Breckenridge or Whitefish?

Neither town is a beach destination, but only Whitefish lets you swim outdoors. In midsummer City Beach on Whitefish Lake has sand, a dock and paddleboards, and Flathead Lake adds pebbly state-park shores. Surface water reaches about 20°C on calm days from mid-July.

In Breckenridge, Lake Dillon and the alpine lakes are snowmelt-cold all year. They are for sailing or paddling rather than swimming, so a swim there means the recreation centre pool or a hot tub.

The food is much the same in both: hearty mountain-town cooking with elk, bison and trout, wood-fired pizza and local breweries and distilleries. Breckenridge has a little more variety along Main Street, with sushi counters, Mexican kitchens and a few chef-led dining rooms, and green chile at breakfast.

Whitefish has fewer places to eat on Central Avenue, so over a week you will keep going back to the same ones. It does have something Breckenridge lacks, though: huckleberries in pies, shakes and cocktails through late summer.

Breckenridge has more history to walk through. Its gold-rush historic district is one of Colorado's largest, with painted Victorian storefronts and miners' cabins, and you can add a gold-mine tour and the old dredge remains in the Blue River valley. That makes a good afternoon.

Whitefish has the timber Great Northern depot and its small railway museum, plus some modest downtown frontage, and that is about all. You will see it in an hour.

For a night out, Breckenridge is the better bet, especially in winter. Drinking begins at the foot of the lifts while people are still in ski boots, then moves into the bars and pubs in Main Street's old Victorian buildings. On a busy Saturday a few places with a dance floor keep going well into the night. It is still a small mountain town, though: weekday crowds go to bed early for first lifts, spring and autumn evenings are very quiet, and at this altitude a drink hits harder than at home.

Whitefish has the same kind of evening on a smaller scale. Its saloons and brewery taprooms on Central Avenue have a local feel, with people from the ranches and the ski hill drinking alongside visitors, and in summer the long, warm evenings bring everyone outside. It can get loud, but there is nowhere to dance, and most people are home at a sensible hour.

Both towns are superb bases for the mountains, but they offer different things. Breckenridge is a ski destination first: five peaks of the Tenmile Range above town, Keystone, Copper and Arapahoe Basin nearby, Quandary Peak to climb in summer and a paved path to Lake Dillon. Its town sits at almost 3,000m, and you will feel the altitude for the first day or two.

Whitefish has Glacier National Park forty minutes away, which means wilderness on a grander scale. There are turquoise lakes, the Highline Trail and the Going-to-the-Sun Road, with grizzlies and mountain goats. Big Mountain gives it a full ski area too. The catch is that Glacier's high country is reliably open only from July to September.

Leadville, about 45 minutes away over Hoosier Pass, is a day out with no real equal near Whitefish: a weathered silver-boom town with a national mining museum. From Breckenridge you can also reach Georgetown's narrow-gauge railway, the hot springs at Idaho Springs and Vail's pedestrian village in an hour or so. Denver is a long day out if the I-70 traffic allows.

Around Whitefish, the best trips are into the park rather than to other towns. Kalispell's Conrad Mansion, the galleries of Bigfork and the cherry orchards along Flathead Lake make pleasant half-days, but they are smaller outings than Breckenridge's old mining towns.

Breckenridge is better set up for children. Ski schools take them young, the beginner slopes are wide, and in summer the mountain becomes an activity park, with pools and an ice rink in town as well. Its drawbacks are altitude sickness and the hard work of winter gear with small children.

Whitefish is a safe, easy town with a calm lakeside beach and short flat trails in Glacier, such as the Trail of the Cedars. Children who don't take to hiking or paddling may get bored, though, and the drives into the park are long for small children.

Once you are in Breckenridge, it is far easier to get about without a car. A free gondola, free town buses and free county buses to Frisco, Keystone and Copper mean many visitors never drive. The hard part is getting there: about two hours by road from Denver's airport, longer in snow.

Whitefish turns this around. The long-distance train stops downtown, which makes arriving easy, but after that a hire car is close to essential. Glacier, Flathead Lake and the trailheads are spread out along rural highways, and the park shuttle runs only in summer.

Shopping in both towns is a single main street of outdoor outfitters, galleries and gift shops, and it fills a pleasant hour. Breckenridge leans towards ski gear and rental shops, and the Silverthorne outlets are nearby for a proper shop.

Whitefish has more of a ranch-country feel, with western wear, boots, wildlife art and Montana-made huckleberry jam. For anything bigger you go to the stores in Kalispell.

Both are costly, but Breckenridge in ski season is in a class of its own. Slopeside condos, lift tickets, lessons and gear hire add up to some of the highest bills in skiing, though the free transport helps and summer is much cheaper.

Whitefish costs less, even with a hire car, and Glacier is good value once you are in. Rooms are still scarce and expensive in July, August and ski weeks, so look at Kalispell or Columbia Falls to save money.

Breckenridge has the stronger summer programme. The 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 stages shows for much of the year.

Whitefish has a community arts centre, a summer professional theatre and the valley symphony in nearby Kalispell, plus free outdoor concerts. There is less on, though, and you won't find many weeks with something worth booking.

Neither town has a bathing tradition, and in both the nearest hot springs mean a long drive. In Breckenridge, relaxing means a hotel spa or the nightly hot tub in the snow, but the thin air and early starts on the slopes leave many people tired.

Whitefish relaxes you mainly through its setting: quiet mornings by the lake, yoga studios in town and lodge spas. Even in high season it rarely feels rushed.