Estes Park or Rapid City?

Neither is a beach destination, but Rapid City at least offers a real swim. Sheridan Lake, Pactola Reservoir and Sylvan Lake lie in the Black Hills within half an hour of town. They have small sandy or gravel shores and warm up enough in midsummer for a dip.

In Estes Park the lakes are fed by snowmelt, Lake Estes included, and stay too cold to swim even in July. They are for paddling, fishing and walks along the shore. For a proper swim you need a hotel pool or the town's indoor aquatic centre.

Both towns cater for hungry hikers rather than people travelling for food, but Rapid City has a little more to discover. You can try chislic and Indian tacos on Lakota fry bread. The brewpubs and the few more ambitious kitchens around Main Street are also a better bet for an evening meal.

Estes Park keeps to burgers, barbecue, elk and bison, with big breakfasts at the diners, a few breweries and the taffy shops of Elkhorn Avenue. Many kitchens close early or cut back outside summer, so a serious dinner means the drive down to Boulder.

Rapid City gives a curious visitor more to do in town. Bronze statues of the presidents stand on downtown corners and make an easy walk. The Journey Museum and the fossils at the School of Mines tell the story of the Black Hills, from geology through Lakota history to the gold rush, and Cold War aircraft stand outdoors at the air and space museum.

Estes Park has one famous building, the Stanley Hotel. Its Georgian Revival rooms and its link to The Shining are worth a tour. Add the small local museum and the MacGregor Ranch and you have a rainy afternoon, not a full day.

Both are early-to-bed places, but Rapid City has a real area for going out: a few blocks around Main Street Square with brewpubs, sports bars, cocktail lounges and country-music bars. During the Sturgis rally in early August, the whole region stays loud until late. Estes Park offers a taproom or saloon-style bar on Elkhorn Avenue after the trail and little after ten, which suits visitors up at dawn for wildlife.

Both are gateways to wild country, but Estes Park sits beside something grander. Rocky Mountain National Park begins minutes from town and rises from meadows to alpine tundra. Trail Ridge Road climbs above 3,700m, Longs Peak towers overhead, and trails lead to Bear, Dream and Emerald lakes. Elk graze in town and bugle through the autumn rut.

Rapid City's landscape is lower and more spread out, though very varied. It has the granite Needles and ponderosa forest of the Black Hills, bison herds in Custer State Park, Wind Cave and Jewel Cave, and the Badlands an hour east. It also offers something Estes Park lacks: the 175km Mickelson Trail for cyclists and a small ski area for winter.

Here Rapid City pulls clearly ahead, because its day trips are well-known sights in their own right. Mount Rushmore is half an hour away, with the Crazy Horse Memorial and its museum of Native American culture a little further on. Deadwood's gold-rush streets, the Mammoth Site at Hot Springs and the Minuteman Missile silo can fill several more days.

From Estes Park, a day out means driving down the canyons. Boulder has Pearl Street, Fort Collins its Old Town and breweries, and Denver its museums. These are pleasant city days rather than famous sights, and in summer you can also cross Trail Ridge Road to Grand Lake. Both cities need a car for all of it.

Rapid City has been a family road-trip base for generations, and it has more stops for children. In and around town are a reptile park, a drive-through park with bears and wolves, Dinosaur Park and the free Storybook Island. Further out, children can watch bison stop traffic, take cave tours, pan for gold and dig at the Mammoth Site. Motels with pools are easy to find.

Estes Park suits families who mainly want the outdoors. Elk wander the streets, the park runs junior ranger activities, there are easy walks round Sprague and Bear lakes, and a tramway climbs Prospect Mountain. The altitude can tire young children, though, and there is little to do on a rainy day. Rapid City's drawback is the hours spent in the car.

Estes Park is easier without a car, though only up to a point. The centre along Elkhorn Avenue and the Riverwalk is easy to walk. In the warmer months free shuttles run from town and the lodgings to the Bear Lake corridor of the national park, so you avoid the hunt for trailhead parking.

Rapid City's downtown is walkable too, but its city buses do not reach Mount Rushmore, the state parks or the hill towns. A car or a seasonal tour bus is the only way to see the region. In return, traffic is light and parking is easy, while Estes Park gets congested on summer weekends.

Neither is a shopping destination, and in both an hour of browsing is plenty. The difference is in what you take home. Rapid City has Black Hills gold jewellery in tri-colour grape-leaf designs, Lakota quillwork, beadwork and star quilts, and a regional mall for everyday needs.

Estes Park sells taffy, fudge, western wear, outdoor gear and wildlife photography along Elkhorn Avenue. For anything more, people from either town end up driving to a bigger city: Boulder or Denver from Estes Park.

Rapid City is noticeably cheaper. Motels and casual meals are reasonable by American standards, and sights such as the presidential statues and Dinosaur Park are free. It gets expensive in high summer and above all during the Sturgis rally week in August.

Estes Park charges resort-town rates through summer and early autumn, when lodgings near the national park fill up. Winter and spring rooms are far cheaper, and cabins with kitchens help families keep costs down. In both places, a rental car, fuel and park entry fees are part of the bill.

Rapid City has a modest scene that runs all year. The Black Hills Symphony Orchestra gives a regular season, and the civic centre hosts touring Broadway shows and rodeos. In summer there are plays in the pines at the Custer State Park playhouse, and in autumn the big powwow is the most distinctive performance of all.

Estes Park has little outside summer: free concerts by the river, evenings at the Stanley Hotel, and the Scottish-Irish Highland Festival with its pipe bands each September.

Neither has much of a spa culture, and in both the restful side comes from quiet cabins rather than treatments. Estes Park has the edge for plain calm: river cabins, mountain air and elk at dusk are right on the doorstep, especially in the quieter winter and spring.

Rapid City's special draw is a soak in the historic spring-fed pool at Hot Springs, used by bathers since the 1890s, but it is an hour's drive south. Apart from that, it relies on lodges in the hills and a few day spas.