Beaver Creek or Sedona?

Neither place is a swimming destination, but Sedona at least gives you a reason to get wet. In Beaver Creek the options are a heated hotel pool or the small lake at Nottingham Park down in Avon, whose snowmelt water stays chilly.

Sedona has Oak Creek. At Slide Rock you can ride a sandstone chute into the pools, and Grasshopper Point and Red Rock Crossing have deeper holes beneath the cliffs. The water is cool and the spots fill up on hot weekends, but a creek swim after a morning hike is something the Colorado resort cannot offer.

The two eat out at much the same level, and in both you pay for the setting rather than for local cooking. Beaver Creek serves alpine resort food: elk, Colorado lamb and trout, long wine lists and dinners at on-mountain lodges reached by chairlift or snowcat sleigh. Cheaper taquerias and brewpubs are in Avon, and Vail is close.

Sedona's menus are Southwestern, built on chilli, corn and grilled meat, with plenty for vegetarians and health-minded eaters. Tables with a red rock view at sunset are the ones in demand. The Verde Valley tasting rooms add a wine-country side that Beaver Creek lacks.

Sedona has more to see, though neither is a destination for sights. Beaver Creek was built as a ski village around 1980. Its timber-and-stone plaza and outdoor art take about an hour, and the nearest real history is the old mining country further into the Rockies.

Sedona has the Chapel of the Holy Cross, built into a butte in 1956, a heritage museum about its ranching and orchard settlers, and galleries of Western and Native American art. Its strongest draw is ancient: the Sinagua cliff dwellings at Palatki and Honanki and the V Bar V petroglyphs, all a short drive into the backcountry.

Both are early-to-bed places, and neither is worth choosing for nights out. Beaver Creek's evening is après-ski by the plaza fire pits and then a hotel lounge, and Vail, nearby, has a few winter bars that stay busy later. Sedona has brewpubs and wine bars in Uptown and at the resorts, but the town goes quiet early because people hit the trails at dawn. Its best evening is stargazing under very dark skies.

These are two of the finest outdoor settings in the American West, and the real choice is snow or red rock. Beaver Creek is a ski mountain first. Its runs climb to about 3,500m and Vail's terrain is close by. In summer the lifts take hikers and bikers up into aspen forest, with the Holy Cross Wilderness, the Gore Range, fly-fishing and rafting all within reach.

Sedona's sandstone buttes rise right beside the town. Trails lead to Cathedral Rock, Devil's Bridge, Boynton Canyon and up West Fork, and there is slickrock singletrack for mountain bikers and jeep roads into the backcountry. Oak Creek Canyon and the Grand Canyon's South Rim extend the options further.

From Beaver Creek the outings are other mountain towns: Vail's pedestrian village, the Victorian silver-mining town of Leadville, gold-rush Breckenridge and the old spa town of Glenwood Springs. They are pleasant but alike, and none is a major heritage site.

Sedona has more variety close by. There is the hillside copper town of Jerome and the Verde Canyon Railroad through a roadless canyon. Montezuma Castle and Tuzigoot are both under half an hour away, and Walnut Canyon and the Wupatki pueblos lie beyond Flagstaff. The Grand Canyon is also within a long day's reach.

Beaver Creek is far easier with children. The resort was designed around family ski vacations, with a well-run ski school, gentle learning areas, an outdoor ice rink, escalators up from the car parks and the warm cookies handed out when the lifts close. In summer there are ropes courses, climbing and mini golf.

Sedona is fine for active families, with Slide Rock, the lower Bell Rock paths and jeep tours over the slickrock. Beyond those, little is aimed at children. Summer heat and exposed trails call for care, and many families treat it as one stop on a Grand Canyon trip. Neither town has a zoo or an aquarium for a wet day.

Once you arrive, Beaver Creek is much simpler. The village core is car-free, escalators link its levels, many lodgings are ski-in ski-out, and free shuttles and valley buses go to Avon and Vail. Eagle airport is about half an hour away, although the drive from Denver crosses passes that winter storms can close.

Sedona is spread along two highways that meet at the Y. Only Uptown is walkable, and the trailheads, the chapel and the day-trip towns all need a car. Weekend traffic builds, trailhead car parks fill early, and most visitors make the two-hour drive up from Phoenix.

Sedona has more to browse, and its shops have a stronger character. Tlaquepaque, an arts village laid out like a Mexican hamlet with courtyards and fountains, is full of galleries and studios. Along the main road you can buy Native American jewellery, pottery and rugs, and the crystal and metaphysical shops are a Sedona speciality.

Beaver Creek has a small, expensive cluster around its plaza: technical ski wear, western boots and leather, and galleries selling bronze sculpture. It fills a rest-day hour rather than an afternoon.

Neither suits a tight budget, but Beaver Creek is the more punishing of the two. Lift tickets, equipment rental, ski school and slopeside luxury lodging leave little room to save, and staying in Avon or Edwards or coming in summer only softens the bill.

In Sedona the hotels and restaurants are dear, but the main attraction costs little: most trails need only a parking pass, and a picnic among the rocks is cheap. Staying in Cottonwood or Flagstaff and driving in brings the cost down further.

Beaver Creek, with Vail next door, has much more live music and performance. The village's own Vilar Performing Arts Center runs a season of concerts, comedy and dance. In summer, Bravo! Vail brings leading orchestras to the open-air amphitheatre, alongside the Vail Dance Festival and a jazz series.

Sedona's calendar is small: some chamber concerts, local theatre, the long-running film festival in late winter, and acoustic sets or Native American flute in the resorts. Anyone after more drives to Flagstaff or Phoenix.

Sedona is a wellness destination in its own right. Its destination spas look onto the canyons, and yoga, meditation, breathwork and alternative therapies are everywhere. Sunrise walks to the vortexes are part of local life, and the slow pace and dark, quiet nights add to the effect.

Beaver Creek's wellness revolves around its large resort spas, with outdoor hot tubs in the snow and treatments for tired ski legs. It does have one thing Sedona lacks: real mineral hot springs at Glenwood Springs, about an hour west.