Big Sky or Whitefish?

Neither is a swimming destination, but Whitefish at least has somewhere to swim. Big Sky offers only the cold, rocky Gallatin River, a few small ponds and the hotel pool.

Whitefish has City Beach on Whitefish Lake right at the edge of town, with sand, a swimming dock and paddleboards, and the clear water and pebbly state park shores of Flathead Lake within an easy drive. The water is only warm enough from mid-July to late August, but in those weeks a lake afternoon is a real part of the trip.

Both serve the same Montana repertoire of bison, elk, beef, trout and wood-fired pizza, and neither offers much variety. In Big Sky the restaurants are spread across Mountain Village, Town Center, Meadow Village and the canyon roadhouses, and some places cut their hours between seasons.

Whitefish keeps almost everything on Central Avenue, so dinner is a walk rather than a drive, and it has a signature of its own in huckleberries, which go into pies, milkshakes and cocktails in late summer. Its distilling adds a little variety to the brewery scene both places share.

Sightseeing is thin in both, and nobody should choose either for it. Big Sky's single piece of heritage is the pair of log cabins at the Crail Ranch homestead, surrounded by modern lodges and condos. Whitefish has a little more history, with the timber-framed Great Northern depot and its railway and logging museum, and some early twentieth-century frontage downtown.

Whitefish is the slightly livelier of the two after dark. Its saloons and brewery taprooms sit together on Central Avenue, and on summer evenings the drinking moves out onto the patios, so there is something to do in the warm months too.

Big Sky's evenings centre on après-ski decks at the lift base, a few Town Center taverns and the canyon saloons, and everyone is in bed early for the first lift. Outside the ski season the resort goes very quiet. Neither town has clubs.

Both are first-class mountain destinations, and the difference is in what you do there. Big Sky is the skiers' pick, with Lone Peak's steep high runs on one of North America's largest ski areas, plus fly fishing and rafting on the Gallatin and Yellowstone's geysers and wolves about an hour south.

Whitefish is stronger for summer hiking. Glacier National Park lies about forty minutes away, with the Highline Trail, Grinnell Glacier, Lake McDonald and the Going-to-the-Sun Road, along with lakes for paddling. Big Mountain gives good skiing too, but the high country is only reliably open from July to September.

Outings to other towns are modest from both, and the real excursions are into the parks. From Big Sky, Bozeman is the best of them, a college town with a Western main street and the dinosaur fossils of the Museum of the Rockies, and the gold-rush boardwalks of Virginia City and Nevada City are worth a longer drive.

Whitefish has Kalispell's Victorian Conrad Mansion close by, the gallery village of Bigfork, the cherry orchards on Flathead Lake's east shore, and the mission church at St Ignatius under the Mission Mountains further south.

Big Sky is better set up for children. A full ski school and beginner terrain cover winter, and in summer the base area becomes an adventure park with zip lines, ropes courses, a climbing wall and gondola rides. Horse riding and gentle rafting help too. The catch is Mountain Village's altitude of about 2,300m, which tires small children for the first days.

Whitefish has the same kind of offer on a smaller scale, with an alpine slide, a zip line and the calm water at City Beach. Glacier's flat Trail of the Cedars is a good walk for young legs, but children who do not like the outdoors may soon run out of things to do.

Whitefish is the easier place to be without a car, at least in town. Its downtown is a compact walk, the long-distance train arrives at the depot, and a winter shuttle runs to the ski area.

Big Sky stretches along about 15km of road in separate villages joined by a free bus, and you fly into Bozeman an hour away. In both places a car is close to essential for the national parks, and Big Sky's canyon road needs care in winter.

Whitefish makes a pleasant afternoon of browsing along Central Avenue, with western-wear and boot shops, outfitters, art galleries and Montana-made gifts such as huckleberry jam, and Kalispell nearby for bigger stores. Big Sky has little beyond ski and outdoor gear, a few Western boutiques and wildlife galleries, and serious shoppers drive to Bozeman.

Both are costly, but Big Sky is in a more expensive bracket altogether. Slopeside lodges, luxury resorts, lift passes and guided fishing make it one of the dearest stays in the American West, and saving money there means staying in the canyon or in Bozeman and driving.

Whitefish is expensive in July, August and ski weeks, but less punishing overall. Late spring and autumn are easier, Kalispell and Columbia Falls offer cheaper beds close by, and a day in Glacier costs little once you are inside.

Neither has much on stage, and what there is depends on the season. Big Sky's arts centre in Meadow Village books touring musicians, chamber music and theatre in winter, and summer brings free lawn concerts and a short classical festival in Town Center.

Whitefish has a little more spread through the year, with community theatre, a professional summer theatre company and the valley symphony's summer festival in Kalispell, plus bands in the Central Avenue bars.

Big Sky does pampering better. Its large lodges have full-service spas aimed at aching ski legs, and a hot tub under a starry sky is part of most stays. Natural hot springs are about an hour away towards Bozeman.

Whitefish's calm comes more from the setting, with quiet lakeside mornings, yoga studios in town and spas at a handful of lodges. The nearest hot springs pools are a couple of hours' drive away.