Keystone or Winter Park, Colorado?

You won't find a beach in either place, and both are too high and too cold for swimming outdoors. At Keystone, Dillon Reservoir lies right below the resort and is used for boating, but it is mostly closed to swimmers. Winter Park's lakes are further off around Granby and Grand Lake. Its real advantage is the warm mineral pools down the valley, which give you somewhere to get into water that a hotel pool can't match.

The food is much the same in both: resort eating, with elk, trout and craft beer on the menus. Keystone's most memorable meal is the dining room reached by gondola at the summit. If you tire of resort menus, Dillon, Frisco and Breckenridge are all a short drive away.

Winter Park's food is more casual: green chile, barbecue along the highway and a breakfast burrito before the lifts open. Neighbouring Fraser adds only a little more choice, and on winter weekends you need to eat early to get a table.

Neither town has much to see. Keystone was built for skiing in the 1970s, and its history is outside the resort, in the old mining cabins and ruins along the Snake River above Montezuma. Winter Park started as a ski area opened by Denver in the late 1930s. Its heritage is the Moffat Tunnel railway and a small homesteading museum in Fraser. Whichever you choose, real museums mean a day in Denver.

Both towns go quiet early, and the evening is mostly après-ski with families and early risers. Keystone's après happens on the decks at River Run and is usually over soon after dinner. For a real night out, though, Breckenridge's Main Street is a short bus ride away.

Winter Park keeps going a bit longer in town, with base-village bars and then brewery taprooms along the main road. It gets loud on winter weekends but has no clubs, and there is no livelier town nearby to move on to.

Both are first-rate mountain bases, but the outdoors works differently in each. From Keystone you get high bowls on its three peaks, and Arapahoe Basin is minutes away, with Breckenridge, Copper and Vail all within an hour. That is more ski areas within a short drive than almost anywhere. In summer there is Loveland Pass, the climbs of Grays and Torreys Peaks, and sailing on Dillon Reservoir.

Winter Park offers two connected mountains, Mary Jane's steep bumps and miles of cross-country track in the valley. Its summer strength is mountain biking, from the lift-served bike park to the singletrack around Fraser. The west side of Rocky Mountain National Park, with its moose and elk, is about an hour north.

Keystone has more within easy reach. The Victorian streets of Breckenridge are about half an hour away, and Frisco and Dillon are closer still. Leadville's mining-boom centre and opera house, Vail's village and the silver towns over the Divide make several different days out.

Winter Park can also reach Georgetown and Idaho Springs, but only over Berthoud Pass, and the trip takes about an hour. Grand Lake's boardwalk is the best outing to the north, and storms on the high passes can cancel plans at short notice.

Both are well set up for children learning to ski, with large ski schools and gentle slopes at the base. Keystone's winter highlights are the giant snow fort on the mountain and the huge skating rink on the frozen lake at Lakeside. Winter Park's compact village and its summer alpine slide, mini golf and climbing walls give children more to do once the snow has gone. In both, the altitude can hit small children for the first night or two.

Keystone is easier to manage without a car. Free shuttles link its three bases, and free county buses go on to Dillon, Silverthorne, Frisco and Breckenridge, so you can spend a whole week seeing the county by bus.

Winter Park's free shuttle covers the ski base, the town and Fraser. However, the lodgings are spread out along several kilometres of highway, and trailheads, Grand Lake and the national park all need a car. The drive up from Denver is harder too: both trips start on I-70, but Winter Park then turns off and climbs over Berthoud Pass as well, where snow can slow or close the road.

Keystone wins thanks to its neighbour. Silverthorne's large outlet centre, ten minutes away, sells brand-name clothes and outdoor wear, and River Run adds gear and gift shops. Winter Park's shops are strictly practical: rental and tuning shops, bike shops and a few souvenir stores, useful if you forgot your gloves. For anything more, you go to Denver.

Winter Park is the cheaper of the two, though neither is cheap in ski season. Keystone's slopeside condos, lifts and lessons are expensive, and the Christmas and spring-break weeks are the dearest of all. Free buses and supermarkets in Dillon and Silverthorne take some of the edge off.

Winter Park costs less than the state's glamour resorts. Staying in Fraser rather than the base village lowers the bill further, and summer lodging rates drop a long way.

Keystone has more live performance close by. Silverthorne's professional theatre company stages plays and musicals all year, and Dillon's amphitheatre by the reservoir holds summer concerts. Breckenridge has its long-running classical festival at the Riverwalk Center.

Winter Park has free concerts in the town park in summer and bands in the après-ski bars. It has no theatre or concert hall, so a proper performance means an evening in Denver.

Winter Park is the better choice for unwinding, mainly because of Hot Sulphur Springs. About half an hour west, its mineral pools at different temperatures step down a hillside above the Colorado River. The quiet weeks of late spring and autumn make it calmer still.

Keystone's version of relaxation is a resort spa and a hot tub under falling snow. For natural springs you have to drive over the pass to Idaho Springs or much further to Glenwood Springs.