Breckenridge or Rapid City?

Neither town has a beach, but Rapid City at least has swimming. Sheridan Lake, Pactola Reservoir and Sylvan Lake in the nearby hills warm up enough for a swim in high summer, and they have small sand or gravel shores. In Breckenridge, Lake Dillon and the snowmelt lakes up the Blue River valley are for paddling and photographs, so swimming means the indoor pools at the recreation centre.

The food is about as good in both places, but in different ways. Breckenridge offers resort dining for hungry skiers: steakhouses, sushi and a few chef-led kitchens using elk, trout and Colorado lamb. Green chile breakfast burritos are the local habit, and the beer and whiskey are made in town.

Rapid City's cooking is more regional. Chislic and Indian tacos on Lakota fry bread are dishes you won't find in a ski town. Away from the downtown brewpubs, though, the highway strips are mostly chains.

Rapid City has more to see. The Journey Museum covers the Black Hills from geology to Lakota history, the School of Mines shows Badlands fossils, Cold War aircraft stand outside the air museum, and a bronze president waits on almost every downtown corner.

Breckenridge's heritage is its setting rather than its institutions. The painted Victorian gold-rush district, a mine tour with gold panning and the old river dredges make a nice afternoon, but there is no museum to build a day around.

Breckenridge has more going on after dark. Après-ski spills from the lift bases onto Main Street, and on winter Saturdays the saloons in old Victorian buildings and a couple of dance bars stay open past midnight. Remember that drinks hit harder at altitude.

Rapid City's evenings are a beer or a country band in the few blocks around Main Street Square, and most places close early. The exception is the Sturgis motorcycle rally in early August, when the whole region parties late.

Both are towns for people who love the outdoors, but Breckenridge is the bigger mountain experience. You ski above the treeline on the Tenmile Range, can climb a 4,000m summit at Quandary Peak, and walk onto trails straight from town, with Vail and Arapahoe Basin close by. The altitude takes a day or two to get used to.

The Black Hills are lower and gentler but more varied. There are granite spires on the Needles Highway, bison and pronghorn in Custer State Park, the Wind Cave and Jewel Cave tours underground, the Mickelson Trail for cycling, and the eroded ridges of the Badlands an hour east.

Rapid City has far more within a day's drive. Mount Rushmore is half an hour away, and Crazy Horse, Deadwood's Wild West streets, the Mammoth Site at Hot Springs and the Minuteman Missile silo are all easy outings. You could fill a week without staying anywhere else.

From Breckenridge, the best trip is over Hoosier Pass to Leadville, the silver-boom town with its mining museum. Georgetown's narrow-gauge railway and Vail Village are other options. Beyond those it is mostly other ski resorts, and winter weather can make any drive longer.

Rapid City feels made for children. Generations of families have come for the concrete dinosaurs, the drive-through bear park, nursery-rhyme scenes on Storybook Island and gold panning, and the area is relaxed and used to young visitors. The price is hours in the car and summer crowds at Rushmore.

Breckenridge works well if the family's trip is about skiing, with ski schools for young children, gentle beginner slopes and a summer activity park with an alpine coaster. Altitude sickness and the hassle of winter gear weigh more heavily with small children, though.

Breckenridge is much easier without a car. The historic centre is walkable, a free gondola runs up to the ski base, and free buses reach the trailheads, Frisco, Keystone and Copper Mountain. The catch is getting there, a drive or shuttle of around two hours from Denver's airport over I-70.

In Rapid City you need a car to reach almost everything except the compact downtown, though seasonal tour buses cover the main sights. Driving is easy, with light traffic and simple parking, and the winding roads through the hills are a pleasure in their own right.

Neither town is a shopping destination, and what you can buy reflects each place. Breckenridge's Main Street is good for ski gear and technical clothing, plus galleries of Western landscape photography, while serious shoppers drive to the Silverthorne outlets. Rapid City has more distinctive things to take home: Black Hills gold jewellery with its grape-leaf designs, Lakota quillwork, beadwork and star quilts.

There is a big difference in cost. Breckenridge in ski season is as expensive as any ski resort, with slope-side condos, lift tickets, equipment hire and lessons all adding up, and the Christmas and spring-break weeks are the dearest. Staying in Frisco or Silverthorne helps, and summer is far cheaper.

Rapid City's motels and diners are reasonable by American standards, and many sights are free. The main costs you can't avoid are a hire car, fuel and park entry fees, apart from rally week in August, when room rates soar across the region.

Breckenridge has the stronger summer programme. The open-sided Riverwalk Center by the Blue River hosts a festival orchestra and a national academy of young professional musicians through July and August, and a local theatre company runs for much of the year.

Rapid City has the Black Hills Symphony, touring shows at the civic centre and a long-established playhouse in Custer State Park. Its most memorable performances are the powwows, especially the large one held each autumn.

Neither town is a spa destination, and for a natural soak both mean a drive of about an hour: Idaho Springs from Breckenridge, Hot Springs from Rapid City. In Breckenridge, unwinding mostly happens where you sleep. Almost every condo and lodge has an outdoor hot tub that steams in the snow once the lifts close, and a few resort hotels add full spas with massage. Winter here is not slow, though. Early starts on the mountain and the effort of the altitude wear people out, so the shoulder months and summer evenings by the Blue River are the calmer times.

Rapid City has fewer spas in town, but its springs make a better outing. Hot Springs grew up around its warm water, and people have soaked in its historic indoor pool for well over a century, with a couple of smaller spring-fed spas nearby. Add a few slow days in a cabin in the pines and you have a quieter kind of rest, built around soaking rather than recovering from a day on the slopes.