Fort Collins or Telluride?

Neither city is a place for a swimming trip, and both send you to reservoirs. Fort Collins has the easier option: Horsetooth Reservoir is just west of town, with a designated swim beach and coves that warm up nicely in July and August. Around Telluride the nearest swim spot is near Ridgway, an hour's drive, and the mountain water stays chilly all summer, so rafting or paddling makes more sense there.

Fort Collins has the more rewarding food and drink, mainly because of its beer. Long-established breweries offer tours, smaller taprooms with food trucks are spread across the city, and the summer farmers' markets sell Palisade peaches and Colorado honey. The food in Old Town is good and easygoing but rarely ambitious.

Telluride goes the other way. A few serious kitchens on Colorado Avenue and in Mountain Village cook Colorado lamb, elk and trout and pour unusually good wine. The choice is small, though, so you will be back at the same tables within a week, and those tables are hard to book in the peak weeks.

The two are about equal for sights, and in both cases the main attraction is the old town itself. Fort Collins has more museums: the Museum of Discovery, the Victorian Avery House and the university's art museum, set around a red-brick and sandstone centre.

Telluride tells a single story more completely. The whole mining-boom district is a National Historic Landmark, the museum in the old miners' hospital covers the labour wars, and ruined mills cling to the canyon walls above town. Either takes no more than a day.

Fort Collins clearly has more going on after dark. A large student population keeps Old Town's pubs, sports bars, rooftop patios and cocktail bars busy at weekends, and there are a few dance clubs. The scene is casual rather than sophisticated.

Evenings in Telluride mean après-ski and a few historic saloons on Colorado Avenue. These can stay lively late in peak ski weeks and on festival weekends, but there are no clubs, and in the shoulder seasons the town is quiet by mid-evening.

Both are excellent outdoor bases, but Telluride is on another level. Cliffs and 4,000m peaks rise straight from the end of town, Bridal Veil Falls and Blue Lake are reachable from the centre, and summer adds a via ferrata, wildflower basins and jeep roads over old mining passes. In winter it has proper downhill skiing on steep, scenic terrain. The altitude needs a day or two of adjustment.

Fort Collins offers gentler country close to home: the summits of Horsetooth Mountain and Lory State Park, rafting and fly fishing in the Poudre Canyon, and paved riverside trails in town. Rocky Mountain National Park is about an hour and a half away, but downhill skiing is several hours off.

Fort Collins makes the better base for exploring the region. Boulder is about an hour away under the Flatirons, Denver adds major museums, and Estes Park, Golden, Cheyenne and Laramie are all within easy reach. Few of them are remarkable, but there are plenty to choose from.

From Telluride, everything is a mountain drive. Ridgway and canyon-walled Ouray are close, and Silverton is about two hours away over Red Mountain Pass. Mesa Verde is the one major site in reach, at the very edge of a day's round trip, and winter weather can close the passes.

Both are safe, quiet places that suit active families more than families looking for attractions. Fort Collins has more for younger children: a science museum with a dome theatre, the city farm at Lee Martinez Park, a children's garden and gentle river tubing. At its lower elevation, small children also tend to sleep better.

Telluride is better for older children who ski. It has a well-regarded ski school and beginner slopes, and the free gondola is a hit with children. There is little to do indoors on a wet day, though, and families need to allow for the altitude and the cost.

Once you have arrived, Telluride is the easier place to get around. You can cross the historic grid on foot in a quarter of an hour, and free gondolas and buses run up to Mountain Village, so many visitors never use a car. The catch is getting there, which takes long mountain drives or flights that are often affected by weather.

Fort Collins has a flat, compact Old Town, a rapid-bus corridor and some of the country's best cycling, with protected lanes and long trails. Beyond the centre, though, the city spreads into suburbs, and the canyon and foothills need a car.

Shopping is about equal and small-scale in both, and nobody should plan a trip around it. Fort Collins is the more everyday option: independent bookshops, cycling and outdoor stores, vintage clothing and Colorado-made gifts in Old Town, plus a regional mall. Telluride's few blocks lean towards art galleries, Western-style clothing and jewellery, and ski gear, all at resort prices.

Fort Collins costs far less. Hotels are average for the country, brewery taprooms keep casual meals affordable, and the foothills trails and river paths are free. The biggest extra cost is a hire car.

Telluride is priced for wealthy second-home owners, and lift tickets, guided activities and meals out are all at the top of the market. Over Christmas and on festival weekends rates go higher still. Staying in Ridgway costs less but means driving in every day.

The two are evenly matched, but they work in different ways. Fort Collins has a steady programme through the year: touring Broadway shows and the symphony at the Lincoln Center, opera and theatre at the university during term, and small Old Town stages for indie and bluegrass bands.

Telluride is all about its summer festivals. The Bluegrass Festival in Town Park has run since the 1970s, and the film festival takes over the town on Labor Day weekend. Outside those dates there is little beyond the occasional show at the Sheridan Opera House.

Telluride is the better place to unwind properly. The Mountain Village hotels have full spas for after a day on the slopes, and the hot springs pool in Ouray and the springs near Ridgway are both about an hour away, with mountain views as you soak. The altitude can make the first nights restless.

Fort Collins offers calm rather than pampering, with shaded river paths, quiet neighbourhoods and ordinary day spas. The nearest hot-spring soak is at Idaho Springs, about an hour and three-quarters away.