With a permanent population of around 700, the first word that springs to mind when describing Winter Park is small. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, and leads to something of a contradiction - it neither possesses the critical mass to support a vibrant, lively, have everything resort, nor comes close enough to the size where you would expect it to. It's small town mountain America, plain and simple.

The main, and only, centre of Winter Park comprises a string of small, mainly family owned businesses on either side of the highway that runs though the town. It's almost a blink and you miss it kind of place, but there's a distinct lack of pretention and belief that it's really anything else - here what you see is what you get; a town where debate rages about whether the new Starbucks is good or bad, where a date is more likely to include cross country skiing than dinner and a movie and where what surrounds you is the true atraction, not the town itself.

The resort is long the terrrain of the day and family skiers, and this enhances the quiet feel of the town. Restaurants are at their busiest before eight or nine and there's not that many bars to head to for apres-ski - those which are tend to be close to the slopes. Yet there's still good variety in where to drink and dine, and there's a strong local feel here.