Sun Valley or Winter Park, Colorado?

Neither town is anywhere near the sea, so think of swimming as a summer extra. Sun Valley has the better of it: Redfish Lake under the Sawtooths has a sandy shore worth the hour's drive on a hot August day, though the water is bracing, and the resort's heated outdoor pools are reliable all year.

In Winter Park the snowmelt lakes around Granby and Grand Lake are for paddling and boating rather than swimming, and most people end up in a hotel pool or the hot springs down the valley.

Ketchum eats better than you would expect of a small resort town. Beside the après-ski grills, a few serious kitchens cook Idaho trout, lamb and elk for a well-heeled crowd, and summer brings a farmers' market and patio tables.

Winter Park is plainer: burgers and green chile at the slopeside lodges, barbecue and pizza along the highway, breakfast burritos before first chair and a couple of craft breweries. It does the job after a day outside, but you will not plan evenings around it the way you might in Ketchum.

Neither is a sightseeing destination, but Sun Valley has more of a story to tell. As the Union Pacific's 1936 resort with the world's first chairlifts, it keeps that past alive in the lodge's corridors of film-star photographs, and Hemingway's grave and his memorial by Trail Creek bring in literary pilgrims. A local history museum and galleries fill an afternoon.

Winter Park's heritage comes down to the Moffat Tunnel's railway history and a small ranch museum in Fraser, so a proper museum day means driving to Denver.

Evenings are much the same size in both: après-ski, then an early night. Sun Valley's version is a little more grown-up, with wine bars and hotel lounges, plus a couple of old western saloons that stay loud until closing.

Winter Park's scene centres on crowded base-village bars and brewery taprooms on the main road. It gets cheerful on winter weekends and during spring break, but the family crowd thins out early.

Both are first-rate mountain bases, so the choice comes down to the kind of terrain you want. Bald Mountain is one long, steep, unbroken fall-line descent above Ketchum, and summer opens up fly fishing on the Big Wood and Silver Creek, the jagged Sawtooths with their alpine lakes, and rafting on the Salmon.

Winter Park spreads across two linked mountains, cruisers on one and Mary Jane's bumps and trees on the other, with a season that often runs deep into spring. In summer its lift-served bike park is the big draw, and Rocky Mountain National Park, with moose and high tundra, is about an hour away.

Winter Park is far better placed for a day away. Over Berthoud Pass, Georgetown and Idaho Springs have Victorian brick main streets and a narrow-gauge railway, Grand Lake has its boardwalk, and Denver and Boulder are close enough for a museum day, as long as winter storms leave the pass open.

From Sun Valley the choices are thin: Hailey's short main street, the log-cabin outpost of Stanley, and Shoshone Falls about two hours south. Most outings here head into the wilderness rather than to another town.

Winter Park is the more natural family choice. Its large children's ski school and gentle base slopes sit in a compact village a short walk from the lifts, and tubing, sleigh rides, an alpine slide, mini golf and climbing walls fill the hours off the slopes. Altitude headaches on the first night are the main thing to watch for.

Sun Valley works well for families who already ski or hike. It has a separate beginners' hill and a good ski school, but less is laid on for children, and teenagers who don't ski may find it quiet.

Both run a free bus that makes a ski week possible without a car, and both need one for trailheads and hot springs. The difference is in the layout. Ketchum's small, flat grid is pleasant to walk, and a paved bike path runs the length of the valley.

Winter Park's lodgings are strung out along a highway rather than gathered around a centre. In return it is a single mountain drive or shuttle from Denver's airport, while Sun Valley relies on the small airport at Hailey or a long drive from a bigger one.

Sun Valley gives you something to browse. A few blocks of Ketchum hold fine and western art galleries, good fly-fishing and ski shops, and boutiques selling cashmere and western wear to second-home owners, though the range is narrow and expensive.

Winter Park's shops cover rentals, tuning, bikes and souvenirs and little else, so they are useful for a forgotten pair of gloves and not much more.

Neither is cheap, but Winter Park is the easier one on the wallet. Condos and motels in Fraser cost less than the base village, kitchens cut the food bill, and summer brings much lower lodging rates and free trails.

Sun Valley's prices are set by a wealthy second-home community, and there is little budget lodging anywhere in the valley. Staying down the valley in Hailey or coming in the quiet shoulder months helps, but the bill stays high.

Summer evenings in Sun Valley have a real cultural fixture. For several weeks the Sun Valley Music Festival puts a full orchestra in the open pavilion by the lodge, free to anyone with a picnic blanket, and star figure skaters perform on the outdoor rink, as they have since the resort's early years.

Winter Park offers free concerts in the town park and the occasional festival, which make pleasant evenings but nothing on that scale. In winter, both towns have little beyond a band in a bar.

The two offer about the same amount of rest, in different settings. Sun Valley leans on its resort spas and steaming outdoor pools, which are at their best in falling snow, and for a wilder soak there are rough creekside hot springs up the Warm Springs valley.

Winter Park's best bathing is at Hot Sulphur Springs, half an hour away, where mineral pools step down a hillside above the Colorado River. Back in the valley, most condos have their own hot tub for the end of the day.