Keystone or Las Vegas?

Neither city is a beach destination, and what differs is the kind of water you get. At Keystone, Dillon Reservoir is for sailing and views, too cold and mostly closed for swimming, so in practice you get into a hotel pool or a hot tub in the snow.

Las Vegas at least has warm water. Lake Mead's Boulder Beach is about 40 minutes away, with a gravel shore and no shade, and the Strip resorts have wave pools and lazy rivers for a hot afternoon.

Keystone serves resort food. There are slopeside grills, pizza and burgers at the bases, elk, lamb and trout on the better menus, Colorado craft beer, and a summit dining room reached by gondola. It is fine after a day outside, but for more choice people cook in their condo or drive to Frisco or Breckenridge.

Las Vegas eats on another scale. The Strip gathers famous chefs' steakhouses, French dining rooms and tasting menus. The long Chinatown on Spring Mountain Road adds Sichuan, Korean, Thai and Vietnamese kitchens that stay open late. The city has no cuisine of its own, but there is far more worth eating.

Keystone has almost nothing to sightsee. River Run is a modern base built for skiers, and the history lies outside the resort, in the mining ruins above Montezuma and the Victorian towns nearby.

Las Vegas offers more, though of a particular kind. The themed resorts, fountains and Fremont Street light show are spectacle rather than heritage. The Neon Museum and the Mob Museum in the old federal courthouse tell the city's short story well. Together they fill an evening and a morning, not a week.

Keystone goes to bed early. Après-ski on the River Run decks is the main event, the crowd is mostly families and skiers up for first chair, and a real night out means a trip to Breckenridge's Main Street.

Las Vegas is the opposite extreme. It stays open all night, with casino bars, DJ residencies in the resort clubs and dayclub pool parties at weekends. Downtown's Fremont Street and the arts district offer a cheaper, more local alternative to the dress codes and table service of the Strip.

Keystone is mountain country through and through. Its three peaks reach bowls above 3,600m, and Arapahoe Basin, Breckenridge, Copper Mountain and Vail are all close. In summer you have Grays and Torreys Peaks, the alpine tundra around Loveland Pass and paddleboarding on Dillon Reservoir.

Las Vegas has dramatic desert within an hour. There are Red Rock's sandstone climbing walls, Valley of Fire's flame-coloured rock and petroglyphs, and the pine forest of Mount Charleston. The summer heat rules out daytime hiking from June to September, though, and every outing needs a car.

Keystone has the better spread of outings. Breckenridge's Victorian centre is half an hour away, and over the Divide are Georgetown and Silver Plume, linked by their loop railway. Leadville keeps its mining-boom streets and opera house, and Denver's museums are within reach when the traffic allows.

From Las Vegas, the one dependable choice is Hoover Dam combined with Boulder City. The Grand Canyon, Zion and Death Valley are famous, but they mean long days of driving to landscapes, and few towns nearby are worth the trip.

Keystone is made for children in a way Las Vegas is not. The ski school, gentle lower runs, tubing, the snow fort and the skating rink at Lakeside fill a winter week, and condos near the lifts plus free shuttles keep things simple. Altitude and cold are the things to plan for.

Las Vegas can fill a day or two with an indoor amusement park, a shark aquarium and the Discovery Children's Museum. But casino floors stand between you and almost everything, and summer heat makes the Strip hard going with small children.

Once you have arrived, Keystone is the easier place to get about. Free shuttles link its bases, free county buses reach Breckenridge, Frisco and Silverthorne, and each base is walkable. The hard part is getting there: there is no train, and the I-70 drive from Denver can be slow and snowy.

Las Vegas looks compact but is not. The resorts are huge, walks run through casinos and over footbridges, and summer heat makes them punishing. Most people use taxis, ride-hailing, the monorail or the all-night buses, and hire a car for the desert.

Keystone sells ski gear and rentals and has a few gift shops at River Run. Its one real draw is the outlet centre in Silverthorne, ten minutes away.

Las Vegas is a serious shopping stop. The Roman-themed arcade at Caesars Palace, the Venetian's canal-side shops, the luxury mall mid-Strip and Fashion Show hold most of the big fashion and jewellery names, open late, and there are two outlet centres as well. Neither city has markets or much local craft.

Both are expensive, but Keystone more so. Lift access, rentals, ski school, slopeside lodging and resort meals add up fast, above all over Christmas and spring break. Summer, condo kitchens and the free buses soften the cost.

Las Vegas can be reasonable if you plan around it. Midweek rooms are good value for their comfort, downtown is cheaper still, and meals in Chinatown keep food costs down. Weekends, resort fees, shows and clubs push the bill back up.

Keystone's live performance is mostly summer and outdoors. There are festivals on the village stages, concerts at Dillon's amphitheatre by the reservoir and Breckenridge's classical festival at the Riverwalk Center. For the rest of the year, Silverthorne's professional theatre company stages plays and musicals.

Las Vegas is a destination for shows in itself. Dozens play every night, from water-based acrobatics and magicians to stars on long residencies who rarely tour. The Smith Center adds touring Broadway musicals, the Philharmonic and ballet.

Wellness in Keystone means recovering after skiing: resort spas, and an outdoor hot tub at nearly every lodge, best with snow falling. The resort is calm outside the peak weeks, but natural hot springs mean a drive to Idaho Springs or Glenwood Springs.

Las Vegas has the bigger facilities, with huge resort spas offering thermal circuits, saunas and salt and ice rooms, open to day visitors. The noise and light of the casinos work against them, so it pays to choose a non-gaming hotel and book spa time in the morning.