Big Sky or Winter Park, Colorado?

Neither is a place to swim. Both sit high in the Rockies, a long way from any sea, so the honest answer in each is a hotel pool.

What differs is the water nearby. Big Sky has the fast, cold Gallatin River and a few small ponds good for a quick paddle. Winter Park has Grand Lake and the Granby reservoirs for boating, plus hot springs pools down the valley, which are the warmest water either resort can offer.

The eating is much the same: hearty mountain-resort food that keeps a ski or hiking trip going but is not a reason to come. Big Sky leans towards game and ranch country, with bison, elk, Montana beef and trout, and a few lodge kitchens aim higher. Its restaurants are spread over three villages, and some cut their hours between seasons.

Winter Park is more casual and more Colorado, with green chile, barbecue and the breakfast burrito before first lift. Neighbouring Fraser widens the choice a little, but tables fill early on busy winter weekends.

Both are modern ski towns with very little history to visit. Big Sky's heritage comes down to the log cabins of the Crail Ranch homestead in Meadow Village. Winter Park has the railway story of the Moffat Tunnel and a small homesteading museum in Fraser. For proper museums, Big Sky visitors drive to Bozeman and Winter Park visitors make the longer trip to Denver.

Evenings in both are built around après-ski and end early, with no clubs in either. The difference is in the setting. Big Sky has sunny decks at the base of the lifts and old Gallatin Canyon saloons with pool tables and a ranch-country crowd, and it goes almost silent in spring and autumn.

Winter Park's evenings move from the base village bars to brewery taprooms along the main road. Winter weekends and spring-break weeks get loud, but the crowd is mostly families.

Both are serious mountain bases, but Big Sky has more of the wild. Lone Peak's 3,403m summit stands over one of the largest ski areas in North America. In summer the Spanish Peaks and Lee Metcalf Wilderness, fly fishing on the Gallatin and Yellowstone's wildlife an hour south give it more range than Winter Park can match.

Winter Park still has a lot going for it. The groomers of Winter Park and the bumps and trees of Mary Jane make a good pair, Berthoud Pass offers backcountry, and its lift-served bike park and forest singletrack are among the best known in the country. Rocky Mountain National Park is an hour north.

Winter Park has the better spread of outings. Georgetown and Idaho Springs, with their brick mining-town streets and narrow-gauge railway loop, are about an hour over Berthoud Pass, and Grand Lake's old boardwalk is to the north. Denver and Boulder are close enough for a city day, though winter storms on the pass can upset plans.

From Big Sky the choices are thinner. Bozeman and its Museum of the Rockies, with its dinosaur fossils, are an hour away, and the gold-rush boardwalks of Virginia City and Nevada City take about two hours to reach.

Both suit outdoor families, but Winter Park is easier to manage. Its compact base village puts the large children's ski school, tubing, sleigh rides and the skating rink within a short walk, and summer adds an alpine slide and mini golf. The free shuttle takes care of the rest.

Big Sky offers bigger moments, such as a summer adventure park with zip lines, horse riding and spotting bison in Yellowstone. However, its villages are spread out, the drives are longer and nothing is close for a rainy day. Altitude affects small children in both resorts.

Winter Park is the one where you can leave the car behind. A free shuttle links the ski base, the town and Fraser, and the base village is walkable, though trailheads and the national park still need wheels. Getting there from Denver means a drive over Berthoud Pass or a shuttle.

Big Sky stretches about 15km from the canyon up to Mountain Village. A free bus covers that stretch, but walking between villages does not work, the airport is an hour away, and a car is close to essential for Yellowstone.

Neither is a shopping destination. Both have gear shops for replacing gloves and not much else. Big Sky adds a few Western-style boutiques and galleries of wildlife and landscape art, while Winter Park keeps to the practical, with ski tuning, bike shops and souvenirs. For a real shopping day, Big Sky sends you to Bozeman and Winter Park to the much larger city of Denver.

Both are costly in winter, but Big Sky is in a different bracket. Slopeside luxury lodging, lift passes, guided fishing and meals all come at some of the steepest prices in the American West. Staying in the canyon or in Bozeman saves money but adds hours in the car.

Winter Park is far easier on the wallet. Fraser's condos and motels undercut the base village, kitchens cut the food bill, and in summer the trails are free and lodging rates drop.

Big Sky offers more live performance. A small arts centre in Meadow Village hosts touring musicians, chamber music and theatre through the winter, and summer brings free lawn concerts in Town Center and a short classical festival.

Winter Park has free summer concerts in the town park and the odd festival, but no theatre or venue, so for the rest of the year live music means an après-ski band, and a proper performance means an evening in Denver.

Unwinding in both means a hot tub after a day outdoors. Winter Park has the better bathing, because Hot Sulphur Springs, about half an hour west, has mineral pools stepping down a hillside above the Colorado River. Its quieter late-spring and autumn weeks are the time to go.

Big Sky's large lodges have full-service spas and its nights are quiet and starry, but the nearest natural hot springs are an hour away towards Bozeman.