Keystone or Whitefish?

Keystone has no real swimming. Dillon Reservoir looks lovely below the resort, but it is cold snowmelt and mostly closed to swimmers, so for most visitors the water means a hotel pool or a hot tub.

Whitefish has actual lake beaches. City Beach on Whitefish Lake has a sandy strip and a swimming dock, and Flathead Lake has clear water off pebbly state-park shores. The season is short, from mid-July to late August, but it is a genuine summer pleasure.

The two are much alike: mountain cooking built on elk, trout and local beer, with a narrow range of places. The setting is what differs. In Keystone you eat at slopeside grills and base-area pizza places, or in a dining room you reach by gondola, and many visitors cook in their condo or drive to Frisco or Breckenridge.

Whitefish keeps its restaurants on one real town street, Central Avenue. It also has a signature of its own: huckleberries turn up in pies, milkshakes and cocktails in late summer, and there is a local distilling tradition.

Neither town is a place for sightseeing. Keystone was built for skiing in the 1970s, so its history lies outside the resort, in the mining ruins along the Snake River valley and the Victorian towns nearby. Whitefish is at least an old railway town, with the timber Great Northern depot and its small museum, and a modest early twentieth-century downtown to stroll.

Whitefish has more of an evening. Its saloons and brewery taprooms on Central Avenue have wooden bars and pool tables, and ranchers drink alongside ski bums. On summer nights people spill out onto the patios. There are no clubs, but it feels like a town going out.

In Keystone the evening is mostly après-ski on the River Run decks, and the resort goes quiet soon after dinner. Anyone who wants a proper night out takes the bus to Breckenridge.

The scenery is superb in both, but the seasons differ. Keystone is skiing country first. Its three peaks have bowls above 3,600m, and Arapahoe Basin, Breckenridge, Copper and Vail are all close. The snow is dry and the season is long. In summer you can climb Grays and Torreys Peaks or cross the tundra at Loveland Pass, though the altitude takes a day or two to get used to.

Whitefish is the place for a summer in the wild. Glacier National Park has the Highline Trail, Grinnell Glacier, Lake McDonald and grizzlies, and Big Mountain gives you one good ski area in winter. The park's high country is reliably open only from July to September.

Keystone has far more within reach. Breckenridge's Victorian centre is about half an hour away. Over the Divide, Georgetown and Silver Plume are linked by their historic loop railway, and Leadville has its opera house and mining-boom streets. Vail is under an hour away and Denver about an hour and a half, with its museums.

From Whitefish the towns are modest: the Conrad Mansion in Kalispell, the galleries of Bigfork and the mission church at St Ignatius. Most outings head into the park instead.

Keystone is built around family ski weeks. It has a big ski school, a snow fort on the mountain and a skating rink on the frozen lake at Lakeside Village, and condos within a short walk of the lifts. Children may feel the altitude for the first few days.

Whitefish works for families who love being outdoors. In summer there is a zip line and an alpine slide, City Beach is calm for paddling, and the Trail of the Cedars is easy walking. Children who do not enjoy that will soon get bored, though, and the drives into Glacier are long.

Keystone is easier once you are there. Free shuttles link its three bases, and free county buses run to Dillon, Frisco and Breckenridge, so you do not need a car. Getting there is the hard part, because the drive up I-70 from Denver can be slow with snow in winter.

Whitefish does have a long-distance train stopping at its depot and a walkable downtown. Glacier, Flathead Lake and the trailheads are spread along rural highways, though, so a hire car is close to essential.

Neither is a reason to shop, but the shopping is different. Around Keystone it is practical: ski gear and rental shops in River Run, plus the big outlet centre in Silverthorne for branded outdoor wear. Whitefish has more local character for an afternoon's browsing on Central Avenue, with western boots, wildlife art and Montana-made huckleberry jam.

Both are expensive, but Keystone costs more. Lift access, ski school, rentals and resort meals add up quickly, and the Christmas and spring-break weeks are the dearest. Free buses and condo kitchens help a little.

Whitefish gives you more ways to save. You can stay in Kalispell or Columbia Falls, or come in late spring or autumn, and Glacier is good value once you are inside. A hire car is usually an extra cost.

The offer is small in both, and both are busiest in summer. Around Keystone much of it is in the neighbouring towns: concerts at Dillon's amphitheatre by the reservoir, Breckenridge's classical festival, and a professional theatre company in Silverthorne all year. In Whitefish more of it is in the town itself, with a community arts centre and a summer theatre company, while the valley's symphony plays in Kalispell.

Both offer resort spas and a quiet pace, but neither has natural hot springs close by. Relaxing in Keystone means winter recovery: an outdoor hot tub with snow falling after a day's skiing, and Idaho Springs over the pass if you want hot springs. In Whitefish it is mostly about the setting: calm mornings by the lake, yoga studios in town and long summer evenings.