Rapid City or Winter Park, Colorado?

Neither place is anywhere near the sea, but Rapid City at least offers a real summer swim. Sheridan Lake, Pactola Reservoir and Sylvan Lake have small sandy or gravel shores within half an hour of town, and the water warms to around 20°C in July and August.

Winter Park's lakes, Grand Lake and the reservoirs near Granby, are fed by snowmelt and stay cold even in high summer. They are used for boating and paddling, so swimmers end up in a hotel pool or the hot springs down the valley.

Rapid City has more local character on the plate. Chislic skewers, bison burgers and Indian tacos on Lakota fry bread are genuine regional dishes, and the brewpubs around Main Street, along with the wineries and distillers in the hills, give an evening some choice.

Winter Park's food is fuel for skiing: breakfast burritos before the lifts open, green chile and burgers at the slopeside lodges, and a few rooms serving elk or trout. There is no local cuisine to look for, and on winter weekends you need to eat early to get a table.

Rapid City has far more to see between days in the hills. You can walk past the bronze presidents on the downtown street corners, follow the Black Hills story from geology to the gold rush at the Journey Museum, look at Badlands fossils at the School of Mines and see Cold War aircraft parked in the open at the air and space museum.

Winter Park's heritage comes down to the Moffat Tunnel railway story and a small homesteading museum in Fraser. A proper day of museums there means driving to Denver.

Both places go to bed early, but at different times of day and year. Rapid City's evenings centre on the brewpubs, sports bars and country-music bars around Main Street Square, with dinner and a beer before an early night. The exception is the Sturgis rally in early August, when bars across the region stay loud and late.

Winter Park's going out starts in the afternoon with après-ski at the base village, then moves to taprooms along the main road. It gets lively on winter weekends and in spring break, but the town is quiet well before midnight and calmer still in summer.

Winter Park has the edge because of its mountains. Two connected ski mountains with summits above 3,600m, a lift-served bike park in summer, hundreds of kilometres of singletrack and the high tundra of Rocky Mountain National Park make it a place for active days in the outdoors all year.

Rapid City's outdoors are just as memorable but different in kind. Granite spires, the bison herd in Custer State Park, guided tours through Wind Cave and Jewel Cave, and the eroded Badlands ridges are mostly seen from scenic roads and short hikes, with the Mickelson Trail for cyclists. Winter there is a quieter season.

From Rapid City, some of the best-known sights in the American West are within easy reach. Mount Rushmore is half an hour away, Crazy Horse a little further, and Deadwood, the Mammoth Site and the Minuteman Missile silo each make a full day.

Winter Park's outings are fewer and depend on the weather. Georgetown and Idaho Springs are over Berthoud Pass, Grand Lake has its boardwalk, and Denver's museums are about an hour and a half away, but winter storms on the pass can close the road.

Rapid City has more for children across a whole vacation. There is the reptile park, the drive-through bear park, Storybook Island and the hilltop dinosaurs, and children can watch bison block the road, pan for gold and go on cave tours. The cost is long hours in the car.

Winter Park is simpler. Its big ski school, gentle slopes and compact village make it easy for families in winter, with tubing and an alpine slide as extras. Altitude can disturb children's sleep for the first nights, and there is little to do indoors when it rains.

Winter Park is easier without your own car. A free shuttle links the ski base, the town and Fraser, so a ski week works on foot and by bus, although trailheads and the national park still need a car, and getting there from Denver means crossing Berthoud Pass.

In Rapid City a car is essential. The city buses do not go to Mount Rushmore or the parks, and seasonal tours are the only alternative. Driving is easy there, though, and the Needles Highway and Iron Mountain Road are part of the pleasure of the trip.

Rapid City has things worth taking home. Its local speciality is Black Hills gold jewellery with grape-leaf designs, and downtown shops sell Lakota quillwork, beadwork and star quilts alongside Western boots and hats. Winter Park's shops deal in ski tuning, bike repairs and forgotten outdoor gear, and for anything else you go to Denver.

Rapid City is the cheaper of the two. Motels and meals cost less, and many sights are free, but you have to pay for a hire car and fuel, and rooms get very expensive during the summer peak and rally week in August.

Winter Park in ski season adds up quickly with lift tickets, rentals, lessons and resort-priced dinners. Condos with kitchens in Fraser help, and summer is far cheaper, with free trails and lower lodging rates.

Rapid City has a modest but regular programme. The Black Hills Symphony Orchestra performs a season, the civic centre hosts touring Broadway shows and rodeos, a playhouse in Custer State Park stages plays in summer, and the large autumn powwow is the most memorable performance on offer.

Winter Park has free summer concerts on the grass in the town park and bands in the après-ski bars, with no theatre at all.

Winter Park is better for winding down. Most lodges and condos have a hot tub, a few spas offer massage, and at Hot Sulphur Springs, half an hour west, mineral pools step down a hillside above the Colorado River. The quieter weeks of late spring and autumn suit a slow stay best.

Rapid City's main option is the historic spring-fed pool at Hot Springs, an hour south, which has drawn bathers since the 1890s. Otherwise, rest there means a quiet cabin in the hills.