Denver or Snowbird?

Neither place is anywhere near the sea, so in summer you are choosing between kinds of freshwater swimming. Denver's sandy reservoir beaches at Cherry Creek and Chatfield sit at the edge of the city, and its outdoor public pools are close by.

At Snowbird you swim in the resort's heated pools or drive about an hour to the small reservoir beaches of the Heber Valley. The Great Salt Lake is close, but it is a place to look at rather than swim in.

Denver eats far better. It has a real brewing culture, green chile and breakfast burritos from roadside counters, bison and Colorado lamb on menus, and chef-run places in Highland and LoHi, so you can eat in a different neighbourhood every night.

Snowbird's dining is limited to the lodges, slopeside cafeterias and the dining room at the top of the tram. It is competent and comes with a view, but there is nothing local about it. Most guests drive down to Salt Lake City for a meal once or twice a week.

Denver has a modest but genuine museum quarter: the Denver Art Museum with its Native American collection, the Clyfford Still Museum, History Colorado and the gold-domed Capitol, plus the Victorian brick of LoDo and Larimer Square. That fills two or three days well.

Snowbird has none of this. It is a concrete resort from 1971, and the canyon's silver-mining past has left almost nothing to see, so any sightseeing means a trip down to Salt Lake City's Temple Square and museums.

Denver offers a sociable night of bars rather than clubs, with game-night crowds in LoDo, cocktail bars and taprooms in RiNo and late dive bars along East Colfax. At Snowbird the evening peaks on the après-ski deck and is over by mid-evening, and a proper night out means driving a mountain road to Salt Lake City or Park City.

Both are serious mountain destinations, but Snowbird puts you in the terrain itself. The tram climbs to Hidden Peak, the snow is famously deep and dry, the steep terrain runs across Mineral Basin to Alta, and the ski season stretches into late spring. In summer, Albion Basin's wildflower meadows are a short walk away.

Denver offers more variety at a distance: Red Rocks and the Golden foothills within half an hour, the Flatirons, the high peaks around Mount Blue Sky and Rocky Mountain National Park's tundra and elk. The ski resorts along I-70 are about two hours away in heavy weekend traffic.

Denver has more to choose from. Boulder and Golden are close, the Victorian mining towns of Georgetown and Idaho Springs lie up the mountain corridor, and Colorado Springs, Fort Collins and Estes Park all make easy days out by car.

Snowbird has two strong outings, Salt Lake City and the old Main Street of Park City. After those, the choice drops to quieter places like Midway, Sundance and Ogden's 25th Street.

Denver is much easier with children of all ages. City Park pairs the zoo with the dinosaurs and planetarium of the Museum of Nature & Science, and the aquarium, Children's Museum and amusement park are grouped by the South Platte.

Snowbird suits families of keen skiers, especially teenagers, as the mountain leans towards expert terrain. Its car-free base and the summer coaster, alpine slide and ropes course help, but the thin air tires small children, and the zoo and museums are down in Salt Lake City.

Both are easy on foot within a small area and depend on a car beyond it. Denver's flat downtown has a free mall shuttle, a train from the airport and light rail to the suburbs, but Red Rocks and the mountains need a hired car.

Snowbird's lodges, tram and lifts sit along a car-free base, often with ski-in rooms. Its weak point is the single canyon road, which clogs on powder mornings and can close for avalanche control, sometimes keeping guests indoors for hours.

Denver gives you real choice: the upscale mall and boutique blocks of Cherry Creek, vintage and records along South Broadway, and big flagship stores for outdoor gear and Western boots and hats. Snowbird's few base-area shops are for renting skis or replacing lost goggles, and anyone who wants to browse heads to Park City's main street or Salt Lake City.

Neither is cheap, but Denver is noticeably easier on the budget. Its costs are those of an ordinary American city, and staying near the light rail and eating at taquerias and breweries helps a lot.

At Snowbird, lift tickets, slopeside rooms, rentals and resort meals all add up, above all in peak winter weeks. The usual savings are staying in Salt Lake City and driving up each day, or coming in summer.

Denver is the clear choice for live performance. A summer concert at Red Rocks, between its sandstone monoliths, is a reason to go in itself, and the Denver Center for the Performing Arts adds theatre, touring musicals, the Colorado Symphony, opera and ballet. Five Points has its long jazz history too.

Snowbird has outdoor concerts on the plaza in summer, Oktoberfest oompah bands and the odd après-ski band in winter.

Neither has a bathing tradition of its own, and both send you about an hour away for natural hot water. From Denver, that means the mineral pools and steam caves of Idaho Springs; from Snowbird, it means the limestone crater at Homestead in Midway.

The difference is what is on hand. Denver has day spas, yoga studios and sunny parks, while Snowbird has a rooftop spa with hot tubs facing the canyon walls and quiet, dark nights once the skiers have gone in.