Steamboat Springs or Telluride?

Neither town is a place to swim, and the water in both is mountain-cold. The difference is distance. In Steamboat, summer water starts in town, with tubing on the Yampa, and Steamboat Lake and Stagecoach reservoirs are a short drive away for a brave dip in July or August.

In Telluride, the nearest swimming spot is a reservoir near Ridgway, about an hour away, so summer water there mostly means rafting or fishing the San Miguel.

Telluride eats a notch better. A handful of ambitious kitchens on Colorado Avenue and in Mountain Village cook with elk, trout and Western Slope produce, and the wine lists go deeper than a town that size would suggest. Steamboat's Lincoln Avenue and ski base offer hearty ranch-country food: steakhouses, Colorado lamb and beef, Mexican places, pizza and local breweries.

In both towns the range is narrow, there is no street food and no market, and a week means going back to the same places. In Telluride, book ahead for festival weekends and peak ski weeks.

Telluride has the more striking townscape. Its whole grid of clapboard houses and false-fronted blocks from the silver and gold boom is a National Historic Landmark, and the ruins of old mills cling to the canyon walls above. The museum, in the old miners' hospital, covers the mines and the labour wars.

Steamboat's story is ranching and skiing. You see it in the old western storefronts, the Tread of Pioneers Museum and Howelsen Hill, the in-town ski jump that trained generations of Olympians. Either town takes an hour or two at most.

Evenings are much alike: après-ski as the lifts close, then saloons and bars, with no clubs and quiet nights out of season. In Steamboat the crowd starts at the gondola base and drifts downtown to the brewpubs on Lincoln Avenue. Telluride's evenings centre on Victorian saloons on Colorado Avenue, and on summer festival weekends its main street can stay lively later than anything Steamboat offers.

Both are first-rate mountain towns, and the outdoors is the reason to visit either. Steamboat's terrain is broader and gentler. It is famous for dry Champagne Powder and tree skiing through aspen glades, with backcountry on Rabbit Ears Pass, bike trails on Emerald Mountain, fly fishing on the Yampa, the lakes of the Mount Zirkel Wilderness, and elk and moose along the way.

Telluride is steeper and more theatrical. Peaks above 4,000m rise straight from the end of the main street, Bridal Veil Falls is in walking distance, and you can climb a via ferrata on the canyon wall or take a jeep over Imogene Pass. The skiing includes hike-to terrain, and the town sits about 600m higher than Steamboat.

Telluride has better places within reach. Ridgway is under an hour away, the canyon town of Ouray and the narrow-gauge railway town of Silverton are each a scenic drive, and the cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde make one long but worthwhile day.

From Steamboat, the nearby towns are small ranching places like Hayden and Oak Creek, Vail is about two hours away and Denver about three. Excursions there mean heading into the hills rather than visiting another town.

Steamboat is the more family-friendly town. Howelsen Hill gives children a quiet place for first turns, Old Town Hot Springs has slides and a climbing wall for days off the slopes, and summer adds tubing, the rodeo and short waterfall walks. Its lower altitude is also easier on small children.

Telluride has a good ski school, and children love the free gondola ride. But wet days leave little to do indoors, the higher altitude can bring headaches and poor sleep, and the cost weighs heavily on a family budget.

Telluride is far easier once you have arrived. The historic grid takes a quarter of an hour to cross on foot, the free gondola climbs to Mountain Village and the ski area, and many visitors never use a car. Getting there is harder, though: the local airport is prone to weather delays, and the bigger airports are one to two hours away.

Steamboat is split between downtown and the ski base, a few kilometres apart and linked by bus. Strawberry Park, Fish Creek Falls and the lakes all need a car, ideally one fitted for snowy roads in winter.

Neither town is worth a trip for the shopping, and both amount to a pleasant browse along one main street. Steamboat's has a working western character, with boots, hats and saddle-blanket goods, and F.M. Light & Sons is as much a landmark as a store. Telluride's Colorado Avenue is more upmarket, with galleries, jewellery boutiques, a couple of good bookshops and pricier resort shops in Mountain Village.

Both are expensive, but Steamboat is the one that can be managed. Its summer and shoulder seasons are noticeably cheaper, self-catering condos are common, and free buses and trails help keep costs down.

Telluride is among the costliest places to stay in North America. Rooms are scarce and priced for second-home owners, and festival weekends push them higher still. The cheaper option is to stay in Ridgway, but that means driving in every day.

Both towns save their music for summer, but Telluride's calendar carries more weight. The Bluegrass Festival in Town Park, under the canyon walls, is one of the best known in the genre, and there are also jazz, blues and chamber festivals and the famous film festival at Labor Day. The Sheridan Opera House keeps shows going through the rest of the year.

Steamboat has the Strings Music Festival in its pavilion, free outdoor concerts and student theatre and dance at Perry-Mansfield. In winter, both towns quieten to bar bands and the odd touring show.

Hot water gives Steamboat the clear edge. The town is named after a chugging spring, Old Town Hot Springs sits in the centre, and the rock-lined pools of Strawberry Park are about 11km up the valley, at their best on a snowy evening.

Telluride is calm and its Mountain Village hotels have full spas, but the nearest springs are about an hour away in Ouray and near Ridgway. The higher altitude also makes the first nights restless for some visitors.