Las Vegas or Steamboat Springs?

Neither city has a coast, and both are a very long way from one. The difference is in the water temperature. Las Vegas has warm resort pools with wave pools and lazy rivers, plus Lake Mead's gravel Boulder Beach in a desert basin with no shade. Steamboat's reservoirs stay cold even in July and August, so summer time in the water there usually means floating down the Yampa on a tube.

Las Vegas gives you far more choice. The Strip has outposts of famous chefs, steakhouses, French dining rooms and the buffets the city is known for. Off the Strip, Spring Mountain Road's Chinatown runs for kilometres of Asian kitchens that stay open late, and the suburbs have good Mexican food.

Steamboat's dining is hearty western food on Lincoln Avenue and at the ski base: Colorado lamb and beef, pizza, Mexican places and local breweries. It is satisfying after a day on the slopes, but over a week it starts to repeat itself. Neither town has markets, but only Las Vegas could fill a trip with eating alone.

Neither town is a place for heritage, but Las Vegas gives a sightseer more to do. The themed resorts, the fountains and the light canopy over Fremont Street fill an evening. The Neon Museum and the Mob Museum tell the story of the city's casinos and organised crime well.

Steamboat's history of ranching and skiing fits into an afternoon. You can see the old western storefronts on Lincoln Avenue, visit the Tread of Pioneers Museum and look up at Howelsen Hill, one of the oldest ski areas in North America.

Here the two are barely comparable. Las Vegas runs around the clock, with famous DJs on residencies, pool dayclubs, casino bars that never close and a cheaper, looser bar scene around Fremont Street and the arts district.

Steamboat's evenings start with après-ski at the gondola base and move to a handful of saloons and brewpubs on Lincoln Avenue. These are busy in ski season and quiet before midnight the rest of the year. It is a place for a beer after skiing, not a big night out.

Both have serious landscape close by, but in Steamboat it is the whole point, and it works all year. In winter there is Champagne Powder and skiing through aspen glades, plus backcountry at Rabbit Ears Pass. In summer there is biking and hiking on Emerald Mountain, Fish Creek Falls and the alpine lakes of the Mount Zirkel Wilderness, with elk and moose often seen along the way.

Las Vegas has dramatic desert within an hour: the climbing cliffs of Red Rock Canyon, the flame-coloured rock of Valley of Fire and pine forest on Mount Charleston. The catch is the season, because summer heat makes desert hiking dangerous for months, and every outing needs a car.

Hoover Dam is the one real outing from Las Vegas. The 1930s concrete arch on the Colorado River is under an hour away and pairs well with Boulder City, the tidy town built to house the dam's workers, for a half day or more. Beyond that, the Grand Canyon, Zion and Death Valley trips sold along the Strip are long journeys to landscapes rather than to towns.

Steamboat offers even less in the way of places to visit. Hayden, Oak Creek and Yampa are small ranching communities worth a coffee stop at most, and Vail, Grand Lake and Denver lie two to three hours away over mountain roads. A day out from Steamboat nearly always means a trailhead or a lake rather than another town.

Steamboat Springs is the easier family base by some distance. The town is small and safe, with a strong ski school, quiet first runs on Howelsen Hill and pools with slides at the hot springs in town. In summer there are gondola rides, tubing and the rodeo. Children will miss zoos and theme parks, and the altitude can tire young ones for the first day or two.

Las Vegas has a day or two of attractions: an indoor amusement park, a shark aquarium, thrill rides on the observation tower and the Discovery Children's Museum. But the casino floors, adult advertising and summer heat make it hard work with children.

The Las Vegas Strip looks walkable on a map, but it is far more stretched out than Steamboat's two small centres. Its 6km of enormous resorts send pedestrians over footbridges and through casino interiors, and summer heat makes long walks punishing. The monorail and all-night buses help, but most visitors lean on taxis and ride-hailing, and the desert needs a hire car.

Steamboat is simpler to manage. The town bus links the flat downtown along Lincoln Avenue with the ski base a few kilometres east, and skiers staying slopeside can walk to the gondola. Strawberry Park, Fish Creek Falls and the passes still need a car, with proper tyres in the snow season.

Las Vegas is much the better place to shop, as long as big brands are what you want. The resort malls hold the major fashion and jewellery houses, Fashion Show adds department stores, outlet centres sit north and south of the Strip, and everything stays open late.

Steamboat offers a pleasant hour on Lincoln Avenue, with western-wear stores selling boots and hats, among them a family outfitter that has become a local landmark, plus galleries and gear shops. What it has that Las Vegas lacks is local character, so a pair of boots from here makes a better souvenir than anything from a mall.

Las Vegas can be surprisingly reasonable from Sunday to Thursday, when rooms on the Strip and downtown are good value for their size and comfort. Meals in Chinatown or the suburbs also cost far less than on the Strip. Weekends, conventions, resort fees, shows and clubs push the bill up quickly.

Steamboat stays expensive in every season. It is costliest in ski season, when condos, lift access, equipment hire and eating out all come at resort prices, and the Christmas and spring school breaks cost the most of all. Summer is gentler, and self-catering and the free trails help, but there is no cheap week to aim for.

For a night of entertainment, Las Vegas is in another league. Dozens of shows play every night, from water-based acrobatics to magicians and comedians. Pop, rock and country stars hold residencies you would rarely catch on tour, and the Smith Center adds touring Broadway shows and the Philharmonic.

Steamboat's stage is mainly a summer one. There is chamber music, jazz and bluegrass at the Strings Music Festival, free outdoor concerts, and student theatre and dance at Perry-Mansfield. The rest of the year it comes down to a community orchestra and bands in the bars.

Steamboat is the place to unwind, and its hot water comes out of the ground. Mineral springs rise all around the town and feed the pools in town. About 11km up a mountain road, the rock-lined pools of Strawberry Park sit in a wooded creek valley, and they are at their best on a snowy evening.

Las Vegas has huge resort spas with thermal circuits, saunas and salt rooms, but the noise and lights of the casinos work against rest. The way to make it work is a weekday morning at the spa in a non-gaming hotel.