Breckenridge or Snowbird?

Neither place is for swimming, and the difference between them is small. Breckenridge has cold Lake Dillon for sailing and paddling and snowmelt alpine lakes, so swimming means the recreation centre's indoor pools.

Snowbird offers heated resort pools, and the Heber Valley reservoirs about an hour away at least have small beaches, though the water stays cold. The Great Salt Lake is a curiosity to look at, not a swimming trip.

Breckenridge eats better because it is a town and not just a resort. Main Street mixes wood-fired pizza, sushi, Mexican kitchens and a few chef-led places using Colorado lamb, bison and trout, and its own breweries and distillery give the drinking some local character.

Snowbird's dining is a short list of lodge restaurants, slopeside cafeterias and the dining room at the top of the tram, competent but built for a captive audience. Most guests drive the forty minutes down to Salt Lake City a night or two each week for variety.

Breckenridge at least gives you history to walk through. Its gold-rush district of false-fronted wooden buildings and miners' cabins is one of Colorado's largest, and a gold-mine tour and the old dredge remains on the Blue River fill out an afternoon.

Snowbird has nothing comparable. It was built from scratch in 1971 as concrete lodges designed to withstand avalanches, and the canyon's mining past has left almost nothing to see, so Temple Square and the city museums mean a trip down the mountain.

After dark the gap is wide. Breckenridge has one of the livelier ski-town scenes in Colorado, with après crowds in ski boots along Main Street, saloons in Victorian buildings and a couple of dance bars running past midnight on winter Saturdays.

At Snowbird the evening peaks on a sunny lodge deck at the end of the ski day and is largely over by mid-evening. A proper night out means a mountain drive to Park City or Salt Lake City.

Both are outstanding mountain bases, and the choice comes down to the kind of skiing. Breckenridge spreads over five peaks of the Tenmile Range with wide beginner slopes, Nordic trails and Keystone, Copper and Arapahoe Basin close by, and in summer Quandary Peak and a dense trail network start from the edge of town.

Snowbird is steeper and snowier, famed for chutes, bowls and some of the deepest, driest snow in North America, with a season that often stretches into late spring. Summer brings the wildflowers of Albion Basin, wilderness trails and climbing on granite walls.

The day-trip range is similar, but the character differs. From Breckenridge the outings are mining towns, with weathered Leadville over Hoosier Pass, Georgetown's narrow-gauge railway and the hot springs at Idaho Springs, plus Vail Village; Denver is about two hours away.

Snowbird's strength is having a real city close by. Salt Lake City, with Temple Square and the State Capitol, is only forty minutes down the canyon, and Park City's Victorian Main Street is an hour away, though beyond those the list thins to Midway, Sundance and Ogden.

Breckenridge is easier with children of all ages. Ski schools take them young, the beginner terrain is wide and gentle, the free gondola runs from town, and summer brings an alpine coaster, mazes and climbing walls, with pools and an ice rink in town.

Snowbird has a ski school and summer plaza activities, and its compact car-free base is easy to manage, but the mountain's steep, expert terrain suits teenagers far better than toddlers. Zoos and children's museums are down in Salt Lake City.

Breckenridge is the simpler place to manage without a car. The historic centre is walkable, the gondola and town buses are free, and free county buses reach Frisco, Keystone and Copper Mountain; the weak point is the two-hour run from Denver's airport over I-70.

Snowbird is effortless inside the resort, with lodges and lifts steps apart, but a single winding canyon road is the only link to the outside. It jams on powder mornings and avalanche control can close it for hours, so a car or shuttle is needed for almost everything beyond the base.

Neither is a shopping destination, but Breckenridge gives you something to browse. Main Street's courtyards hold outdoor shops, galleries of Western landscapes, boutiques and sweet shops, and the Silverthorne outlets are a short drive away. Snowbird's few base stores sell gear and resort clothing for forgotten goggles, with real shopping down in Salt Lake City or along Park City's main street.

Both are expensive in winter, with lift tickets, slopeside rooms, rentals and resort meals costing much the same as at any major Western ski area. The ways to save differ. In Breckenridge, staying in Frisco or Silverthorne and using the free buses and gondola cuts costs, and summer is far cheaper.

At Snowbird, many visitors sleep in Salt Lake City hotels and drive up each morning, which saves money but gives up the slopeside stay. Multi-resort passes help frequent skiers at either.

Breckenridge has a genuine summer music season. The open-sided Riverwalk Center by the Blue River hosts a long-running festival orchestra and a national orchestra academy through July and August, and a local theatre company works for much of the year.

Snowbird offers summer concerts on the plaza and oompah bands at its Oktoberfest weekends, and little else. The symphony, opera and theatre are all in Salt Lake City.

Snowbird is the better place to unwind. The large spa on top of its main lodge has a rooftop pool and hot tubs looking onto the canyon walls, plus steam rooms and treatments, and the car-free village is silent at night; the warm crater at Homestead in Midway is an hour away.

Breckenridge relaxation mostly means a condo hot tub in the snow or a hotel spa, in a town whose winter days start early and run hard. Its calmer moments come in the shoulder seasons and on summer evenings by the river.