Denver or Vail?

Neither city has any sea, so swimming is a sideshow in both. What differs is what takes its place. Denver's hot summers make the sandy reservoir beaches at Cherry Creek and Chatfield and the outdoor public pools genuinely useful. Vail has small, cold mountain lakes, and most swimming there happens in a hotel pool or an outdoor hot tub.

Denver eats better and more cheaply. It has a real brewing culture in RiNo's warehouse taprooms, green chile smothered over burritos, and long stretches of Vietnamese and Mexican cooking along Federal Boulevard, with chef-run places in Highland and LoHi on top.

Vail's restaurants are polished and expensive: steak and game, fondue rooms, sushi and long wine lists in Vail Village and Lionshead, plus lodge lunches on the mountain. There is little street food or casual eating, and in the off-season many kitchens close, so a food-minded visitor will miss Denver's range.

Neither city is old, but Denver at least has two or three good days of sights. There is the gold-domed Capitol, the Denver Art Museum with its Native American collection, the Clyfford Still Museum, and the brick warehouses of LoDo around the restored Union Station.

Vail was built in the 1960s, and its Tyrolean-style village is a stage set rather than a historic town. The Colorado Snowsports Museum and its story of the Tenth Mountain Division make one good hour, and the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens another in summer, but that is about all.

Denver gives you more nights out, and they work all year: game-night crowds in LoDo, cocktail bars and taprooms in RiNo, dive bars along East Colfax. It is bars rather than clubs, and most people head home at closing time.

Vail's evenings follow the ski lifts. Après-ski fills the slopeside terraces at closing time, and on winter weekends a few places stay open past midnight. In summer it is quieter, and in the off-seasons the town is close to empty after dinner.

This is where Vail comes out ahead. It sits at about 2,500m in the Gore Creek valley with a huge ski area above the rooftops. In summer the gondolas take hikers and mountain bikers up, the Gore Range and Holy Cross wilderness lie close by, and there is fly fishing on Gore Creek and the Eagle River.

Denver looks at the same Rockies from the plains. Red Rocks and the Golden foothills are half an hour away, Rocky Mountain National Park is two hours, and the ski resorts are a drive along I-70. It is superb country to reach, but from Denver you go out to it in a car, while in Vail you walk out of the door into it.

Denver has more places within an easy drive, and more varied ones. Boulder under the Flatirons is about 40 minutes away, Golden is closer still, Georgetown has its narrow-gauge railway, and Colorado Springs and Manitou Springs are about an hour south. Estes Park and Fort Collins add a national park gateway and a college town.

From Vail, most outings lead to other mountain resorts: Beaver Creek, Breckenridge over the pass, and silver-era Leadville. Glenwood Springs, an hour down the canyon, is the best day out. Both need a car, but from Vail the choice runs out sooner.

A rainy afternoon shows the difference. In Denver, City Park has the zoo and the Museum of Nature & Science with its dinosaurs and planetarium, and the Children's Museum, aquarium and amusement park are grouped together by the South Platte, so a wet day is easy to fill at any time of year.

Vail is excellent for families who come to ski, with large ski schools, children's terrain and a car-free village. In summer the top of the gondola adds a coaster, ropes courses and tubing. Away from the mountain there is little aimed at children, and the cold and altitude are hard on toddlers.

Vail is the easier place to be without a car once you arrive. Vail Village and Lionshead are pedestrian, the lifts start in town, and a free bus runs the length of the valley. The hard part is getting there, with no passenger rail and a pass that can close in snow.

Denver is the reverse. A train from the airport reaches Union Station, and the downtown core is flat and walkable, but the city spreads out beyond it. Red Rocks, the mountains and nearly every day trip really need a hired car.

Denver has a broader range: Cherry Creek's mall and the boutiques around it, vintage and record shops along South Broadway, and large flagship stores for outdoor gear and Western wear. Vail's pedestrian lanes are narrower and more expensive, with ski clothing, furs, jewellery and gallery landscapes. They suit someone buying a luxury souvenir, and serious shoppers there end up driving to Denver.

Neither is a bargain, but the gap is wide. Denver costs what a large American city costs, and taquerias, brewery meals, lodging along the light rail and free trails help keep spending down.

Vail charges resort prices for everything: slopeside rooms, lift tickets, ski school, equipment hire and dinner. Staying down the valley or coming in summer helps only a little, so on a limited budget Denver is the sensible choice.

Denver has a stage all year. Red Rocks Amphitheatre between its sandstone monoliths is the draw in summer, and the Denver Center for the Performing Arts runs theatre, touring musicals, the symphony, opera and ballet through the seasons. Five Points adds jazz rooms.

Vail's arts life is short but of high quality: Bravo! Vail orchestras and the Vail Dance Festival at the open-air Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater, then a jazz festival in late summer. In winter there is little beyond après-ski bands, so plan any music trip to Vail for July and August.

Vail is the better place to switch off. Its resort spas pair a massage with an outdoor hot tub under the peaks, and the town is slow and quiet outside the peak weekends. Glenwood Springs' historic mineral pools and vapour caves are about an hour away.

In Denver, relaxing means day spas, yoga studios and long afternoons in the parks. The nearest natural soak is in the historic pools at Idaho Springs, under an hour west.