Keystone or Telluride?

Neither town is a place to swim, but the water looks different in each. Keystone has Dillon Reservoir right below the resort, good for sailing and paddleboarding but snowmelt-cold and mostly closed to swimmers.

Telluride has no lake on its doorstep. The nearest swimming area is the reservoir near Ridgway, an hour's drive away, so summer water there means rafting or fishing the river. In both places, a hotel pool or hot tub is the realistic dip.

Telluride eats noticeably better. Keystone's meals are resort meals: grills and pizza at the bases, burgers and craft beer after skiing, and a summit dining room reached by gondola as the special night out. Plenty of guests cook in their condo or drive to Frisco or Breckenridge for more choice.

Telluride has a handful of serious kitchens along Colorado Avenue and up in Mountain Village, cooking with Western Slope produce, with wine lists deeper than the town's size suggests. Its limit is size: over a week you will keep going back to the same small circle of places.

Keystone was built for skiing in the 1970s and has almost nothing to sightsee. Its mining history survives only in the ruins and cabins up the Snake River valley and in the Victorian towns nearby.

Telluride is a historic town in its own right. Its clapboard houses and false-fronted blocks make up a National Historic Landmark district, and it has the historical museum in the old miners' hospital, the 1913 Sheridan Opera House and mill ruins on the canyon walls. Even so, it fills an afternoon rather than a trip.

Neither is a party town, but Telluride stays up later. In Keystone the decks at River Run fill for après-ski and empty soon after dinner, and anyone who wants a proper night out takes the bus to Breckenridge's Main Street.

Telluride's old saloons on Colorado Avenue, with their wooden bars and Victorian back rooms, draw locals and seasonal workers as well as skiers. On peak winter weeks and festival weekends the main street can stay lively until late. There are no clubs in either town.

Both are first-rate mountain bases, but they suit different tastes. Keystone is about range. Its own three peaks have bowls above 3,600m, Arapahoe Basin is minutes away and several other big ski areas are within an hour. In summer, Grays and Torreys Peaks, the tundra at Loveland Pass and a paved bike path between the Summit County towns fill the days.

Telluride is about drama on the doorstep. Cliffs and peaks above 4,000m rise from the end of the main street, and Bridal Veil Falls, a via ferrata and old jeep roads over Imogene Pass all start from town. Its single ski area has steep hike-to terrain and famous views, and the aspens turn gold in autumn.

Keystone is much better placed for days out. Breckenridge's Victorian centre is half an hour away, the silver towns of Georgetown and Silver Plume are linked by their old loop railway, and Leadville and Vail are close by. Denver's museums are about an hour and a half away when I-70 traffic allows.

From Telluride the options are few and far apart. Ridgway and canyon-bound Ouray are an hour or so away, Silverton takes two hours over Red Mountain Pass, and Mesa Verde's cliff dwellings are only just possible as a day trip. You need a car for all of them, and winter can close the passes.

Keystone is the better resort for children. It is built around family ski trips, with a big ski school, tubing, a snow fort on the mountain and a huge skating rink on the frozen lake at Lakeside. Kitchen condos and short walks to the lifts make the logistics easier.

Telluride suits active families who don't need attractions. The free gondola is a treat in itself and there are easy waterfall walks, but there is little indoors for a wet day. In both towns the altitude can unsettle young children for the first few nights.

Telluride is the easier place to be without a car. The historic grid takes a quarter of an hour to cross on foot, and the free gondola runs straight up to Mountain Village and the slopes. Keystone is spread across three bases joined by shuttles, though free county buses reach Breckenridge and Frisco.

Getting there is hard in different ways. Keystone means a shuttle or the drive from Denver over I-70, with chain rules and weekend jams in winter. Telluride's small airport is often hit by weather, and the larger ones are one to two hours away by road.

Neither town is a shopping trip, and what each offers is different. Keystone is mostly ski gear and rental shops, but the big outlet centre in Silverthorne is ten minutes away for brand-name clothing.

Telluride's few blocks of Colorado Avenue are nicer to stroll, with art galleries, Western clothing and jewellery boutiques and a couple of good bookshops, all at mountain-resort prices.

Both are among the dearest mountain vacations in the country, and neither has a budget version. Keystone gives you a few more ways to cut costs. Free buses, condos with kitchens and supermarkets in Dillon and Silverthorne make self-catering easy, and summer is gentler on the wallet.

Telluride's scarce rooms are priced for second-home owners, and festival weekends push them higher still. Staying in Ridgway is the main way to save, at the cost of a daily drive.

Telluride has the stronger summer for music. The Telluride Bluegrass Festival has filled Town Park beneath the canyon walls since the 1970s, and jazz, chamber music and the Labor Day film festival follow. The Sheridan Opera House keeps concerts and comedy going through the year.

Keystone has outdoor shows on its village stages, concerts at Dillon's amphitheatre by the reservoir and Breckenridge's classical festival nearby. Its best year-round option is the professional theatre company in Silverthorne.

Telluride is the better place to unwind. The full spas in Mountain Village are one draw, and the bigger one is the San Juan hot springs: the large public pool in Ouray and the springs near Ridgway are both about an hour away, with mountain views. The quiet shoulder seasons slow the town right down.

In Keystone, relaxing mostly means a lodge hot tub under falling snow or a massage at a resort spa. Natural hot springs mean a drive over the pass to Idaho Springs.