, so this is no reason to choose either. In Big Sky the water nearest to hand is a hotel pool or one of the small ponds, because the Gallatin stays cold even in July. Telluride's nearest real swimming spot is the reservoir near Ridgway, an hour's drive away, so summer water time there usually means rafting or fishing rather than swimming.

Big Sky eats in a straightforward resort style: bison, elk, trout, wood-fired pizza and big breakfasts before skiing, spread across three villages and the canyon roadhouses. Some places cut their hours between the ski and summer seasons, and for any real variety you drive to Bozeman.

Telluride sets its sights higher. A handful of serious kitchens on Colorado Avenue and in Mountain Village cook with Colorado lamb and Western Slope produce, the wine lists are deeper than you would expect, and there are cheaper taquerias and bakeries too. It is still a small circle of places over a week, and on festival weekends tables are hard to get.

Big Sky was built as a ski resort from the 1970s on, and the Crail Ranch log cabins in Meadow Village are almost its only link to the past. Everything else is lodges and condos.

In Telluride the town itself is the attraction. The clapboard houses and false-fronted storefronts survive from the mining boom, the Historical Museum in the old miners' hospital tells the story of the labour wars, and ruined mills cling to the canyon walls. It is an afternoon's wandering rather than a reason to come, but it is far more than Big Sky can offer.

Neither resort has clubs or much of a late scene, and in both the nights are built around après-ski. In Big Sky that means drinking in ski boots on the sunny decks at the base of the lifts, then pool tables and a ranch-country crowd in the old saloons along Gallatin Canyon.

Telluride's version is more of a town-centre evening, in Victorian saloons along Colorado Avenue, and on peak weeks and festival weekends the main street stays lively later than anything in Big Sky.

Both are outstanding, and the difference lies in the type of landscape. Big Sky is about scale. Lone Peak rises over one of North America's largest ski areas, the Spanish Peaks and the Lee Metcalf Wilderness spread out beyond it, and with Yellowstone an hour south you can add wolves, bison and geysers to a trip.

Telluride is about drama right on the doorstep. Cliffs and peaks above 4,000m rise from the end of the main street, Bridal Veil Falls is a walk from town, and summer adds a via ferrata and jeep roads over Imogene Pass. In autumn the aspens turn gold.

Both resorts are remote, and every outing needs a car. Big Sky's advantage is Bozeman, a proper college town an hour away with the Museum of the Rockies and its dinosaur fossils. Two hours out are the boardwalks of Virginia City and Nevada City.

Telluride's outings are more scenic but slower. The roads to the mining towns of Ouray and Silverton cross high passes that can close in winter, and Mesa Verde's cliff dwellings, the one site of real stature, sit at the very edge of a day's reach.

Big Sky has more organised for children. In summer the base area offers zip lines, ropes courses, a climbing wall and gondola rides, and horse riding and spotting bison in Yellowstone are easy to add. The ski school makes winter straightforward.

Telluride suits active families, with its free gondola, ski school, river path and easy waterfall walks, but there is less to fill the days. Neither has zoos or rainy-day museums. Both sit high, and Telluride town is the higher of the two, which can mean poor sleep for small children at first.

Big Sky is strung along about 15km of road, from the canyon up to Mountain Village. A free bus links the villages and each one is walkable, but beyond the resort a car is close to essential, and Bozeman airport is an hour's drive away.

Telluride is far easier once you have arrived. The historic grid takes a quarter of an hour to cross on foot, and the free gondola carries you up to Mountain Village and the slopes, so many visitors never use a car. Getting in is harder, because the local airport is prone to weather delays and the larger ones are up to two hours away.

In Big Sky, shopping is practical. Gear shops sell gloves and fly rods, a few Western boutiques and wildlife-art galleries fill out Town Center, and anything more means a trip to Bozeman. Telluride's few blocks of Colorado Avenue are better for browsing, with jewellery boutiques, galleries and a couple of good bookshops, though neither town is a reason to go shopping.

Both are among the most expensive mountain resorts in North America, and you will need a generous budget for either. In Big Sky, summer and the shoulder seasons ease the cost, and staying in the canyon or in Bozeman is cheaper. In Telluride, Christmas, New Year and the festival weekends push prices higher still, the free gondola saves something on transport, and Ridgway is the cheaper base if you accept a daily drive.

Big Sky has a small performing arts centre in Meadow Village with touring acts and chamber music in winter, plus free summer concerts on the Town Center lawn and a short classical festival. It is pleasant, but you would not plan a trip around it.

Telluride is a real summer destination for music. The Bluegrass Festival has filled Town Park beneath the canyon walls since the 1970s, there are also jazz, blues and chamber festivals, and the film festival falls on Labor Day weekend. The Sheridan Opera House hosts concerts and theatre through the year. Out of season, both towns go quiet.

The hot springs are where the two part ways. From Big Sky the nearest springs are towards Bozeman, an hour down the canyon, so a soak means a separate outing. Telluride's are about as far away, at the large public pool in Ouray and near Ridgway, but they fit easily into a day among the old mining towns, with peaks in view from the water.

Back at the resort, both offer lodge spas and hot tubs for tired ski legs, but the calm feels different. In Big Sky it is the dark, starry quiet of lodges spread along the valley. In Telluride it is a small town winding down on a summer evening or in the empty shoulder weeks.