Boulder or Vail?

Neither town is anywhere near a beach, so this is not a reason to pick either. What differs is summer water. In Boulder you get the small sandy swim area at the reservoir and inner-tube floats down Boulder Creek, which make an easy afternoon. Vail's mountain lakes stay cold even in July, so swimming there mostly means a hotel pool.

Boulder eats better, and in a more relaxed way. Its strength is everyday food: farm-to-table menus, plenty of vegetarian cooking, good bakeries, the Saturday farmers' market by the creek, taprooms across the east side and lunch in the hand-carved Dushanbe Teahouse.

Vail's dining is polished resort fare, with steak, game, fondue and long hotel wine lists in Vail Village and Lionshead, plus mountain lodges for lunch. There is no cheap end, and many kitchens close in the quiet spring and autumn weeks. Food lovers in both towns go to Denver for real range.

Neither is a sightseeing destination, but Boulder has at least a satisfying day. The Chautauqua cottages and auditorium below the Flatirons, the red-tiled university campus and Pei's atmospheric research laboratory on the mesa are all worth seeing, and there are a few small museums as well.

Vail was built in the 1960s, and its Tyrolean-style village is imitation rather than heritage. The Colorado Snowsports Museum, which tells the story of the Tenth Mountain Division, and the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens in summer fill an hour or two, and that is about all.

Boulder's evenings belong to taprooms and students, while Vail's belong to the end of the ski day. In Boulder that means brewery taprooms and cocktail bars around Pearl Street, loud bars on University Hill during term and an early finish. Denver is forty minutes away for anything bigger.

Vail comes alive as the lifts close, with crowded slopeside terraces in Vail Village and Lionshead and a few bars open past midnight on winter weekends. Summer nights are calm, and in the off-seasons the town is close to empty after dinner.

Both are first-rate mountain bases, but for different things. Boulder's trails start at the edge of town among the Flatirons and the mesas, Eldorado Canyon is a famous climbing wall, cyclists train on the canyon roads, and Rocky Mountain National Park is about an hour away.

Vail sits higher, at about 2,500m, with a vast ski area, gondola-served summer trails, the Gore Range and Holy Cross wilderness areas, and fly fishing on Gore Creek. Choose Boulder for climbing, cycling and trail running, and Vail for skiing and high alpine hiking.

The day trips from both are pleasant rather than remarkable, and both need a car for most of them. Boulder's advantage is Denver, reachable by express bus, along with Golden, Fort Collins and the old silver-mining towns of Georgetown and Idaho Springs.

From Vail, the outings are mostly other mountain towns: polished Beaver Creek, Breckenridge with its Victorian main street, the brick streets of Leadville, and Glenwood Springs down the canyon. Denver and Aspen are each about two hours' drive.

Boulder is the summer family town and Vail the winter one, built around ski school. In Boulder, children have the creek path, the reservoir swim beach, tubing and the street performers on Pearl Street, plus a planetarium and natural history museum for indoor hours.

In Vail, the large ski schools, gentle children's terrain and car-free village make a ski week easy, and in summer the top of the gondola has ropes courses and a mountain coaster. The higher altitude and winter cold are harder on toddlers, and outside the mountain there is little made for children.

Vail is the easier place to manage without a car once you are there. The village is pedestrian, the lifts start from town and a free bus runs the length of the valley, so a whole ski week can pass without driving. Getting there is the hard part: there is no passenger rail, and the pass can close in heavy snow.

Boulder is easy on foot and by bike within town, thanks to its off-street paths along the creek, bike share stations and an express bus to Denver. However, the trailheads outside town, Eldorado Canyon and the national park are hard to reach without hiring a car.

Neither town is a shopping destination, and serious shoppers in both head to Denver. Boulder's Pearl Street Mall has independent bookshops, galleries and toy shops, and its climbing, running and cycling stores are unusually good. Vail's lanes are more upmarket, with ski clothing, fur and leather, jewellery, Western boots and mountain art, so they suit a luxury souvenir better than a casual browse.

Neither is cheap, but Boulder is far easier on a budget. Rooms and meals cost a lot, but the trails are free, the buses are reasonably priced and staying in Denver is an easy way to save.

Vail is in another bracket entirely. Lift tickets, ski school, equipment hire and slopeside rooms all add up, and peak winter weeks push prices higher still. Summer and off-season rates and lodging further down the valley help only a little.

The difference here is one of rhythm more than quality. In Boulder, downtown rooms book touring rock, bluegrass and roots acts most nights, the Colorado Music Festival fills the wooden Chautauqua Auditorium in summer and there is outdoor Shakespeare on campus. Red Rocks Amphitheatre is under an hour's drive.

Vail puts nearly everything into one grand summer. Orchestras take up residence for Bravo! Vail and leading dancers arrive for the Vail Dance Festival. Both festivals play the open-air Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater with the mountains behind the stage, and jazz follows in late summer. In winter the offer shrinks to après-ski bands.

Neither town has a bathing tradition, and anyone who wants a proper soak drives about an hour: from Boulder to the hot springs at Idaho Springs, or from Vail to the mineral pools and vapour caves of Glenwood Springs. The difference is in style. Boulder's wellness is yoga, meditation and a contemplative streak rooted in its Buddhist-inspired university, while Vail's is the resort spa, with massage after skiing and hot tubs beneath the peaks.