Breckenridge or Mammoth Lakes?

Neither town is a place to swim, but Mammoth Lakes at least offers a dip in high summer. In July and August, Horseshoe Lake and the lower, slightly warmer Crowley Lake draw some brave swimmers, though the water never gets truly warm.

At almost 3,000m, Breckenridge has no such option. Lake Dillon is for sailing and paddling rather than swimming, and the snowmelt lakes up the Blue River valley are bracing at best, so swimming comes down to the recreation centre's indoor pools.

The food in both towns is built for hungry skiers, and neither has a cuisine worth travelling for. Breckenridge has a little more character: a few chef-led kitchens cook Colorado elk, bison and trout, green chile breakfast burritos are the local habit, and the town distils its own whiskey as well as brewing beer. Mammoth's choice runs more to burgers, tacos and pizza, with a handful of more ambitious dinner kitchens around the Village and its own craft beer.

Breckenridge has the stronger sense of place. Its 1859 gold-rush past survives in a large grid of false-fronted wooden buildings and miners' cabins, and a gold-mine tour and the old river dredges fill in the story. It makes a good afternoon's walk, though there are no major museums.

Mammoth Lakes has almost nothing of this kind. The town is mostly modern lodges and condominiums, and a small log-cabin history museum is about the only stop. Anyone curious about the region's history has to drive an hour or more to find it.

Breckenridge has the better evenings. On a winter Saturday, brewpubs and saloons in old Victorian buildings fill with skiers still in their boots, and a couple of late dance bars keep going past midnight. Mammoth's après-ski centres on the Village and a few taprooms. It can run late on long weekends but is usually quiet well before midnight. Neither town has clubs, and both empty out in spring and autumn.

Both towns are first-rate mountain bases, and the difference is in the landscape. Breckenridge offers classic Rockies terrain: five peaks of the Tenmile Range above town, Keystone, Copper Mountain, Arapahoe Basin and Vail all within reach for skiing, and Quandary Peak, one of Colorado's 4,000m summits, for a summer climb.

Mammoth Lakes has one huge ski mountain whose season often runs into early summer, and around it a volcanic landscape: Devils Postpile, the tufa towers of Mono Lake, and granite-ringed lakes leading into the Ansel Adams wilderness. When Tioga Pass opens in summer, the Yosemite high country is within reach too. It also sits about 600m lower than Breckenridge, which makes the first days easier.

Breckenridge has more within reach. Leadville's silver-boom streets and mining museum, the narrow-gauge railway at Georgetown, the hot springs at Idaho Springs and the Alpine-style village at Vail all make easy days out, and Denver's museums are about two hours away.

From Mammoth Lakes, the drives along the highway below the Sierra are long and the stops are few, though Bodie, the preserved ghost town, and Manzanar's sober wartime history are both memorable. In winter the passes close, so most outings head into the mountains rather than to other towns.

For families, the two are broadly level: both are good for children who love being outside, and neither has much for a snowbound day. Breckenridge is easier to manage without a car. The free gondola runs from Main Street to the slopes, and the summer activity park has an alpine coaster and climbing walls, with an ice rink and pools in town. The catch is the higher altitude.

Mammoth Lakes is better for gentler nature days. It has a snow tubing hill, rowing boats and trout fishing in the Lakes Basin, and condos with kitchens make life easier. The downside is that getting between town, lakes and trailheads usually means driving.

Breckenridge is much easier without a car. Its historic centre is compact and walkable, and free town and county buses reach Frisco, Keystone and Copper Mountain, so many visitors never drive at all. The weak point is the two-hour run from Denver's airport over I-70, which snow can stretch badly.

Mammoth Lakes is spread out along a few roads. Winter shuttles and a summer trolley cover the lift bases and the Lakes Basin, but anything further into the Eastern Sierra needs a car, sometimes with snow chains.

Neither town is a shopping destination, but Breckenridge is a better place to browse. Main Street's small courtyards mix ski shops with galleries of Western landscapes, a few clothing boutiques and sweet shops, and the Silverthorne outlets are a short drive north. Mammoth's shops are mostly practical: good gear, fly-fishing and climbing outfitters, some landscape photography galleries and little else.

Both are expensive resort towns, but Breckenridge is the harder of the two on a budget. In the Christmas, New Year and spring-break weeks, lodging, lessons and meals near the slopes cost as much as a ski trip anywhere. Staying in Frisco or Silverthorne and using the free transport helps.

Mammoth Lakes is still costly in winter, but the gap opens in summer, when the hiking, lakes and scenic drives cost little beyond a park pass. Self-catering condos are the usual way to keep costs down.

Breckenridge has the stronger programme, and it is at its best in July and August. The open-sided Riverwalk Center by the Blue River hosts a long-running festival orchestra and a national academy of young professional musicians, and a local theatre company performs in the arts district for much of the year.

Mammoth's offer is smaller but has its own charm. A community theatre company stages plays on the college campus, and summer brings a jazz festival and chamber concerts held in meadows with the mountains behind.

Mammoth Lakes is the more restful of the two. Its volcanic ground feeds simple hot spring pools out in the sagebrush, reached by dirt road and facing the Sierra, and outside the peak ski weeks the town runs at a slow pace.

Breckenridge relaxation is mostly a resort spa or a steaming hot tub in the snow. The nearest natural springs are about an hour away, and at nearly 3,000m the thin air and early starts leave many visitors tired rather than rested.