Fort Collins or Steamboat Springs?

Neither city is a beach destination. In both, swimming means a reservoir in July or August. Fort Collins has the easier option, a designated swim beach at Horsetooth Reservoir just west of town, where the water warms up properly by midsummer. Steamboat's mountain lakes stay cold at altitude, so the usual summer outing there is floating down the Yampa on a tube rather than swimming.

Fort Collins eats and drinks better, mostly because of its beer. Its long-established breweries and many taprooms are a reason to visit in themselves, and Old Town adds gastropubs, a few farm-to-table kitchens and summer farmers' markets.

Steamboat serves resort food along Lincoln Avenue and at the ski base: hearty western cooking with steak and Colorado lamb, some Mexican, and a few breweries of its own. It feeds you well after a day outdoors, but there is little to explore beyond that.

Neither city is a sightseeing trip, but Fort Collins gives you more for a day. You can wander the red-brick Old Town around its pedestrian square, then visit the Museum of Discovery, the Victorian Avery House and the university's art museum. Steamboat tells its ranching and skiing past through the Tread of Pioneers Museum and Howelsen Hill, one of the oldest ski areas on the continent, and an hour or so covers both.

Fort Collins is the livelier of the two after dark. On weekends, university students fill Old Town's pubs, rooftop patios, cocktail bars and taprooms, and there are a few dance clubs as well.

Steamboat's evenings revolve around après-ski. The bars at the gondola base fill as the lifts close, then the crowd moves on to the saloons and brewpubs of Lincoln Avenue. It is good fun in peak season, but there are no clubs, and the town goes quiet early once the busy weeks are over.

Both are outdoor towns, but in Steamboat the mountains begin right at the edge of town. The biggest difference is downhill skiing on the local powder, which Fort Collins cannot offer nearby. In summer, Steamboat adds mountain-bike trails, Fish Creek Falls and the alpine lakes of the Mount Zirkel Wilderness, and elk and moose are common sights.

Fort Collins sits where the plains meet the foothills. Horsetooth Mountain and Lory State Park are a short drive away, the protected Cache la Poudre canyon offers rafting and fly fishing, and Rocky Mountain National Park is about an hour and a half away. In winter it means snowshoeing and cross-country skiing rather than lifts.

On day trips the two are far apart. From Fort Collins you can reach Boulder below the Flatirons, Denver's big museums, Estes Park, Golden, and Cheyenne across the Wyoming line, all in about an hour or so by car.

Steamboat is remote. The towns nearby are small ranching communities, Vail and Grand Lake take about two hours over mountain roads, and Denver is about three hours away. Excursions from Steamboat mean heading into the hills, not to another town.

Steamboat works better for families who want an active vacation. It has a strong ski school with gentle beginner slopes, plus the pools, slides and climbing wall at Old Town Hot Springs. In summer there is tubing, the gondola and rodeo nights. The altitude can tire small children for the first day or two.

Fort Collins is gentler and leans more towards learning. The Museum of Discovery has a dome theatre, the city farm at Lee Martinez Park has animals to meet, and there are flat riverside bike paths. Neither town has a zoo or theme park, but Denver's are a much shorter drive from Fort Collins.

Both have a flat, walkable centre and both need a car for the countryside, but the towns are laid out differently. Fort Collins is a cycling city, with protected lanes, bike-share and long off-street trails linking Old Town, the campus and the breweries, plus a rapid-bus line along the main corridor. Steamboat is split between downtown and the ski base a few kilometres east, which the town bus joins, and the roads up to the hot springs and passes need winter tyres and confidence in snow.

Neither town is worth a shopping trip, though Fort Collins has a little more to browse. Old Town has independent boutiques, bookshops, vintage clothing and Colorado-made goods, and there is a regional mall outside the centre. Steamboat's shops have more western character, with boots, hats and saddle-blanket goods along Lincoln Avenue at the long-established outfitter F.M. Light & Sons, alongside galleries and ski shops.

Fort Collins is clearly the cheaper stay. Hotels and taproom meals cost ordinary American prices, and the main extras are a hire car and the higher rates on graduation and football weekends.

Steamboat charges resort prices, above all in ski season, when lift access, equipment hire and slopeside lodging add up, and the Christmas and spring school-break weeks cost the most. Summer and the shoulder seasons are cheaper, and self-catering condos help, but it is never a budget choice.

Fort Collins has the steadier programme through the year. The Lincoln Center hosts touring Broadway shows, dance and the symphony, the university stages concerts and opera in term time, and small Old Town venues book indie and bluegrass bands. Steamboat comes alive in summer with the long-running Strings Music Festival and student theatre and dance at Perry-Mansfield, but the rest of the year offers little.

Hot springs are Steamboat's clearest advantage. The town grew up around mineral springs, from the spring-fed pools of Old Town Hot Springs to the rock-lined pools at Strawberry Park in a wooded valley up the mountain, which are at their best on a snowy evening.

Fort Collins has no springs of its own, just day spas, massage studios and yoga, and Steamboat is one of the places its residents drive several hours to for a soak. The calm it does offer comes from shaded river paths and quiet neighbourhoods.