Vail or Beaver Creek?

Neither place has water worth travelling for, since both sit high in the Rockies a very long way from the sea. Beaver Creek's families can use the small sandy swimming area at Nottingham Lake down in Avon, while in Vail people paddle at small mountain lakes and reservoirs. In both, the water stays cold even in midsummer, so a heated hotel pool is the usual place to swim.

The food is much the same in both: polished resort dining with elk, Colorado lamb and trout and long wine lists. Beaver Creek's highlight is the experience. You can ride a chairlift or a snowcat sleigh up to dinner at an on-mountain lodge, and for cheap everyday meals you head down to the taquerias and diners of Avon and Edwards.

Vail has a slightly wider spread of styles in its two villages, with fondue rooms, sushi counters, steakhouses and plenty of Colorado craft beer, plus a farmers' market in summer. In the quiet spring and autumn weeks, many of those kitchens close.

Neither resort has much in the way of sights. Both are planned resorts with no real history behind them: Beaver Creek dates from around 1980, with stone-and-timber lodges and outdoor art around the plaza, while Vail's 1960s gabled chalets and covered bridges imitate a Tyrolean town. Vail does have slightly more to visit, with the Colorado Snowsports Museum and its story of the Tenth Mountain Division, and the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens in summer.

This is one of the clearest differences between the two. In Vail, après-ski fills the terraces and slopeside bars of Vail Village and Lionshead as the lifts close, and on winter weekends a few bars and a small club stay open past midnight. The crowd is well-off and the mood festive rather than wild.

Beaver Creek's evening is a drink by a fire pit on the plaza, dinner and then bed, with only a few hotel lounges open later. Guests who want more drive the twenty minutes to Vail. Both resorts go very quiet in the spring and autumn off-seasons.

Both are superb mountain bases, and the difference is in the style of skiing. Vail is about size, with groomed front-side runs above the village and the open Back Bowls and Blue Sky Basin behind them. Beaver Creek is known for empty slopes, with long cruisers and steep glades linked to Bachelor Gulch and Arrowhead, and Vail's terrain is only a short ride away when you want more.

In summer the two share the same country: the Holy Cross Wilderness and the Gore Range for hiking, the Eagle River for fly-fishing and the gold aspens of autumn. Beaver Creek is slightly closer to Glenwood Canyon, while Vail's gondolas start straight from town.

The two resorts are about twenty minutes apart, so the outings on offer are largely the same, and each counts the other as a day out. Vail is a little better placed for Breckenridge's gold-rush main street over the pass and for Leadville's old brick streets and opera house. From Beaver Creek, the spa town of Glenwood Springs is slightly closer to the west. Either way the towns are similar in character, and you will need a car to reach them.

Beaver Creek is the more thoughtfully family-friendly of the two. Covered escalators take you up from the car parks, there is an outdoor ice rink, warm cookies are handed out at the end of the ski day, and the plaza is compact enough for older children to roam on their own. In summer there is a hilltop adventure area with ropes courses and climbing.

Vail also has large ski schools, gentle learning areas and a mountain coaster and tubing at the top of the gondola, but it is a bigger, busier place. Neither resort has a zoo or aquarium for a bad-weather day, and the altitude tires small children in both.

Vail is easier to manage without a car. The gondolas leave from town and a free bus runs the length of the valley, so many visitors spend a week without driving at all.

Beaver Creek works well within the resort, with outdoor escalators, ski-in ski-out lodging and free shuttles to Avon. Anything beyond that, from day trips to supermarket runs, is simpler by car. Eagle airport is about half an hour away, and from both resorts Denver is roughly two hours over passes that winter storms can close.

Vail has more shops, spread along the pedestrian lanes of two villages. You will find technical ski and outdoor wear, fur and leather, Western boots and hats, jewellery and galleries, which makes it a reasonable place to buy gear or a luxury souvenir. Beaver Creek has a small cluster of shops around its plaza, best known for galleries selling bronze sculpture, and is good for an hour's browsing on a rest day. Both are expensive and limited, and for everyday shopping you drive down the valley or to Denver.

Neither resort can be done on a budget: lodging, lift tickets, ski school and meals are expensive in both. The ways to save are also similar: stay down the valley in Avon or Edwards, come in summer or the off-season, and buy lift passes early. Vail's free town bus means you can skip a hire car, while Beaver Creek's luxury hotels and condos leave even fewer cheaper options in the village itself.

The valley's biggest summer events take place in Vail. The Bravo! Vail festival brings major orchestras to the open-air Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater, where you can picnic on the lawn with the mountains behind the stage, and the Vail Dance Festival and a jazz festival fill the rest of summer.

In winter, though, Beaver Creek offers more. Its intimate Vilar Performing Arts Center has touring concerts, comedy, dance and family shows through the ski season, when Vail has little beyond après-ski bands.

Beaver Creek is the more restful of the two. Its resort spas are among the biggest in the Rockies, and the car-free village has little to keep anyone up late.

Vail's hotel spas offer the same massage, saunas and outdoor hot tubs under the peaks, but the town is livelier on peak weekends. Glenwood Springs is about an hour from either resort, and its large mineral pools and vapour caves have drawn bathers since the 1800s.