Durango, Colorado or Vail?

Neither town is a place for a beach day, but Durango has a little more water to enjoy. You can tube the Animas through the middle of town, swim at Lake Nighthorse or find a sandy edge at Vallecito. In Vail the mountain lakes are too cold for most people, so swimming usually means a hotel pool.

Both towns eat reasonably well within a narrow range, but the mood differs. Durango is casual and Western: green-chile plates and breakfast cafés along Main Avenue, plus an unusual number of breweries where cyclists and rafters end the day.

Vail is polished resort dining, with fondue rooms, sushi and hotel dining rooms with long wine lists in the Village and Lionshead. It has no cheap end, and many kitchens close in the off-season.

Durango has a genuine past to look at. It is a railway town from 1880, with steam locomotives at the old depot, a roundhouse museum, Victorian brick streets and a good Native American collection at the college.

Vail dates only from the 1960s, and its chalets are an imitation Tyrolean village. The snowsports museum and the Tenth Mountain Division story fill an hour, and that is about all there is.

Vail has the livelier evenings, at least in winter. Après-ski fills the slopeside terraces as the lifts close, and on ski-season weekends a few bars and a small club stay open past midnight.

Durango's nights are a taproom, a patio pint or a saloon with a piano player, and the town is quiet well before midnight. Out of season, though, Vail empties after dinner too.

Both are first-rate mountain bases, but they lean different ways. Vail is above all about skiing: a huge area with groomed front-side runs, the Back Bowls and Blue Sky Basin, and gondolas that carry hikers to high trails in summer.

Durango is the stronger summer town for biking and paddling. Singletrack starts at the edge of town, the Animas runs through the centre, and the Weminuche Wilderness and the Colorado Trail are close by. It also has a ski resort half an hour north.

Durango has much the richer country around it. Mesa Verde's cliff dwellings, the steam train up the canyon to Silverton, Ouray, and the pueblos at Aztec and Chimney Rock make for very different days out.

From Vail the outings are mostly to other resorts, such as Beaver Creek and Breckenridge, along with silver-era Leadville. Glenwood Springs, about an hour away, is the best of them. In both places you will need a car.

Both work well for active families, and the difference is the season. Vail is built around children learning to ski, with large ski schools and a safe car-free village. Durango is at its best for children in summer, with river tubing, the steam train and the ladders at Mesa Verde. Neither has zoos or big museums for wet days, and the altitude tires small children at first in both.

Vail is far simpler once you are there. The village core is pedestrian, lifts start from town and a free bus links the whole valley, so many visitors manage a week without a car. Arriving is the harder part, with shuttles from distant airports and a pass that can close in snow.

Durango's centre is small and flat, and a river trail links its parks. Trailheads, the ski area and Mesa Verde all need a car, though, and regional transport is thin.

Vail offers a little more, aimed squarely at money: upmarket ski clothing, fur and leather, jewellery and gallery art along the village lanes. Durango's Main Avenue is homelier, with outdoor and bike shops, Western boots, and Navajo and Pueblo turquoise and rugs that make the better souvenir. Neither is a reason to travel.

This is where the two differ most. Durango is still a US mountain resort, with tight summer rooms and full restaurant prices, but it costs noticeably less than the famous ski towns, and spring and late autumn bring real savings.

In Vail, lodging, lift tickets, ski school and meals all run far above normal American levels. Staying further down the valley helps, but it is never a budget trip.

Vail is the stronger draw in summer. Major orchestras come to the open-air amphitheatre for weeks, and a dance festival with leading ballet dancers is followed by jazz later in the season. Durango has a long-running chamber and orchestral festival and touring shows at the college hall. Its character comes from Western fun, though, such as a boo-the-villain melodrama and cowboy music with a chuckwagon supper. Outside summer, both towns go quiet.

Durango has the edge thanks to natural water. Spring-fed mineral pools sit minutes north of town, and Pagosa Springs and Ouray have more within a drive.

Vail's version is the polished hotel spa, with massages, saunas and outdoor hot tubs under the peaks. For a real soak, it is an hour's drive down the canyon to Glenwood Springs.