Estes Park or Keystone?

Neither town has anywhere to swim outdoors. Lake Estes and the park's alpine lakes are as snowmelt-cold as Dillon Reservoir, so the water is for looking at. What you do beside it differs: fishing and shoreline walks at Estes Park, sailing and paddleboarding on the reservoir at Keystone. For an actual swim, Estes Park has a town indoor aquatic centre, while Keystone has hotel pools and hot tubs.

On food the two are much alike: hearty, limited and fine after a day outside. Estes Park is a gateway town, with bison burgers, big breakfasts before the trail, a few breweries and the taffy and fudge shops on Elkhorn Avenue. Many of its kitchens close early or scale back once summer is over.

Keystone eats like a ski resort. There are slopeside grills, après-ski beer and a gondola ride up to a summit dining room, with Colorado lamb and trout on the menus. Many guests cook in their condos or drive to Frisco or Breckenridge for more choice.

Estes Park has more to see, mainly because of the Stanley Hotel. The white hotel that inspired The Shining runs tours of its public rooms. The town museum on homesteading and early mountain tourism, and the working MacGregor Ranch below Lumpy Ridge, can fill a wet afternoon.

Keystone was built for skiing in the 1970s, and River Run Village is pleasant but has no history. Its past lies outside the resort, in the mining-era cabins and ruins of the Snake River valley above Montezuma and in the Victorian towns nearby.

Both are quiet at night, and the difference is mostly in timing. Keystone's evening starts in the afternoon, when skiers in boots crowd the decks at River Run for après-ski. Breckenridge's Main Street is a short bus ride away for anyone who wants to stay out. In Estes Park the evening means a brewery taproom or saloon on Elkhorn Avenue after a hike, and the town is mostly asleep by ten.

Both towns are there for the mountains, but different ones. Estes Park is about Rocky Mountain National Park: tundra along Trail Ridge Road, Longs Peak, lake hikes, and wildlife everywhere, from bighorn sheep and moose to the autumn elk rut bugling in the meadows. It has no ski resort close by.

Keystone is about the slopes. It has groomed runs and bowls above 3,600m, Arapahoe Basin next door and a season that lasts into spring. In summer the lifts carry mountain bikers, the 14,000ft peaks Grays and Torreys start close by, and Dillon Reservoir offers sailing.

Keystone has the more varied choice of days out. Breckenridge's Victorian centre is half an hour away. Over the Divide are Georgetown and Silver Plume with their historic loop railway, and Leadville keeps its mining-boom streets and opera house.

From Estes Park you drive down the canyons to the plains. The options are Boulder's Pearl Street and the Flatirons, Fort Collins's Old Town and breweries, or summer drives over to Grand Lake. Both towns are about an hour and a half from Denver.

Keystone is slightly better organised for families, at least in winter. A big ski school, gentle lower slopes, tubing, a snow fort on the mountain and the large skating rink at Lakeside Village are all a short walk or free shuttle from the condo.

Estes Park appeals more to children who love animals. They can see elk in town, join the junior ranger programme, ride the tramway up Prospect Mountain and walk easy loops at Sprague Lake. Rainy days are hard to fill in either town, and Keystone's greater altitude can make the first day or two harder for small children.

Keystone is easier without a car. Free shuttles link its bases, and free county buses reach Dillon, Frisco and Breckenridge, so many visitors never drive once they arrive.

In Estes Park you can walk Elkhorn Avenue and the Riverwalk, and summer shuttles run to the Bear Lake trailheads. For almost anything further, a car is close to essential. Neither town has a rail link. The drive up from Denver can be slow either way, over I-70 in snow for Keystone and up the canyons to Estes Park, where summer weekends bring heavy traffic in town.

Neither is a shopping destination, but what you can buy differs. Elkhorn Avenue in Estes Park is for browsing: souvenirs, western wear, taffy and a few galleries selling wildlife art and jewellery. Keystone itself sells mostly ski gear and rentals, but the outlet centre in Silverthorne, ten minutes away, has brand-name clothes and outdoor wear at outlet prices.

Estes Park is the cheaper of the two, though neither is cheap. It charges resort-town prices in summer and early autumn, but winter and spring rooms cost far less, and once you have paid the park entrance fee the hiking and wildlife are free.

Keystone is expensive in every season. A ski week means lift access, equipment rental, ski school and resort meals, with the Christmas and spring-break weeks the dearest. Free buses and condo kitchens help, and summer is gentler on the wallet.

Keystone has more live performance within reach. In summer there are festivals on the village stages, concerts at Dillon's amphitheatre by the reservoir, and Breckenridge's long-running classical festival. All year round, Silverthorne's professional theatre company stages plays and musicals ten minutes away.

In Estes Park the offer is mainly free riverside concerts in summer, the occasional evening at the Stanley Hotel, and pipe bands at the Scottish-Irish Highland Festival each September.

Neither has a hot spring or a bathing tradition, and spas are limited in both, but they relax you in different ways. Keystone's ritual is the outdoor hot tub after skiing, steaming in falling snow, with resort spas for sore legs and Idaho Springs over the pass for natural springs. Estes Park offers the quieter kind of rest: a riverside cabin, elk at dusk and empty evenings, at their calmest in winter and spring.