Copper Mountain or Dallas?

Neither city is a place for swimming, and both are a very long way from any coast. What differs is the water nearby. Copper Mountain's Summit County reservoirs are cold from snowmelt even in July, so a swim means a heated pool or a hot tub. Dallas has big reservoirs such as Lewisville and Grapevine lakes, with plain sandy park beaches and warm water all summer, plus the water parks in Arlington.

Dallas comes out well ahead. Brisket sold by weight, Tex-Mex with frozen margaritas, a steakhouse tradition and taco trucks in Oak Cliff add up to a real regional cuisine. The suburbs widen it further, with Vietnamese restaurants in Richardson, a Koreatown in Carrollton and South Asian cooking in Irving.

Copper Mountain gives you fuel rather than a food culture: burgers and chilli in the mid-mountain lodges, a few pizza and Mexican places in the village, and your own condo kitchen. For a better dinner, people drive to Frisco or Breckenridge.

Copper Mountain has nothing to visit as such. It is a village of condos at the foot of the lifts, and the region's mining-era heritage belongs to Breckenridge and Leadville next door.

Dallas fills a solid two days. There is the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, the Dallas Museum of Art and the Nasher Sculpture Center in the Arts District, and the Art Deco exhibition halls of Fair Park. Outside Swiss Avenue and Munger Place, the city has little historic street life to wander, but compared with a ski village it gives a genuine sightseeing reason to visit.

At Copper Mountain, going out means après-ski. The bars at the lift base fill with skiers still in their boots, and at weekends there is some music on the plaza. By late evening the village is quiet, and it gets quieter still out of season.

Dallas offers a proper night out across several districts, from Deep Ellum's dive bars and late crowds to Uptown's cocktail lounges and Lower Greenville's rooftop patios. Bars stop serving at 2am, and getting between districts usually means a ride-hail, but there is far more to choose from.

This is the one category where Copper Mountain is far ahead. Its ski area at the foot of the Tenmile Range has treeless bowls above 3,600m, and other Summit County resorts and Vail are a short drive away. In summer you get the Colorado Trail, the paved path over Vail Pass and fourteen-thousand-foot peaks such as Mount Elbert.

Dallas is gentler and flatter. It has the White Rock Lake loop, the Katy Trail, the Great Trinity Forest and limestone walks at Cedar Ridge Preserve. They make a pleasant morning out, though summer heat pushes everything early in the day, and none of them is a reason to travel.

Both have a good choice of days out, but of a different kind. From Copper Mountain they lead to mountain towns: Victorian Breckenridge, silver-boom Leadville, Vail's Alpine village and Georgetown with its narrow-gauge railway. Denver is the big-city option, provided I-70 is clear.

From Dallas the standout is Fort Worth, a contrasting city with the Stockyards and the Kimbell Art Museum, reachable by commuter train as well as by car. After that come the courthouse squares of McKinney and Denton and the wineries of Grapevine. Beyond those first trips, both cities mostly need a car.

Dallas has a little more to fill a family week. There is Six Flags with a water park beside it in Arlington, two large zoos, the Perot Museum and the rainforest walk-through at the Dallas World Aquarium. The drawbacks are long drives and summer heat.

Copper Mountain suits families who come for children's ski school and a car-free village core, with snow tubing, a mountain coaster and a trampoline centre as extras. At nearly 3,000m, though, the first days can bring headaches and poor sleep, and there is little for children beyond the resort.

Once you have arrived, Copper Mountain is the easier place to get around. Walkways, lifts and a free shuttle link its villages, and free county buses reach Frisco, Breckenridge and Keystone, so a car can stay parked for days. The hard part is getting there: about two hours by road from Denver airport, on an interstate that can be slow in snow.

Dallas is the reverse. It is easy to fly into, with DART light rail from both airports, but it sprawls once you are there. Downtown, the Arts District and Uptown are linked by the M-Line streetcar, and almost everything else means a hire car or a ride-hail.

Dallas is a real shopping destination. Neiman Marcus was founded here, and the city has NorthPark Center, the Spanish-style Highland Park Village with its European fashion houses, and Western boots and hats from everyday shops to custom makers. Copper Mountain sells ski rental, outdoor gear and resort-branded clothing, and anyone who wants more drives to the Silverthorne outlets or Breckenridge's boutiques.

Dallas is clearly the cheaper trip. Hotels cost less than in the coastal cities, barbecue and tacos keep meals reasonable, and many museums are free or low-cost, although a hire car, tax and tips add to the bill.

Copper Mountain is costly in winter, when lift access, slope-side beds, equipment rental and resort meals all come at a high price. Condo kitchens, lodging in Frisco or Silverthorne, or a summer or shoulder-season visit soften the cost, but it remains the more expensive choice.

Dallas has a full programme. The Dallas Symphony Orchestra plays in I. M. Pei's Meyerson Symphony Center, the Winspear hosts opera and touring Broadway shows, the Dallas Theater Center is based at the Wyly, and Deep Ellum's clubs have rock, hip-hop and touring bands most nights. Copper Mountain offers summer concerts on the plaza and acoustic sets at après-ski, and for anything more formal you drive to Breckenridge's summer classical season.

Neither city is built around rest, and the difference is one of kind. At Copper Mountain it means an outdoor hot tub under the slopes, clean air and quiet evenings, although the altitude can disturb sleep for the first nights. Dallas relies on hotel spas and day-spa chains, and its one distinctive option is a large Korean-style bathhouse in the north of the city, where you can spend a long day moving between heated rooms and pools.