South Lake Tahoe or Telluride?

South Lake Tahoe has real beaches. Pope, Baldwin and Kiva have sand and pines on the edge of town, and the boulder coves of Sand Harbor are round the east shore, though the water stays cold and swimming is really a July and August activity. Telluride has nothing like it: the nearest place to bathe is a reservoir near Ridgway an hour away, and summer time on the water there means rafting or fishing rather than lying on a shore.

Neither is a place to travel for the food, but Telluride eats better. Its handful of serious kitchens on Colorado Avenue and in Mountain Village cook Colorado lamb, elk and trout with real care, and the wine lists are deeper than such a small town suggests.

In South Lake Tahoe, eating out means casino steakhouses and buffets, plus brewpubs and taquerias along Highway 50. Local craft beer is the highlight, and a cabin kitchen is often the safer bet. In both towns, a week's stay means going back to the same few places.

Neither has much to see indoors, so the difference is in kind. Telluride's whole town is the sight: a National Historic Landmark district of clapboard houses and brick blocks from the mining boom, with mine ruins on the cliffs above, so an evening stroll doubles as sightseeing.

In South Lake Tahoe the history is in a few places along the shore, the Tallac estates and Vikingsholm on Emerald Bay, which date from the lake's days as a summer retreat for wealthy San Franciscans. The town itself is motels and casino towers.

South Lake Tahoe has the later nights, because the casino floors and bars at Stateline stay open all night and a club or two fill up on busy weekends. There is still little choice and no bar district, and anyone after a proper night out drives to Reno.

In Telluride, evenings mean après-ski and the historic saloons on Colorado Avenue. They are lively on festival weekends and in peak ski weeks, but there are no clubs, and the rest of the time the town is quiet early.

Both are first-rate mountain bases, so the choice is between a lake and a canyon. South Lake Tahoe centres on the water: Emerald Bay, kayaking on glassy mornings, the granite lake basins of Desolation Wilderness and the Rim Trail along the ridges. In winter, Heavenly's gondola rises straight from Stateline.

Telluride is higher and steeper, with peaks over 4,000m and Bridal Veil Falls at the end of the valley. There is a via ferrata on the canyon wall, old mining roads over Imogene Pass for four-wheel driving, and steep hike-to ski terrain. Allow a day or two to get used to the altitude.

South Lake Tahoe has more within reach, on easier roads. Virginia City and Carson City are over the mountains, Coloma and the Amador wine country are down Highway 50, and Reno or a loop round the lake are other options. None is a highlight, but they fill a bad-weather day.

From Telluride the choice is Ridgway, Ouray and Silverton on high mountain roads that winter can close. The cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde are the one major site, at the very edge of a day out.

South Lake Tahoe is the easier choice with children, largely because of summer. There are shallow sandy beaches, paddleboards, bike paths through the pines and the autumn salmon run at Taylor Creek, plus ski schools and sledding hills in winter. Keep children away from the casino strip, and expect snowbound days with nothing to do indoors.

Telluride is small and safe, with a good ski school and a free gondola that children love. But there is no swimming, the cost is high, and the altitude can disturb young children's sleep for the first few nights, so it suits active families with deeper pockets.

Telluride is far easier once you arrive. You can walk across the historic grid in a quarter of an hour, and the free gondola and buses mean many visitors never use a car during their stay. The catch is getting there: the local airport is often hit by weather, and the larger ones are one to two hours' drive away.

South Lake Tahoe is spread along the shore. Only the core around Stateline is walkable, so beaches, trailheads and the other ski areas need a car, and summer weekend traffic on Highway 50 and around Emerald Bay crawls.

Telluride is the nicer place to browse. Colorado Avenue has galleries, Western clothing and jewellery boutiques and a couple of good bookshops, though nothing worth planning a day around. South Lake Tahoe's shopping is practical: gear rental, supermarket runs for the cabin and souvenir shops at the gondola base, plus a few galleries selling lake photography.

South Lake Tahoe is expensive at peak times but offers real ways to save. Casino hotels on the Nevada side discount heavily midweek and in spring and autumn, and cabins with kitchens cut the cost of meals.

Telluride has few such ways out. Rooms are scarce and priced for second-home owners, and lift tickets, guided activities and meals all cost top prices. The cheaper beds in Ridgway mean a daily drive. On a limited budget, Tahoe is the realistic choice.

Telluride has more live music and performance, built around its summer festivals. The Bluegrass Festival has been held in Town Park since the 1970s, and summer adds jazz, blues and chamber music, with the film festival over Labor Day weekend. The Sheridan Opera House has shows all year.

South Lake Tahoe's live entertainment comes mainly from the casino showrooms, with touring rock, country and comedy acts. In summer you can add concerts at the Tallac estates and Shakespeare on the beach at Sand Harbor. Outside summer, both are thin.

Neither town has its own bathing tradition, so both rely on hotel spas aimed at skiers and on hot springs a drive away. Telluride's Mountain Village hotels have full spas, and the Ouray public pool and the springs near Ridgway are about an hour away. South Lake Tahoe's Carson Valley springs are half an hour over the pass, Grover Hot Springs sits in an alpine meadow, and quiet lakeside mornings in the pines are its other way to unwind.