Palm Springs or Winter Park, Colorado?

Neither is a beach destination, and the sea is a long way from both. In Palm Springs, swimming means the hotel pool, which is warm enough most of the year and central to any stay. In Winter Park the lakes around Grand Lake and Granby are cold snowmelt for paddling, so a soak in a hot tub or at Hot Sulphur Springs is the more likely swim.

Palm Springs offers more choice. There are long brunches on shaded patios, cocktails by the pool, date shakes from the groves around Indio and honest Mexican taquerias further down the valley, although fine dining is thin.

Winter Park feeds hungry skiers and riders with green chile, burgers, breakfast burritos, brewery taprooms and a few rooms serving steak and elk. Neither has a cuisine of its own, but only Palm Springs turns eating out into a pleasant part of the day rather than a refuel.

Palm Springs has a real sight in its mid-century modern architecture, from Albert Frey's buildings to the Kaufmann House and the Alexander homes of Twin Palms. These are best seen on a self-guided ride. The Palm Springs Art Museum and the Cahuilla story at the Agua Caliente Cultural Museum round it out.

Winter Park has almost nothing of this kind beyond the railway history of the Moffat Tunnel and a small ranch museum in Fraser. Anyone who wants galleries during a stay there has to give up a day for Denver.

Palm Springs has the livelier evenings, built around the long-established LGBTQ bars of Arenas Road, where patios fill with a sociable, friendly crowd. Retro cocktail lounges line Palm Canyon Drive, and hotel pool parties carry the spring weekends, though real clubs are scarce and the town empties in the summer heat.

In Winter Park the evening peaks at après-ski, when the base village bars fill as the lifts close, then moves on to a few taprooms on the main road. With a crowd of families and skiers chasing first chair, the town is usually quiet by late evening.

Both are built around their landscape, but Winter Park gives you more of it to use, all year round. In winter, Winter Park and Mary Jane form two linked ski mountains with summits above 3,600m. In summer the same slopes become a lift-served bike park, and the Indian Peaks trails and the moose and tundra of Rocky Mountain National Park are within reach.

Palm Springs offers contrast instead. The tramway lifts you from desert floor to pine forest on San Jacinto, the Indian Canyons hide palm oases, and Joshua Tree is about an hour away. Its outdoor season closes down in the summer heat, while Winter Park's simply switches sport.

Both have a similar spread of modest outings, all by car, but they differ in character. From Palm Springs they are offbeat: the pine village of Idyllwild, the lived-in film set at Pioneertown, Salvation Mountain by the Salton Sea and the wineries of Temecula.

From Winter Park they are historic and mountainous: the Victorian mining streets of Georgetown and Idaho Springs and the boardwalk at Grand Lake. Further out, Denver makes a good museum day, which Palm Springs cannot match because Los Angeles is too far. Snow on the passes can rule out the Colorado outings on a given day.

Winter Park is the easier choice with children. A large ski school and gentle slopes sit beside a compact base village, and tubing, skating and a summer alpine slide keep them busy. The free shuttle saves carrying gear, though the altitude can mean poor sleep for the first night or two.

Palm Springs works as a pool vacation with outings to the Living Desert and the Air Museum. However, many of its boutique hotels are adults-only, and from late spring the heat keeps everyone indoors at midday.

Winter Park is easier without a car once you have arrived. A free shuttle links the ski base, the town and Fraser, so a ski week works on foot and by bus. Getting there means a drive over Berthoud Pass or a shuttle from Denver.

Palm Springs has a flat, walkable downtown and an airport right on the edge of town. But valley buses are sparse, and the canyons, the tramway and Joshua Tree all need a hire car. In summer, walking anywhere at midday is out of the question.

Palm Springs is a real shopping stop for anyone who likes design. The Uptown Design District has mid-century furniture, lighting and vintage clothing, and the valley adds the boutiques of El Paseo and the big outlets at Cabazon. Winter Park sells ski, bike and outdoor gear plus a few souvenirs, which is handy for a forgotten pair of gloves and little more.

Summer is when Palm Springs becomes a bargain. Room rates drop sharply in the hottest months, and simple motels and supermarket picnics keep costs down all year. From winter into spring, though, boutique hotels and rental houses with pools charge resort prices, and the hire car adds to the bill.

A ski week in Winter Park adds up quickly, with lift tickets, rentals, lessons and resort-priced meals. Condos with kitchens in Fraser and the free summer trails ease the bill, but the savings are smaller than the summer drop in the desert.

Palm Springs has the fuller calendar. Coachella and Stagecoach fill the polo grounds in Indio each April, the McCallum Theatre brings touring shows, and the casinos book well-known acts. In town there are drag cabaret and piano bars.

Winter Park has free summer concerts in the town park and bands in the après-ski bars, but no theatre at all. For a proper performance, you have to spend an evening in Denver.

This is where Palm Springs pulls clearly ahead. The town grew up around the Agua Caliente hot spring, and in Desert Hot Springs small spa motels fill their pools with mineral water straight from the ground. The rhythm of a stay is slow: pool, late breakfast, then a drink as the light turns pink on San Jacinto.

In Winter Park, rest comes after exercise, in a condo hot tub or the stepped mineral pools of Hot Sulphur Springs above the Colorado River. In ski season the days are too full to feel like a retreat.