Flagstaff or Napa?

Neither place has a beach, and nobody should choose either one for swimming. Flagstaff's best option is the cold creek pools at Slide Rock in Oak Creek Canyon, which get crowded at weekends.

Napa's nearest coast at Bodega Bay is too cold and rough for bathing, so summer swimming means Lake Berryessa or, more often, a resort pool in the valley heat.

This is where the two differ most. In Napa, eating and drinking are the whole point of the trip: estate and family cellars along Highway 29 and the Silverado Trail, Carneros Pinot and sparkling wine, and a run of nationally celebrated restaurants in Yountville and St Helena that use produce from the farms around them. The Oxbow Public Market adds an easy daytime option in town.

Flagstaff eats casually. Its craft breweries downtown and in the Southside are genuinely good, and Navajo tacos and green chile add some local flavour, but otherwise it is diners, Mexican kitchens and barbecue. That is fine after a day on the trails, but it gives you nothing to plan meals around.

Flagstaff has a little more to see. The Lowell Observatory, where Pluto was discovered, makes a memorable evening, and the Museum of Northern Arizona holds a serious collection of Hopi, Navajo and Zuni art. The Riordan Mansion and the Route 66 railroad downtown fill out a day or two.

Napa's sights are mostly the 1880 Opera House, some Victorian streets, the stone wineries up the valley and contemporary art at di Rosa. Few people go there for any of it.

Neither is a party town, but Flagstaff stays up later. University students keep the downtown and Southside taprooms, cocktail bars and old Route 66 saloons busy on term-time weekends, and they are all close enough to walk between.

In Napa, a night out usually means a long dinner and one last glass at a First Street wine bar. The valley is quiet by late evening, and anything livelier means driving an hour to San Francisco.

Flagstaff is one of the great outdoor bases in the American West. You can walk alpine trails up to Humphreys Peak, ski or hike on the San Francisco Peaks, cross the cinder cones at Sunset Crater and explore an enormous ponderosa forest. Sedona's red rock and the South Rim of the Grand Canyon are within an easy drive, and the night sky is exceptionally dark.

Napa's landscape is gentler and more cultivated. It means vineyards between two ranges of hills, dawn balloon flights, a flat cycling trail, redwoods in Bothe-Napa Valley State Park and the climb up Mount St Helena. It is lovely, but it has none of Flagstaff's scale.

Napa has the richer choice of day trips. Sonoma's plaza and mission are about half an hour away, Healdsburg and the Russian River valley offer a different wine country, and San Francisco can be reached by car or by ferry from Vallejo, with Sausalito and Berkeley along the way. Sacramento's old town is a little over an hour east.

Flagstaff's outings go deeper into the past, with Sinagua ruins at Walnut Canyon and Wupatki, cliff dwellings in the Verde Valley and the ancient Hopi villages. They are more spread out, though, and every one needs a car.

Flagstaff is much better with children. It has telescope evenings at Lowell, dinosaur displays at the museum, rope courses in the pines, winter snow play and the steam train to the Grand Canyon. Just allow a day for children to get used to the altitude.

Napa is built for adults who taste wine and linger over dinner. A theme park in Vallejo, the geyser near Calistoga and hotel pools help, but the long drives and summer heat wear young children out.

You will want a car in both, but Flagstaff is a little easier without one. Its downtown and Southside are walkable, a paved urban trail network makes cycling practical, buses serve the university and long-distance trains stop downtown. Snow and ice can make the mountain roads difficult in winter.

In Napa, only the downtown is walkable. Wineries are strung along some 50km of valley, buses are too infrequent for touring, and since tasting and driving do not mix, many visitors end up paying for a driver or a tour.

Napa offers more to buy, though most of it is wine. Many visitors have cases shipped home from the cellars they visited, and the Oxbow market, the cookware and design shops on St Helena's main street and an outlet mall cover the rest.

Flagstaff's shopping is smaller but has a particular strength. Navajo rugs, Hopi kachina carvings and silver and turquoise jewellery are sold in downtown galleries and at trading posts outside town. Buy from established dealers so you know the work is authentic.

Flagstaff costs far less. Chain motels on old Route 66 keep rooms affordable, and brewery meals are reasonably priced, although summer weekends push rates up and you still need a hire car and park entry fees.

Napa is among the most expensive places to stay in the country. Luxury rooms, estate tasting fees, special-occasion restaurants and a hired driver all add up. Even careful visitors who stay further south and eat at taquerias will spend a lot.

The two are on a similar modest level, though the venues differ. Flagstaff has a symphony orchestra and university concerts on campus, touring folk and indie acts at the Orpheum and summer concerts outdoors in the pines.

Napa puts on concerts and comedy at its 1880 Opera House, has a summer classical festival held in wineries and resorts, and hosts a large rock and pop festival at the fairgrounds each late spring. For serious opera or theatre you have to go to San Francisco.

Napa is the clear choice for pampering. Calistoga has been a hot spring town since the nineteenth century, and its volcanic mud baths and mineral pools sit alongside resort spas in the hills and Carneros. The slow rhythm of a tasting day adds to the calm.

Flagstaff has no hot springs and only a few day spas. What it offers instead is quiet, pine-scented air and starry nights, although the altitude can disturb your sleep for the first night or two. People who want treatments drive down to Sedona.