Jackson Hole or Keystone?

You would not come to either place to swim, but Jackson Hole at least offers a real swim. By late summer the shallow, sandy String Lake at the foot of the Tetons is warm enough. The other lakes stay cold and the Snake River is only for floating.

Keystone has even less. Dillon Reservoir looks inviting from the resort, but the water is snowmelt-cold and mostly closed to swimmers. Here, getting in the water means a hotel pool or a hot tub.

Jackson eats better than most mountain towns. Around the Town Square there are chef-led dining rooms, serious wine lists, steakhouses and bakeries. Bison, elk and Rocky Mountain trout are on the menus, with huckleberries in everything from jam to cocktails, and a farmers' market on the square in summer.

Keystone feeds you adequately. You get slopeside grills, pizza and craft beer at the bases, plus one ambitious room up the gondola. Many guests cook in their condos or drive to Frisco or Breckenridge when they want more choice.

Neither place has much to visit, but Jackson has enough for a full day. The Wildlife Art museum looks out over the elk refuge, and the antler arches and boardwalks give the square its frontier look. In the park are the Mormon Row barns and the little log chapel.

Keystone was built for skiing in the 1970s, and River Run Village is designed for convenience, not character. The past survives mainly in old mining cabins and ruins up the valley towards Montezuma.

Both are early-to-bed mountain places, but Jackson has more going on after dinner. Teton Village has loud après-ski, and in town there is the classic saloon with saddles for bar stools and a country dance floor, plus brewpubs and cocktail bars around the square.

In Keystone the evening usually ends soon after the après-ski crowd leaves the River Run decks, because so many guests are families aiming for first chair. Anyone who wants a later night takes the bus to Breckenridge's Main Street.

Both are top mountain bases, but for different things. Jackson's strength is wilderness and wildlife. You get the Tetons rising sheer from the valley floor, Grand Teton National Park on the doorstep, Yellowstone a drive away, and grizzlies, moose and wintering elk. Its tram reaches steep, demanding lift-served terrain.

Keystone's strength is the amount of skiing you can reach. It has its own three peaks with bowls above 3,600m, and Arapahoe Basin, Breckenridge, Copper and Vail are all close enough for a week of variety on dry Colorado snow. In summer you can climb fourteen-thousand-foot peaks, ride the lifts with a mountain bike or follow the valley bike path.

This is where Keystone is clearly ahead. Breckenridge's Victorian centre is about half an hour away. Georgetown and Silver Plume, linked by their historic loop railway, lie over the Divide, and Leadville keeps its mining-boom streets and opera house. Vail and even Denver are possible days out, though I-70 traffic can stretch the drive.

From Jackson, nearly every outing is into the landscape rather than to another town. The farm towns of Victor and Driggs over Teton Pass make a pleasant drive, but none of the nearby towns is worth a whole day.

Both work well for families, but in different seasons and styles. Jackson is a summer adventure: wildlife spotting from the car, Junior Ranger badges, a gentle float on the Snake, the rodeo and the staged shootout on the square. The price is long drives into the parks.

Keystone is built around the winter ski week. There are gentle lower slopes, tubing, the snow fort and the frozen lake for skating, and condos close to the lifts. Its summer offer of paddle boats and easy trails is thinner than Jackson's.

Keystone is much easier without a car. Free shuttles link River Run, Mountain House and Lakeside, and free county buses go on to Frisco, Dillon and Breckenridge. The hard part is getting there, with the shuttle or drive up from Denver over a winter I-70.

Jackson is the other way round. The airport is just up the road and the town centre is walkable, but the parks, trailheads and the best wildlife hours at dawn and dusk all need your own car.

Jackson's boardwalks are worth an afternoon of browsing. The galleries sell Western and wildlife art, and there are handmade cowboy hats, boots and turquoise jewellery alongside high-end mountain gear.

Keystone's own shops are mostly rental counters and ski gear. The draw nearby is the large outlet centre in Silverthorne, which is good for brand-name outdoor clothing but is bargain-hunting rather than browsing.

Neither place is cheap, and on overall cost there is little between them. The difference is in when the bill is highest and where you can cut it. Jackson charges peak prices in summer as well as in the ski season, because summer is its main season and rooms are scarce. But the reason most people come, the parks and their wildlife, costs little more than an entry fee. The usual way to save is to sleep over Teton Pass in Idaho, or to come in the quiet months of late spring and autumn.

Keystone works the other way round. Most of the spending goes on the ski day, so winter is when it costs most, especially over Christmas and spring break. Summer is the cheaper time to come. Here the saving comes from how you live day to day rather than where you stay: cook in the condo instead of eating in the resort, and use the free buses instead of hiring a car.

Live performance in both is mostly a summer thing. Jackson has the stronger single event, the Grand Teton Music Festival, which brings orchestral players to the timber hall in Teton Village, along with chuckwagon dinner shows and country bands in the saloons.

Keystone relies on its neighbours. There are open-air concerts by the reservoir in Dillon and a classical festival in Breckenridge, and Silverthorne's professional theatre company offers plays through the winter, which Jackson cannot match.

Jackson has the better way to rest: natural hot springs. One pool sits in a forested canyon south of town, reached by snowmobile or dog sled in winter, and there are riverside soaking pools on the Snake. The town's early nights add to the calm.

Keystone's version is the lodge hot tub under falling snow, plus resort spa massages for tired legs. The nearest natural springs mean a drive over the pass to Idaho Springs.