South Lake Tahoe or Vail?

This is South Lake Tahoe's clearest advantage. Pope, Baldwin and Kiva beaches line the south shore, Zephyr Cove and Nevada Beach are just over the state line, and the boulder coves of Sand Harbor are an easy drive. The water is cold, warming to around 20°C in the shallows only in high summer, but it is clear and inviting enough for proper swimming in July and August.

Vail has nothing comparable. The small mountain lakes and reservoirs nearby are for paddling and sunbathing on the shore, and anyone who wants to swim ends up in a hotel pool.

Neither town is a reason to travel for food, but they cater to different budgets. South Lake Tahoe has casino steakhouses, buffets and late-night diners, plus taquerias, pizza and brewpubs along Highway 50, and many visitors end up cooking in the cabin.

Vail is more polished and has no cheap end. It has fondue rooms, sushi counters and hotel dining rooms with long wine lists, with Colorado lamb, elk and trout on many menus. The catch is that many of its kitchens close in the quiet spring and autumn weeks. In both towns, local craft beer is the most distinctive thing to drink.

Both are thin on sights, and what they have differs in kind. South Lake Tahoe keeps real traces of its past as a summer retreat for wealthy San Franciscans: the estates at the Tallac Historic Site, Vikingsholm at the head of Emerald Bay, and a small museum on the Washoe people and logging. Vail's chalets and covered bridges are a 1960s imitation of a Tyrolean town. Its best indoor visit is the Colorado Snowsports Museum, which tells the story of the Tenth Mountain Division, and the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens are pleasant in summer.

Neither is a party town, but the late hours are found in different places. In South Lake Tahoe they belong to the casino towers at Stateline, where gaming floors and bars stay open all night, while the California side goes to bed early. People who want a proper night out drive to Reno.

Vail's evenings centre on après-ski. Terraces and slopeside bars in Vail Village and Lionshead fill as the lifts close, and the affluent crowd is festive rather than wild. Because the village is car-free, you can walk from one bar to the next, which South Lake Tahoe's highway strip doesn't allow. In both towns the off-season goes quiet straight after dinner.

Both towns are first-rate mountain bases, and the difference is water against altitude. South Lake Tahoe's centrepiece is the deep blue lake ringed by granite peaks. Summer there means kayaking on glassy morning water, the Flume Trail and the granite basins of the Desolation Wilderness, and Heavenly's gondola rises straight from Stateline in winter.

Vail sits about 600m higher, at around 2,500m, and has the larger ski terrain, with the Back Bowls and Blue Sky Basin behind the front side and drier powder. In summer, the Gore Range and Holy Cross wilderness areas offer serious high hiking, and the trout streams and nearby rafting rivers take the place of Tahoe's lake.

The outings from each town are of similar depth but tell different stories. From South Lake Tahoe they follow the Gold Rush and the silver boom: Virginia City's boardwalks, Genoa, Coloma where gold was found in 1848, and the Amador wine country. Reno and Sacramento are there if you want a bigger town.

From Vail you mostly visit other mountain towns. Breckenridge has its Victorian main street, Leadville its brick streets and opera house, and Glenwood Springs, down the canyon, is the most rewarding day out, with Aspen further on. Either way, you need a car.

Both work well for active families and leave little to do indoors, though summer looks different in each. In South Lake Tahoe, children can paddle in shallow lake water, cycle the bike paths through the pines and watch salmon at Taylor Creek in autumn. The casino strip is somewhere to walk past, not linger.

Vail's car-free village is easier to roam with small children. At the top of the gondola there are ropes courses, a mountain coaster and tubing. On the other hand, the altitude and deep winter cold can wear out toddlers for the first day or two.

Vail is far easier to get around. Vail Village and Lionshead are pedestrian, the lifts start in town, and a free bus runs the length of the valley, so many visitors spend a week without a car. The hard part is getting there, over a pass that can close in heavy snow.

In South Lake Tahoe, only the small core around Stateline and the gondola base is walkable. Beaches, trailheads, Emerald Bay and the other ski areas are spread out, summer weekend traffic crawls on Highway 50, and winter can bring chain controls on the roads in.

Vail has a better shopping street, though only for a narrow kind of shopper. Its pedestrian lanes sell upmarket ski clothing, leather, jewellery, Western boots and galleries of mountain landscapes, which suits anyone buying good gear or a luxury souvenir. South Lake Tahoe's shops are practical: rental stores, outdoor gear and souvenir shops by the gondola. Neither town is worth planning a shopping day around.

Neither is cheap, but South Lake Tahoe is much easier on the wallet. Casino hotels on the Nevada side discount heavily midweek and in spring and autumn, cabin kitchens keep food costs down, and the beaches and trails are free.

In Vail, lodging, lift tickets, ski school and dinners all cost far more than normal American levels, and peak winter pushes them higher still. Staying further down the valley or coming in summer helps, but only a little.

Vail's summer is in a different class. Bravo! Vail brings resident orchestras to the open-air Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater, where you can picnic on the lawn with the mountains behind the stage, and the dance and jazz festivals carry on into late summer. If you come for music, July and August are the months to plan around.

South Lake Tahoe's offer is spread across the year but lighter. Casino showrooms host touring rock and country acts, comedians and tribute shows, and summer adds Shakespeare on the beach at Sand Harbor and concerts at the Tallac estates.

Vail does in-town pampering better. Its large hotels in the village run polished spas with outdoor hot tubs under the peaks, saunas and steam rooms, and the town is quiet outside peak weekends. For a proper soak, Glenwood Springs has historic mineral pools and vapour caves about an hour away.

South Lake Tahoe's spas are mostly attached to casinos and ski lodges. Its restful side is the quiet lake shore in the morning, with Grover Hot Springs and the Carson Valley springs both within an easy afternoon's drive.