Winter Park, Colorado or Breckenridge?

Neither town is a place to swim. Both sit high in the Rockies, and their lakes are fed by cold snowmelt.

The difference is only in the lakes nearby. Breckenridge has Lake Dillon for sailing and paddling. Winter Park has Grand Lake and the Granby reservoirs, which have small shorelines. In both towns, swimming in practice means a pool or a hot tub.

Breckenridge eats better. Main Street and its side lanes have more range, from sushi counters to chef-led kitchens cooking with Colorado lamb, elk and bison. The town brews its own beer and distils its own whiskey.

Winter Park's food is simpler: burgers at the slopeside lodges, barbecue and pizza along the highway, and a few steak and trout dining rooms. Neither town is a reason to travel for food, but Breckenridge gives a week of dinners more variety.

Breckenridge has a real story to walk through. Its 1859 gold-rush historic district has painted Victorian storefronts and miners' cabins, and there is a mine tour where you can pan for gold. It fills an afternoon rather than a programme, but it is something.

Winter Park has almost nothing to set against that. It has the railway history of the Moffat Tunnel and a small ranch museum in Fraser. For anything more, you drive to Denver.

Both towns start the evening with après-ski. In Breckenridge it carries on further, through brewpubs and saloons in old Victorian buildings, and a couple of dance bars stay open past midnight on winter weekends.

Winter Park's crowd is mostly families and early risers. After the base-village bars and a few taprooms along the highway, the town is quiet by late evening. Neither has clubs, and both go very quiet out of season.

Both are outstanding mountain bases. Breckenridge spreads across five peaks of the Tenmile Range, has Keystone, Copper and Arapahoe Basin close by, and Quandary Peak, one of Colorado's 4,000m summits, is a short drive away. A paved path runs to Frisco and Lake Dillon for cycling.

Winter Park's strengths lie elsewhere. Mary Jane's steep bumps and tree runs suit expert skiers, the lift-served bike park is famous, and the west side of Rocky Mountain National Park, with its moose and elk, is an hour north. Both towns sit high enough for altitude to slow you down for the first day or two.

Breckenridge has slightly more within reach. Leadville, a silver-boom town with a national mining museum, is over Hoosier Pass, Vail Village is under an hour west, and Georgetown and Idaho Springs lie along the interstate.

Winter Park reaches the same two mining towns over Berthoud Pass. It adds Grand Lake's boardwalk, Hot Sulphur Springs, and a shorter drive to Denver and Boulder. From either town, a winter storm on the passes can decide the day.

Both work well for families who come to ski, with large children's ski schools, gentle beginner slopes and summer alpine slides and climbing walls. Altitude can trouble small children in either town for the first nights.

The difference is the layout. Winter Park's compact base village keeps everything a short walk from the lifts, and it adds snow tubing and sleigh rides. Breckenridge has a free gondola from town and a recreation centre with pools and an ice rink, which helps on a bad-weather day.

Breckenridge is much easier once you are there. The historic centre is walkable, the free gondola links Main Street to the slopes, and free county buses reach Frisco, Keystone and Copper Mountain. Arriving is harder: there is no train, so it is a shuttle or a car over I-70 from Denver.

Winter Park also has a free shuttle, but its lodgings are spread along several kilometres of highway, and its main street is a road rather than a place to stroll. Trailheads and the national park need a car. Its advantage is the railway through the Moffat Tunnel, a link Breckenridge lacks: long-distance trains stop at Fraser, and a seasonal ski train runs from Denver to the base.

Breckenridge has more to browse. Its Main Street courtyards hold galleries of Western landscapes, boutiques and sweet shops alongside the ski stores, and the Silverthorne outlets are a short drive away.

Winter Park's shops are purely practical: rental and tuning shops, bike shops and a few souvenir stores, useful for a forgotten glove and not much more.

Neither is cheap in ski season, but Winter Park costs noticeably less. It is priced below Colorado's glamour resorts, and condos and motels in Fraser bring lodging down further.

Breckenridge charges full ski-vacation prices, and the Christmas, New Year and spring-break weeks cost the most. Staying in Frisco or Silverthorne helps. Summer brings both towns down to something far more reasonable.

Breckenridge has a proper summer season. The open-sided Riverwalk Center by the Blue River hosts a festival orchestra and a national orchestra academy in July and August, and a local theatre company stages plays most of the year.

Winter Park offers free concerts in the town park in summer and bands in the après bars. For theatre or a concert hall, you drive to Denver.

Winter Park is the better place to unwind. It has hot tubs at most lodgings, a few spas, and above all Hot Sulphur Springs, whose terraced mineral pools are about half an hour away.

Breckenridge has fuller hotel spas, but its nearest natural springs are an hour off at Idaho Springs, and its winter pace is more relentless. In both towns, late spring and autumn are the calmest weeks.