Breckenridge or Estes Park?

Neither town is anywhere near a sea, and neither has lake swimming worth planning around. Lake Dillon near Breckenridge is for sailing and paddling, and Lake Estes and the park lakes are for fishing and walks along the shore. In both towns a swim means an indoor recreation pool or a hotel pool.

Breckenridge has more choice. Alongside the steakhouses and wood-fired pizza there are sushi counters, Mexican kitchens and a few chef-led places cooking Colorado lamb, elk and trout, and the town brews its own beer and distils whiskey. It is still resort food, and tables are hard to get in the busiest winter weeks.

Estes Park eats more simply: barbecue, burgers, big diner breakfasts, and taffy and fudge on Elkhorn Avenue. Quality is uneven and many kitchens cut back outside summer, so keen eaters usually save a good dinner for Boulder or Denver.

In Breckenridge, the past is the town itself. Gold was found here in 1859, and the mining boom left one of Colorado's biggest historic districts. Simply walking Main Street and the lanes that rise east of it takes you past colourful Victorian shopfronts, old miners' cabins and wooden façades built to look grander than they were. A mine tour lets you try panning for gold, and the remains of the dredges that churned up the Blue River valley fill out a few unhurried hours.

Estes Park's heritage is concentrated in a single building: the Stanley Hotel, built by F.O. Stanley of steam-car fame, which gave Stephen King the idea for The Shining. A guided visit, ghost stories included, is the town's main cultural outing. A small museum on homesteading and the MacGregor Ranch beneath Lumpy Ridge are modest extras. Neither town has serious museums or galleries, so plan your days in either around the mountains.

Breckenridge has a real après-ski scene. Bars at the lift bases fill with people still in ski boots, and on winter Saturdays the brewpubs, saloons in Victorian buildings and a couple of dance bars keep going past midnight. There are no clubs, though, and evenings in spring and autumn are quiet.

Estes Park has very little nightlife. A few taprooms and saloon-style bars on Elkhorn Avenue serve a beer after the hike, and the town is mostly asleep by ten because people are out at dawn to see wildlife.

Both are superb mountain bases, and the difference is what you do there. Breckenridge is built around skiing on five peaks of the Tenmile Range, with more resorts a short drive away. In summer, Quandary Peak and trails through aspen and wildflower meadows begin close to town.

Estes Park is the gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park, with Longs Peak, Trail Ridge Road over the tundra, and lakes such as Bear and Emerald. Its extra is wildlife: elk wander through town, and bighorn sheep and moose are common in the park. What it lacks is a ski area.

Both have a decent rather than outstanding choice of day trips, in different directions. From Breckenridge the best days are in old mining country: silver-boom Leadville over Hoosier Pass, and Georgetown with its narrow-gauge railway. Vail's pedestrian village is also within reach, but Denver is about two hours away.

Estes Park looks down to the plains instead. Boulder and Fort Collins are each about an hour away, Denver is closer than it is from Breckenridge, and in summer the drive over Trail Ridge Road reaches Grand Lake.

Both work well for families, but for different kinds of trip. Breckenridge is the one for children learning to ski, with ski schools, gentle beginner slopes and a free gondola from town. In summer it adds an alpine coaster and climbing walls.

Estes Park suits families who would rather watch elk, earn junior ranger badges and walk flat loops around the lakes, and the town has mini golf, go-karts and the Prospect Mountain tramway. Altitude can tire small children in both places, and more so in Breckenridge at almost 3,000m.

Breckenridge is much easier to manage without a car. A free gondola, free town buses and free county buses to Frisco, Keystone and Copper Mountain mean many visitors go a whole week without driving. The trip from the airport, though, takes about two hours on I-70.

Downtown Estes Park is compact, and free summer shuttles run to the Bear Lake corridor. Beyond that, a car is close to essential for trailheads, Trail Ridge Road and the towns on the plains, and summer weekends bring heavy traffic and parking in town.

Breckenridge's Main Street is the better place to kit yourself out for the mountains. It has ski and technical clothing, rental outfitters and galleries of Western landscapes and photography, though prices carry a resort premium. The Silverthorne outlet malls are a short drive north for bigger purchases.

Elkhorn Avenue in Estes Park is more of an hour's browse through T-shirt and souvenir shops, taffy makers, western wear, wildlife art and Native American-style jewellery. Anything more serious means going down to Boulder or Denver.

Neither is cheap, but Estes Park is gentler on the budget. Its expensive time is summer and early autumn. Rooms in winter and spring are far cheaper, and once you are in the national park the scenery costs only the entrance fee, though most visitors will need a hire car.

In ski season, Breckenridge costs as much as a ski vacation anywhere, with lift tickets, equipment hire and lessons on top of lodging near the slopes. Staying in Frisco or Silverthorne helps, summer is much cheaper, and the free buses and gondola mean local transport costs nothing.

Breckenridge has a proper summer music season. The Riverwalk Center hosts a festival orchestra and a national academy of young professionals through July and August, and a local theatre company stages plays and musicals for much of the year.

Estes Park offers free concerts by the river, evenings at the Stanley Hotel and the September Highland Festival with its pipe bands, but little else. Anyone who wants theatre or an orchestra drives to Boulder or Denver.

Neither town has hot springs of its own or a bathing tradition, and the kind of rest differs. Breckenridge has resort spas and the nightly outdoor hot tub in the snow, with natural springs at Idaho Springs about an hour away. Its winter routine of early starts and thin air is more tiring than restful, though. Estes Park has fewer spas, and its appeal is calm: a cabin by the river and elk at dusk, especially outside the summer season.