Colorado Springs or Copper Mountain?

Neither place is for swimming, and both sit far from any coast. In Colorado Springs, water means a public pool or a summer dip in a city lake, and rafting on the Arkansas River is close enough for a day out. At Copper Mountain the snowmelt lakes are too cold even in July, so swimming means a heated lodge pool or a hot tub after the slopes.

Colorado Springs gives you more to choose from. You'll find green chile on Southwestern menus, food trucks outside craft breweries and a spread of Mexican and Asian kitchens. There are pleasant places to eat on Tejon Street, in Old Colorado City and in Manitou Springs, and the Broadmoor's dining rooms cover the formal end.

At Copper Mountain you eat to refuel: mid-mountain burgers and chilli, a few pizza and pub places in the village, and a lot of condo cooking. For a proper dinner out, people drive to Frisco or Breckenridge.

Colorado Springs has a short but real list of sights. There is the aluminium-spired Cadet Chapel at the Air Force Academy, the Olympic and Paralympic Museum, the Southwestern collection at the Fine Arts Center, and the Gold Rush story told in the old courthouse.

Copper Mountain is a purpose-built ski village with nothing of this kind. For history from there, you drive to the Victorian mining streets of Breckenridge or Leadville.

Neither is a party town, but Colorado Springs at least has a strip to go out on. A few blocks of Tejon Street hold cocktail bars, sports bars and a handful of dance spots, and they fill at weekends with students and young soldiers. Even so, many taprooms close well before midnight.

At Copper Mountain, going out means après-ski in the bars at the foot of the lifts on winter afternoons. By late evening most people are back in their condos, and outside the ski season the village is very quiet. Breckenridge, half an hour away, is the place for a later night.

Both places are built around the mountains, but they offer different things. Copper Mountain is about high, snowy terrain: a big ski area under the Tenmile Range with bowls above 3,600m, Vail and other resorts nearby, and the Colorado Trail and Vail Pass path for summer hiking and riding. The village sits at about 2,960m, so the altitude takes real adjusting to.

Colorado Springs is lower and drier, with the outdoors right at the edge of town. You can climb or hike to the summit of Pikes Peak, walk among the red sandstone fins of Garden of the Gods, find waterfalls in North Cheyenne Cañon and test your legs on the Manitou Incline. Its trails stay open for much of the year, but skiing means a two-hour drive.

Both have a good choice of outings, and the difference is in the kind. From Colorado Springs you can reach a real city, with Denver's museums a little over an hour north, as well as the Royal Gorge and the gold-mining towns of Cripple Creek and Victor along steep mountain roads.

From Copper Mountain the outings are closer and more alpine. Breckenridge and Leadville are both about half an hour away, Vail is over the pass, and Georgetown has its narrow-gauge railway. Weekend ski traffic on I-70 can make the trip to Denver a slog.

Colorado Springs has the edge for children, mostly because there are more different outings. They can hand-feed giraffes at the mountainside zoo, take the cave tour at Cave of the Winds, explore the Manitou Cliff Dwellings and ride the cog railway, though expect plenty of time in the car between them.

Copper Mountain does one thing well: ski school, snow tubing, a mountain coaster and a trampoline centre, all inside a car-free village. At nearly 3,000m, though, small children may sleep badly for the first few nights.

Copper Mountain is much easier to get around once you have arrived. Walkways, lifts and a free shuttle link the villages, and free county buses run to Frisco and on to Breckenridge, so a car can sit untouched for days. Getting there is another matter, with a two-hour drive from Denver airport on a winter interstate.

Colorado Springs is the opposite. The sights are scattered along the foothills, the buses are thin, and only downtown, Old Colorado City and Manitou Springs are pleasant on foot.

Colorado Springs has some browsing worth doing. Old Colorado City and Manitou Springs have galleries, Western wear, rock and gem shops and local crafts in old storefronts, and there are outlets on the north side of town. Copper Mountain sells ski rentals, sunglasses and resort-branded clothing, so for anything more you drive to the Silverthorne outlets or the boutiques of Breckenridge.

Colorado Springs is clearly the cheaper stay. Interstate chain hotels are reasonably priced, and Garden of the Gods and most trails cost nothing, though car hire is hard to avoid. A winter week at Copper Mountain is expensive once you add lift access, slope-side lodging, equipment rental and resort meals. Renting a condo with a kitchen, staying in Frisco or coming in summer will soften it.

Colorado Springs has a modest programme, and it is worth a look before you go. The Philharmonic plays a season at the Pikes Peak Center, the Fine Arts Center's theatre company puts on plays and musicals, and in summer touring bands come to the arena and the outdoor amphitheatre. It can give you a good evening out, but it is not a reason to book the trip.

Copper Mountain has no theatre or concert hall at all. Live music there means a summer concert weekend on the village plaza or an acoustic set at après-ski. For a classical evening, you drive to Breckenridge for its summer season.

Colorado Springs has a real spa history. Manitou Springs grew up as a health resort around its carbonated springs, where you can still drink from the public fountains and soak in outdoor tubs, and the Broadmoor has a full resort spa. At Copper Mountain, unwinding means a condo hot tub facing the slopes or a massage at the athletic club, and the altitude can spoil sleep at first.