Denver or Estes Park?

Neither city is a beach destination, but they differ in how you can cool off. On hot days in Denver, people head to the sandy reservoir beaches at Cherry Creek and Chatfield or to the outdoor public pools. In Estes Park, Lake Estes and the park's lakes are meltwater, good for paddling and fishing but not swimming, so the indoor aquatic centre or a hotel pool is the only real choice.

Denver gives you far more to eat. It has brewing on a national scale, green chile poured over burritos, and Colorado lamb and bison. There is also a long run of Vietnamese and Mexican cooking along Federal Boulevard, and chef-run places in Highland and LoHi. Fine dining is limited, but there is plenty of variety.

Estes Park eats like a mountain gateway town: burgers, barbecue, elk on the menu, big breakfasts before the trail, and the taffy and fudge shops on Elkhorn Avenue. The food is satisfying after a hike, but the choice is narrow and many kitchens close early outside summer. Many visitors save their good meals for a trip down to Denver.

Denver has a real cultural centre. Around Civic Center Park are the gold-domed Capitol, the Denver Art Museum with its Native American collection, and the Clyfford Still Museum, devoted to a single painter. The Victorian warehouses of LoDo and the Beaux-Arts Union Station add a historic townscape.

Estes Park has one famous building, the Stanley Hotel that inspired The Shining, which you can tour for its history and ghost stories. The homesteading museum and the MacGregor Ranch are worth a wet afternoon, but not much more.

Denver has a proper night out, built on bars rather than clubs. There are game-night crowds in LoDo, warehouse taprooms and cocktail bars in RiNo, and late dive bars on East Colfax, with last orders at 2am. Estes Park has a few taprooms and saloon-style bars on Elkhorn Avenue that fill up after the trails. Then the town goes quiet, because most visitors are getting up before dawn to look for wildlife.

Estes Park has the edge because it sits at the gate of Rocky Mountain National Park. Alpine tundra on Trail Ridge Road, the lakes around Bear Lake, Longs Peak and the September elk rut are all minutes away. Bighorn sheep and moose are everyday sights, and elk graze in town.

Denver has the wider range, though not the doorstep wilderness. Red Rocks and the Golden foothills are within half an hour, the Flatirons about 40 minutes, and the ski resorts along I-70 around two hours, which matters because Estes Park has no ski area nearby. From Denver, the national park itself is about two hours each way.

Denver is the better base for day trips. Golden is close by, Boulder is about 40 minutes away, and the mountain corridor leads to Victorian Georgetown and its narrow-gauge railway. To the south are Manitou Springs and Colorado Springs, and Breckenridge, about two hours west, makes a full day out.

From Estes Park, the outings go down the canyons. Lyons, at the canyon mouth, is the nearest stop at about half an hour. Boulder and Fort Collins are each about an hour away, and Denver is further still. The one outing that Estes Park does better is the summer drive over Trail Ridge Road to Grand Lake on the park's western side.

Denver is the better choice with young children. City Park has both the zoo and the Museum of Nature & Science with its dinosaurs, and the Children's Museum, an aquarium and an amusement park sit together by the South Platte. Together they cover rainy days and keep children busy for a week.

Estes Park is simpler and wilder. Children can see elk, earn junior ranger badges, take flat walks around Sprague Lake, and ride the tramway up Prospect Mountain. It has nothing for bad weather, though, and at about 2,300m the altitude tires small children even more than the mile-high city does.

Both centres are easy on foot, but Denver is easier to reach and to leave. A commuter train runs from the airport to Union Station, and a free shuttle covers the 16th Street Mall. Light rail and buses reach the outer neighbourhoods, though the mountains still need a car.

Estes Park has no rail link and is about an hour and a half by road from Denver. In summer, the free shuttles to the Bear Lake corridor spare you the trailhead parking. Beyond that you need your own car, and on summer weekends the town's streets and car parks fill up.

Denver gives you real shopping. There is the upscale mall and the boutiques of Cherry Creek, vintage clothes and records on South Broadway, and big flagship stores for outdoor gear and Western wear. Estes Park offers an hour's browse along Elkhorn Avenue, mostly T-shirts, taffy and wildlife galleries. For anything more, people from Estes Park shop in Boulder or Denver.

Neither is cheap, but Denver is a little easier on the budget. Its hotels are expensive during conventions and ski season. You can save by staying near the light rail and eating at taquerias and breweries.

Estes Park is most expensive in summer and early autumn, when lodgings near the national park fill up. Winter and spring rooms cost much less, and cabins with kitchens help families. A hire car is part of the budget in both places.

Denver is far ahead here. Red Rocks Amphitheatre, set between two sandstone monoliths, is a famous concert venue. The Denver Center for the Performing Arts covers several blocks, with theatre, touring musicals, the Colorado Symphony, opera and ballet, and Five Points has a long jazz tradition.

Estes Park has free summer concerts in its riverside performance park, evenings at the Stanley Hotel and the Highland Festival with its pipe bands each September. For the rest of the year, people in Estes Park drive down the canyon for a show.

Denver is the better choice if you want to be looked after, mostly because it puts hot water within reach. The city has hotel spas, day spas and yoga studios, and Idaho Springs, less than an hour up into the mountains, has historic mineral pools and steam caves. The larger hot-spring resorts further into Colorado are worth an overnight stay. Estes Park has nothing to match this: no springs at all, and only a few spas attached to lodges and resorts.

What the smaller town offers instead is the chance to switch off. A few days in a riverside cabin with clear mountain air and no plans for the evening can rest you more than a city hotel, especially in winter and spring when the park is quiet. Pick Denver for soaking and treatments, and Estes Park for slow, unplanned days in the mountains.