Jackson Hole or Steamboat Springs?

Neither is a swimming destination, but Jackson Hole at least offers a proper lake swim. String Lake, shallow and sandy-bottomed at the foot of the Tetons, warms enough by late summer to make a good break from a hike.

In Steamboat the reservoirs stay cold even in July and August. Getting into the water usually means tubing the Yampa through town, which is more of a float than a swim.

Jackson Hole eats noticeably better. The money that passes through the valley pays for chef-driven dining rooms and serious wine lists, and the menus lean on elk, bison, mountain trout and huckleberries, with a summer farmers' market on the Town Square.

Steamboat's Lincoln Avenue offers hearty, ranch-country cooking: steakhouses, Colorado lamb, casual Mexican, pizza and local breweries. It is satisfying after a day outside, but there are fewer ambitious kitchens and no market scene. Neither town has street food or much that is cheap.

Both are places you visit for the outdoors, with a day's sightseeing at most, but Jackson's sights carry a little more weight. The National Museum of Wildlife Art holds a strong collection above the elk refuge, and the barns of Mormon Row and the log chapel framing the peaks are among the most photographed scenes in the West.

Steamboat's story is ranching and skiing. The Tread of Pioneers Museum in its Victorian house, the old storefronts on Lincoln Avenue and Howelsen Hill, which has trained generations of Olympians, can all be seen in a morning.

The two are much alike after dark: après-ski when the lifts close, a few saloons and brewpubs, and no clubs. In Jackson the loudest scene is at the base of Teton Village, while the classic night in town is the old saloon with saddles for bar stools and a country dance floor.

Steamboat's evenings start at the gondola base and move downtown to Lincoln Avenue, where some bars stay busy later into the evening during ski season. Outside peak weeks both towns are asleep well before midnight.

Both are superb mountain bases, but Jackson Hole plays in a bigger league. The Tetons rise sheer from the valley without foothills, Grand Teton National Park is minutes away and Yellowstone about an hour and a half north. Grizzlies, bison, pronghorn and thousands of wintering elk make wildlife watching part of every day. In winter the tram climbs to 3,185m above famously steep terrain.

Steamboat's strengths are softer. Its light, dry Champagne Powder and aspen tree skiing suit a wider range of skiers, Howelsen Hill adds night skiing in town, and summer brings mountain biking on Emerald Mountain and backpacking in the Mount Zirkel Wilderness. Elk and moose are common, but nothing here quite matches a national park on the doorstep.

Both towns are remote, and from either one an outing nearly always means heading into the hills. From Jackson the best drives lead into Grand Teton and Yellowstone, where the old lodges at Old Faithful are worth the trip. A run over Teton Pass to the Idaho farm towns of Victor and Driggs shows the range from its quieter western side.

From Steamboat the nearby ranch towns of Hayden, Oak Creek and Yampa are worth little more than a coffee stop. Other places of note, such as Vail and Grand Lake, are about two hours of mountain driving away.

Both work equally well for families who like being outdoors, and both lack zoos, aquariums and theme parks. Jackson's appeal is wildlife: spotting moose and bison from the car, earning Junior Ranger badges, a sleigh ride through the elk herd and the staged shootout on the square.

Steamboat is more about water and gentle slopes. Howelsen Hill is a quiet place for first ski turns, summer means tubing the Yampa, and the Old Town Hot Springs, with its slides and climbing wall, gives Steamboat a fallback on bad-weather days that Jackson lacks. Expect the altitude to tire small children in either town.

Steamboat Springs is the easier of the two without a car of your own. A town bus runs through the day between the flat, walkable downtown and the ski base, and many slopeside lodgings let skiers walk to the gondola. You will still need to drive to Strawberry Park, Fish Creek Falls and the passes, and most visitors arrive via Hayden or a long drive from Denver.

Jackson's centre is compact and the airport is only a short drive away, but the bus only goes to Teton Village. There is no public transport into either national park, so without a car you rely on tours and shuttles.

Jackson has more to browse. Its boardwalks are lined with galleries of Western and wildlife art, from bronzes to landscape painting, alongside handmade cowboy hats, turquoise jewellery, high-end mountain gear and a few upscale boutiques serving the valley's wealthy residents.

In Steamboat, shopping is an hour's stroll along Lincoln Avenue. The highlight is a century-old family western outfitter that feels as much a landmark as a shop, and the rest is boots, ski gear, a few galleries and souvenirs.

Neither is cheap, but Jackson Hole is the harder on the wallet. It is among the most expensive places to stay in the United States, rooms can be scarce in summer and ski season, and staying over the pass in Idaho is the usual way to soften it.

Steamboat is expensive in ski season too, above all over Christmas, New Year and the spring school breaks. Summer is noticeably gentler, and self-catering condos, free town buses and free trails help. In both places the scenery costs almost nothing once you have arrived.

The two are closely matched, and in both the music happens in summer. Jackson's Grand Teton Music Festival is orchestral, bringing players from leading American orchestras to a timber hall in Teton Village, with chuckwagon dinner shows and saloon country bands for something looser.

Steamboat's Strings Music Festival covers more ground, with chamber music, jazz and bluegrass in its pavilion, plus free outdoor concerts and student theatre and dance at Perry-Mansfield, founded in 1913. Out of season both come down to bar bands and community shows.

Steamboat Springs is the better place to unwind. The town is named after one of its mineral springs, locals use the spring-fed pools in town all year, and the rock-lined pools of Strawberry Park in a wooded creek valley make a snowy evening soak one of the best experiences in the Colorado mountains.

Jackson has good hot springs too, a forested canyon pool reached in winter by snowmobile or dog sled and a riverside soaking park. But they are outings rather than part of daily life, and beyond them wellness mostly means the spas of luxury hotels.