Rapid City or Steamboat Springs?

Neither is a beach destination, but Rapid City has the better swimming. Sheridan Lake, Pactola Reservoir and Sylvan Lake lie in the pine hills within half an hour, with small sandy or gravel shores and water warm enough for a proper dip in high summer.

Steamboat's reservoirs, Steamboat Lake and Stagecoach, stay cold at that altitude. The usual way into the water there is tubing down the Yampa through town, which is more a lazy float than a swim.

Both serve hearty western food, and neither is worth the trip for the eating alone. Rapid City has more regional character. There is chislic, the skewered cubes of meat served in South Dakota bars, and there are Indian tacos on Lakota fry bread from diners, powwows and roadside stands. Downtown has brewpubs, and there are wineries and craft distillers out in the hills.

Steamboat's food is resort dining along Lincoln Avenue and at the ski base: Colorado lamb and beef, casual Mexican food, pizza and a few local breweries. It is a comfortable meal after a day outdoors, but there is no street food or market to explore.

Rapid City has more to see, though it is still modest. You can fill a day in town with the bronze presidents on downtown corners, the Journey Museum's story of Lakota history and the gold rush, and the Badlands fossils at the School of Mines.

Steamboat's culture is its ranching and skiing past: old western storefronts on Lincoln Avenue, the Tread of Pioneers Museum and the historic ski jumps of Howelsen Hill. An hour or two covers it.

Evenings are low-key in both, and neither has a club scene. In Rapid City, going out means a few blocks around Main Street Square, with brewpubs and country-music bars, and only the Sturgis rally in early August keeps the region up late. Steamboat's liveliest hours are après-ski at the gondola base, which then moves to the saloons on Lincoln Avenue, so its evenings are busiest during the ski season.

Both sit beside superb country, but Steamboat edges ahead because it works in every season. Winter brings Champagne Powder, aspen glades and backcountry at Rabbit Ears Pass. Summer brings mountain biking, the alpine lakes of the Mount Zirkel Wilderness and fly fishing on the Yampa.

Rapid City's Black Hills are just as striking in summer, with granite spires along the Needles Highway, bison in Custer State Park, the caves at Wind Cave and the Badlands an hour east. In winter, though, it has only a small ski area near Lead.

This is the sharpest difference between the two. From Rapid City, Mount Rushmore is half an hour away, and Crazy Horse, gold-rush Deadwood, the Mammoth Site at Hot Springs, the Minuteman Missile silo and Wall can each fill a day, all by car.

Steamboat is remote. The nearby towns are small ranching places, Vail is about two hours of mountain road away and Denver is three. Outings from there mean heading into the hills, not visiting another town.

Rapid City has more for children to do. Close to town there are the reptile park, the drive-through park with bears and wolves, the concrete dinosaurs and Storybook Island. Further out, children can watch bison stop traffic, take cave tours and pan for gold. The price is long hours in the car.

Steamboat suits families who like being active. It has a strong ski school, pools and slides at Old Town Hot Springs, and tubing on the Yampa. It has no zoo or children's museum, though, and the altitude can tire young children for the first day or two.

Steamboat is easier to manage without a car for part of the stay. The town bus links downtown on Lincoln Avenue with the ski base, and slopeside lodgings let skiers walk to the gondola. You still need a car for Strawberry Park, the falls and the lakes, and winter roads call for proper tyres.

In Rapid City a car is essential, because the city buses don't reach Rushmore or the parks. The upside is light traffic and easy parking, and the scenic roads through the hills are part of the pleasure.

Neither is a shopping destination, and both mostly sell the West. Rapid City's specialities are Black Hills gold jewellery with its grape-leaf designs, and Lakota quillwork, beadwork and star quilts. Steamboat's stroll along Lincoln Avenue is mostly boots, hats and saddle-blanket goods from a family outfitter that has traded since the early twentieth century, plus ski and outdoor gear.

Rapid City is much the cheaper choice. Motels and casual meals are reasonable and many sights are free. A hire car, fuel and park fees add up, though, and rooms become very expensive during the Sturgis rally week.

Steamboat charges resort prices, above all in ski season, when slopeside condos, lift access and equipment hire all add up, and it is costliest over Christmas and the spring breaks. Summer and the quieter seasons are gentler, but it is never a budget trip.

Steamboat has the stronger summer. The Strings Music Festival fills its pavilion with chamber music, jazz and bluegrass through the warm months, and there are free outdoor concerts as well as student theatre and dance at Perry-Mansfield in Strawberry Park.

Rapid City has less to offer, mainly a symphony season and touring shows at the civic centre. Its most memorable performances are the powwows, above all the large one each autumn, and the summer plays staged in the pines of Custer State Park.

Hot springs put Steamboat well ahead. The town is named after a spring, locals use the Old Town Hot Springs pools all year, and an evening in the rock-lined pools of Strawberry Park, about 11km up a mountain road in a wooded creek valley, is the high point of a snowy stay.

Rapid City has no bathing tradition of its own. The nearest is the historic spring-fed pool at Hot Springs, an hour south. Otherwise, rest there means a quiet cabin or lodge in the hills.