Sun Valley or Vail?

Neither town has a beach, but Sun Valley at least has one proper lake shore. Redfish Lake, under the Sawtooths about an hour north, has sand to sit on, and closer to town there are reservoirs and calm pools on the Big Wood, though the water is cold all summer.

In Vail the choice is narrower: small mountain lakes and reservoirs that are better for paddling than swimming, so a hotel pool is the realistic option.

The two are evenly matched, with resort cooking for a wealthy crowd built on local lamb, elk and trout, no cheap end, and many kitchens shut in the quiet spring and autumn weeks. The difference is in the setting. Sun Valley's restaurants are in Ketchum, a small working town where breakfast places fill early on ski mornings and summer means patios and a farmers' market.

Vail's dining is more polished and more international, with fondue rooms, sushi counters, wine-heavy hotel dining rooms and lodges on the mountain for lunch between runs, plus craft beer from Colorado breweries.

Neither town is a place for sightseeing, but Sun Valley's few sights have more history to them. The 1936 lodge, built by the Union Pacific railroad as America's first destination ski resort with the world's first chairlifts, still has its corridors of photographs of film stars, and Hemingway's grave and memorial are in Ketchum.

Vail is a 1960s creation whose chalets and covered bridges imitate a Tyrolean village. Its real draw is the Colorado Snowsports Museum, with the story of the Tenth Mountain Division, and in summer the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens.

Vail is the better choice for a night out. Après-ski fills the terraces of Vail Village and Lionshead as the lifts close, and on winter weekends a few bars and a small club stay open past midnight, with an affluent, festive crowd.

Sun Valley's evenings are shorter and plainer: a handful of saloons, wine bars and hotel lounges in Ketchum, a couple of loud old western bars and no club at all. Outside winter and midsummer, both towns go quiet after dinner.

Both are outstanding mountain bases, and the choice comes down to character. Sun Valley's Bald Mountain is all steep, long fall-line skiing straight above town, and in summer the valley offers dense singletrack, Silver Creek's spring-creek fly fishing and, an hour north, the jagged Sawtooths with their alpine lakes and climbing and rafting on the Salmon.

Vail's ski area is far larger, with groomed front-side runs and the open Back Bowls and Blue Sky Basin behind. In summer gondolas lift hikers and bikers straight to high trails, and the Gore Range and Holy Cross wilderness have peaks above 4,000m. The town lies at about 2,500m, so altitude is felt more on arrival.

Vail has much more within driving range. Beaver Creek is next door, Breckenridge's Victorian main street is under an hour over the pass, Leadville's brick silver-boom streets make a good half day, and Glenwood Springs, about an hour down the canyon, has the most to offer for a day out.

From Sun Valley the options are thin: Hailey's small main street, the log-cabin outpost of Stanley beyond the Sawtooths, and Shoshone Falls about two hours south. Most outings there head into the hills rather than to other towns.

Vail is the better choice for families. Its ski schools are larger, it has dedicated children's terrain, and the pedestrian village is easy with a pushchair. In summer the gondola-top area adds ropes courses, a mountain coaster and tubing, which is the kind of activity built for children that Sun Valley lacks.

Sun Valley still works for families who ski. It has a separate gentle hill for learners, a well-run school, quiet streets, an outdoor ice rink and horse rides. Rainy days are harder to fill, though, and teenagers who don't ski may find it dull.

Both towns let you spend a ski week without a car, but Vail makes it easier. Its village core is pedestrian, the lifts and gondolas leave from town, and a free bus runs the length of the valley. Regional buses also continue further down the valley.

In Sun Valley a free bus links Ketchum, the village and the lift bases, and a paved bike path follows the valley. Beyond that everything, from the Sawtooths to the hot springs, needs a car, and the larger airports are a long and sometimes snowy drive away.

Vail offers a little more for a shopper, with longer pedestrian lanes in two villages selling luxury ski clothing, fur and leather, jewellery, Western boots and hats, and landscape galleries. It is still narrow and expensive.

Sun Valley's shopping fits into a few blocks of Ketchum. Its strengths are fine and western art galleries, which hold evening gallery walks in the main seasons, and specialist fly-fishing and outdoor gear shops.

Neither is a place for a tight budget, and there is little to choose between them. In Sun Valley the wealthy second-home community sets the price of rooms, meals and lift access. Peak ski weeks and midsummer are both expensive, and there is little budget lodging anywhere in the valley.

In Vail the cost is mostly the ski week itself: slopeside lodging, lift tickets, ski school and equipment hire, all at their highest in peak winter. Summer lodging rates are lower there. In both towns the quiet spring and autumn months, a bed further down the valley and the free buses take a little off the bill.

Both are summer-only for live performance, but Vail's season is broader. Bravo! Vail brings major orchestras to the open-air Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater, and the Vail Dance Festival and a long-running jazz festival add ballet, contemporary dance and late-summer jazz.

Sun Valley focuses on its music festival, a professional orchestra playing free concerts in a pavilion on the lodge lawn, along with the long tradition of star skaters performing on the outdoor rink. In both towns there is little outside July and August.

The two are close. Both have polished hotel spas, outdoor heated pools or hot tubs and a quiet pace once the lifts shut. Sun Valley adds natural soaking within easy reach: rough, undeveloped hot springs beside the creek up the Warm Springs valley, which feel nothing like a spa, and a simple hot springs pool north of town.

In Vail, soaking is limited to the hotel spas, with massage, saunas, steam rooms and outdoor hot tubs under the peaks. For natural springs you drive an hour down the canyon to Glenwood Springs, whose large mineral pools and vapour caves have been in use since the 1800s.