Winter Park, Colorado or Copper Mountain?

Neither is a place to swim. At Copper the largest reservoir nearby is used for boating, so swimming means a heated lodge pool or a hot tub.

Winter Park has Grand Lake and the Granby reservoirs for paddling, though the snowmelt water stays cold. It also has the one real option for getting into warm water: the hot springs pools down the valley.

Both serve resort food to feed a day on the mountain, and neither has a local cuisine. At Copper that means mid-mountain burgers and chilli and a few pizza, Mexican and pub places in the village. Many visitors cook in their condos or drive to the restaurant streets of Frisco or Breckenridge.

Winter Park has a little more character of its own. You'll find green chile and breakfast burritos before the lifts open, craft breweries, and a few dinner rooms serving elk and Rocky Mountain trout, with neighbouring Fraser adding some choice.

Copper Mountain has no history of its own to visit. It is a modern resort village of condos and lodges around the lift base, and the mining-era streets and old mine works nearby belong to the towns next door.

Winter Park has a small story to tell. The city of Denver opened the ski area in the late 1930s, the Moffat Tunnel gives the valley its railway history, and a ranch museum in Fraser covers the homesteaders. It fills an hour rather than a day, so for proper museums you still drive to Denver from either base.

Both resorts are après-ski and then early to bed, with no clubs. At Copper the bars at the base of the lifts and the village plaza are busy on winter weekends. If you want a later night, Breckenridge's main street is half an hour away.

Winter Park lasts a little longer into the evening. After the base-village bars, skiers move on to pubs and brewery taprooms along the main road. Even so, with a crowd of families and people chasing first chair, it is quiet by late evening.

Both are excellent mountain bases, and the difference is in kind. Copper's terrain separates neatly by ability, with treeless bowls high on the Tenmile Range, and other Summit County ski areas plus Vail are a short drive away. In summer you can walk the Colorado Trail, ride the paved path over Vail Pass, or climb fourteen-thousand-foot peaks such as Mount Elbert.

Winter Park offers two linked mountains: groomed cruisers on one side and Mary Jane's steep bumps and trees on the other. It adds valley cross-country tracks and backcountry on Berthoud Pass. In summer its lift-served bike park and Fraser's singletrack lead the way, and you can see moose and elk in Rocky Mountain National Park about an hour north.

Copper is clearly better placed for outings. Breckenridge's Victorian main street and the weathered silver-boom town of Leadville are each about half an hour away. Vail's Alpine-style village lies just over Vail Pass, and Georgetown's narrow-gauge railway and Denver are reachable along the interstate.

From Winter Park, Georgetown and Idaho Springs are an hour over Berthoud Pass. Grand Lake's boardwalk and Hot Sulphur Springs are the closer choices. Winter storms on the pass roads can upset plans more easily than on Copper's routes.

Both work well for families, with large children's ski schools and easy learning terrain. At Copper the village core is car-free. Its indoor action-sports centre with trampolines and foam pits is a useful rainy-day fallback, but the village is higher, so altitude headaches need more watching.

Winter Park's compact base adds sleigh rides and a skating rink in winter, and an alpine slide, mini golf and climbing walls in summer. On a wet day, though, there is little to do indoors.

Copper is a little easier without a car. Walkways, lifts and a free shuttle link its villages, and free county buses run to Frisco and on to Breckenridge and Keystone. Arriving still means about two hours on I-70 from Denver.

Winter Park's free shuttle covers the base, town and Fraser. But lodgings are spread along the highway, and trailheads, Grand Lake and the national park need a car. The drive in crosses Berthoud Pass, where you need winter tyres in snow.

Shopping at both is practical: rental, outdoor gear and some resort clothing. The difference is how close the alternatives are. From Copper, the outlet mall at Silverthorne and Breckenridge's galleries and boutiques are short drives. From Winter Park, anything beyond bike shops and souvenirs means going to Denver.

Copper Mountain is the dearer base in winter, though it stays below the grandest resorts in its own neighbourhood, Vail among them. Lift access, slope-side lodging, equipment rental and meals in the village all add up, and cooking in a condo kitchen is the main way to keep the bill down.

Winter Park goes a little further, but eating out there is no bargain. Restaurants charge resort prices, and there is little cheap everyday food to fall back on. Lessons and rentals for a whole family also add up. At both resorts, the quieter shoulder seasons are much easier on the budget than a winter week.

Neither has a theatre or concert hall, so live music is mostly summer outdoor shows and acoustic sets at après-ski. Copper puts on concert weekends on its village plaza, with Breckenridge's summer classical season and small theatre nearby. Winter Park has free concerts and the occasional festival in its town park, but for a full programme you have to go to Denver.

Winter Park is clearly the better place to unwind. Hot Sulphur Springs is about half an hour west, with pools of different temperatures above the Colorado River. There are also spas for massage at the resort and at a guest ranch, and the slower weeks of late spring and autumn are especially calm.

At Copper, relaxing comes down to an outdoor hot tub facing the slopes and the athletic club's pools and massages. The nearest hot springs are a long drive away, and the higher village is more likely to disturb your sleep for the first nights.