Copper Mountain or Santa Fe?

Neither place is a beach destination, and swimming is a minor part of a trip to either. The difference is in what water there is. Copper Mountain's Summit County reservoirs are snowmelt-cold even in July and used mainly for boating, so most swimming happens in a heated pool or a hot tub. Santa Fe's warm summers make a day out at Abiquiu Lake or a float on the Rio Grande worth the hour's drive.

At Copper Mountain, food is fuel after the slopes: burgers and chilli in the mid-mountain lodges, pizza and pub plates in the village, and a lot of cooking in condo kitchens. For a proper dinner out, you have to drive to Frisco or Breckenridge.

Food is one of the reasons to go to Santa Fe. New Mexican cooking, with its red or green chile, blue corn, posole and sopaipillas, is a regional cuisine you won't find done this way elsewhere. Old adobe dining rooms near the Plaza and a fine-dining scene that is ambitious for the town's size give it depth, and the Railyard farmers' market makes a good morning. The range is narrow, though, so don't expect much international food.

Copper Mountain has almost no culture of its own. It is a purpose-built village of condos around the lifts, and the mining-era main streets nearby belong to Breckenridge and Leadville.

Santa Fe is the opposite. Founded as a Spanish colonial capital, it keeps its low adobe look around the Plaza, with the Palace of the Governors, the Cathedral Basilica and the Loretto Chapel's spiral staircase within a short walk. The Museum Hill collections, the O'Keeffe Museum and the Canyon Road galleries add two or three full days of museums and art.

Both are early-to-bed places, but Santa Fe offers a little more after dark. At Copper Mountain, going out means après-ski. The base-area bars fill in the afternoon with skiers still in their boots, and by late evening the village has emptied, especially outside the ski season.

In Santa Fe, an evening means a long dinner followed by a mezcal on a rooftop as the sun sets over the Jemez Mountains, or a beer at one of the Railyard breweries, and that works all year. Neither has clubs. Breckenridge and Albuquerque are the respective escapes for a later night.

For time in the high mountains, Copper Mountain has the edge. Its lifts lead straight to treeless bowls above 3,600m, several other big ski areas and Vail are a short drive away, and in summer the Colorado Trail, the paved path over Vail Pass and fourteen-thousand-foot peaks are all close by.

Santa Fe offers more variety of landscape but less concentrated mountain sport. Piñon foothills trails start at the edge of town, aspen forest and the Pecos Wilderness rise behind it, and the red cliffs of Abiquiu, Valles Caldera and rafting in the Rio Grande Gorge lie further out. Its ski area is small by Colorado standards.

Copper Mountain has a decent set of outings: the Victorian main street of Breckenridge, silver-boom Leadville, Vail's Alpine village, and Georgetown's narrow-gauge railway on the way to Denver. Most of these are variations on mining-town or resort life.

Santa Fe's outings cover a wider range and go further back in time. The High Road passes Chimayo's pilgrimage church on the way to Taos Pueblo, which has been lived in for about a thousand years. Bandelier's cliff dwellings, Pecos, Los Alamos and O'Keeffe's Ghost Ranch are all within reach, though nearly all of them need a car.

Copper Mountain is built with families in mind. The core of the village is car-free, children's ski school is central to the resort, and snow tubing, a mountain coaster and an indoor trampoline and foam-pit centre fill the time off the slopes. The catch is the altitude of nearly 3,000m, which can mean poor sleep and headaches at first.

Santa Fe sits lower, and it is safe and relaxed, but its days revolve around galleries, history and long meals. The children's museum and the ladders at Bandelier help, but it suits older children who like hiking more than young ones.

Copper Mountain is easier once you have arrived. Walkways, lifts and a free shuttle link the resort, and free county buses run on to Frisco, Breckenridge and Keystone, so a car can sit for days. Getting there is the hard part: Denver's airport is about two hours away, and I-70 can be slow in snow.

Santa Fe's centre is compact, and the Plaza, Canyon Road and the Railyard are all walkable. Beyond the centre, though, buses are infrequent, and Museum Hill, the trailheads and almost every day trip need a hire car. The Rail Runner train to Albuquerque is the only exception.

At Copper Mountain, shopping is practical: ski rental, outdoor gear and resort-branded clothing. Anything more means the Silverthorne outlets or the boutiques in Breckenridge.

In Santa Fe, shopping is a serious pursuit if you care about art and craft. You can buy silver and turquoise jewellery directly from Native American artists under the Palace of the Governors portal, browse the galleries along Canyon Road and in the Railyard, or look for rugs, Pueblo pottery and Western boots downtown. In summer, the Indian Market, Spanish Market and Folk Art Market draw collectors from far away. There is little fashion, however.

Both are expensive, but Copper Mountain is the harder on a budget, especially in winter, when lift access, equipment rental and slope-side lodging add up. Condos with kitchens, rooms in Frisco or Silverthorne, and a summer visit all bring the cost down.

Santa Fe is somewhat gentler. Plaza hotels and restaurants charge high prices, but hotels along Cerrillos Road cost less, and hiking, the Plaza and gallery browsing are free. The main extra cost is the hire car you will almost certainly need.

Santa Fe has a real programme of performances, and Copper Mountain hardly has one. At Copper, there are bands on the plaza on summer concert weekends and acoustic sets at après-ski. For anything more formal you have to go to Breckenridge.

Santa Fe's summer is the draw. The opera's open-sided theatre on a hill north of town stages performances that begin as the sun goes down over the desert, and there is also a chamber music festival and a long tradition of flamenco. In winter the calendar shrinks to the Lensic theatre and concerts in the old churches.

Relaxing at Copper Mountain means a hot tub with a view of the slopes and perhaps a massage at the athletic club. The hot springs are a long drive away, and the altitude can spoil the first nights' sleep.

Santa Fe has much more to offer if you want to slow down. There are onsen-style soaking tubs among the pines on the road to the ski area, the historic mineral pools at Ojo Caliente an hour north, and an unusual number of spas and yoga studios for a town its size. Its quiet courtyards and early evenings help too, though the soaking is done at a few dedicated places rather than as part of daily life.