Dallas or Keystone?

Neither is a place for a beach trip, and both are far from any coast. Dallas has the warm reservoirs, such as Lewisville and Grapevine lakes, where you can swim in summer from plain sandy park beaches, and there are water parks in Arlington. Keystone's Dillon Reservoir is cold with snowmelt and mostly closed to swimming, so there you get in the water at a hotel pool or in a hot tub.

Dallas is much the better place to eat. Smoked brisket, Tex-Mex, old-style steakhouses and taco trucks cover the Texan side. The suburbs add Vietnamese, Korean and South Asian food of real depth, though reaching most of it means driving.

Keystone eats the way a ski resort does: slopeside grills, pizza, burgers and craft beer. Colorado lamb, elk and trout appear on the better menus, and one dining room at the summit is reached by gondola. Many visitors cook in their condo or drive to Frisco or Breckenridge for more variety.

Dallas has a solid two days of sights. There is the Sixth Floor Museum overlooking Dealey Plaza, the Dallas Museum of Art and the Nasher Sculpture Center in the Arts District, and the 1930s Art Deco halls of Fair Park.

Keystone was built for skiing in the 1970s and has almost nothing to see. Its past survives outside the resort, in the mining-era ruins and cabins of the Snake River valley above Montezuma.

Dallas offers a proper night out, spread across districts with distinct crowds. Deep Ellum has dive bars and late crowds, Uptown has cocktail lounges and patios, and Lower Greenville has rooftop bars. Ride-hails link them, and the bars stop serving at 2am.

In Keystone the evening peaks at après-ski on the River Run decks and is mostly over after dinner, because the crowd is families and people up early for first chair. For anything livelier you go to Breckenridge's Main Street.

Dallas has gentler green space: the loop round White Rock Lake, the Katy Trail, the Great Trinity Forest and walks on the limestone escarpments of Cedar Ridge Preserve. It is pleasant in the spring wildflower season, but the land is flat and summer heat pushes everything into early mornings.

Keystone is in another league. It has bowls and tree skiing above 3,600m, Arapahoe Basin a few minutes away and dry, reliable snow. In summer come hiking, lift-served biking and the climbs of Grays and Torreys Peaks, though the thin air takes a day or two to get used to.

Both have a good handful of outings, but of quite different kinds. From Dallas the highlight is Fort Worth, with the longhorn drive at the Stockyards and the Kimbell Art Museum. After that come the courthouse squares of McKinney and Denton and the tasting rooms in Grapevine.

Keystone's day trips are mountain towns: Breckenridge's Victorian centre, the silver towns of Georgetown and Silver Plume with their loop railway, Leadville's mining-boom streets and Vail. Denver is about an hour and a half away for a city day, though ski traffic on I-70 can stretch that.

Both work well with children, in different ways. Dallas makes a theme-park and museum trip, with Six Flags and the water park in Arlington, two large zoos, the Perot Museum and the aquarium's rainforest walk. The car and the summer heat are the main obstacles.

Keystone makes a ski-school trip, with gentle lower slopes, tubing, the snow fort and the huge skating rink at Lakeside Village, plus condos a short walk from the lifts. Away from the snow there is little for children, and the altitude can tire young ones at first.

Dallas spreads along miles of freeway, so most visitors rent a car or rely on ride-hails. DART light rail is useful for the airports, downtown, Deep Ellum and Fair Park, and the M-Line streetcar links Uptown with the Arts District. Beyond that small core, walking is hard work.

Keystone is easier once you have arrived. Free shuttles link River Run, Mountain House and Lakeside, and free county buses reach Dillon, Frisco and Breckenridge, so a car is optional. The catch is the trip up from Denver over I-70, which is slow in winter snow.

Dallas is a serious shopping city and the home of Neiman Marcus. NorthPark Center and the Spanish-style Highland Park Village, where the European fashion houses gather, are the main destinations. Western boots, hats and buckles, from everyday shops to custom makers, are the local thing to buy.

Keystone sells ski gear, rentals and souvenirs in River Run Village. Its real shopping is the outlet centre ten minutes away in Silverthorne, with outdoor wear and brand-name clothes.

Dallas is noticeably cheaper. Hotels cost less than in the big coastal cities, barbecue and tacos make good inexpensive meals and many museums are free or low-cost, though a hire car, tax and tips add up.

Keystone is expensive, especially at Christmas, New Year and spring break, when lift access, slopeside rooms, rentals and ski school all mount up. Free buses, condo kitchens and the supermarkets in Dillon help, and summer is gentler, but it never becomes a budget choice.

Dallas has a full season all year in the Arts District. The Dallas Symphony plays in I. M. Pei's Meyerson, opera and touring Broadway shows fill the Winspear, and the Dallas Theater Center is based at the Wyly. Deep Ellum adds its blues heritage and club gigs most nights.

Keystone's live music happens mainly in summer, on festival stages in the village, at the amphitheatre in Dillon by the reservoir and at Breckenridge's classical festival. In winter there is a professional theatre company in Silverthorne and acoustic sets at après-ski.

Neither has a bathing tradition of its own, and in both, relaxing mostly means hotel spas and massages. Dallas has the more unusual option: a large Korean-style bathhouse with heated rooms and pools, where people spend the whole day lounging.

Keystone's version is recovery after skiing, in the outdoor hot tubs found at nearly every lodge, which are best under falling snow. The pace stays quiet outside the Christmas and spring-break weeks, and natural hot springs mean a drive over the pass to Idaho Springs.