Grand Canyon or Redwood National Park?

Neither place is for swimming, and the water they do have is different in kind. At the Grand Canyon the Colorado runs cold out of the dam, the turquoise pools at Havasu Falls need a permit and a long hike, and real swimming means Lake Powell at Page, several hours from the South Rim.

The redwood coast has actual beaches at Gold Bluffs, Enderts and around Trinidad. They are wide and empty and good for walking and beachcombing, but the Pacific is cold and sneaker waves make them unsafe for going in. Swimming here means the clear pools of the Smith River in high summer, which are much easier to reach than anything at the canyon.

Neither place is somewhere you come for the food, but the redwood coast eats a little better. Humboldt Bay oysters, Dungeness crab, Trinidad's fish by the harbour and the Saturday market on Arcata's plaza give meals a local flavour, though the towns near the groves themselves offer little more than diners and smoked-fish shacks.

At the Grand Canyon you mostly eat in the lodge dining rooms, cafeterias and the general store, with El Tovar the one room with real atmosphere. For anything better you drive an hour and a half to Flagstaff for its breweries, green chile and Navajo frybread.

The Grand Canyon has more to see that people built. On the South Rim, El Tovar, Hopi House, the Kolb Studio and Mary Colter's Desert View Watchtower with its Hopi murals form a small, coherent early twentieth-century set piece. The Museum of Northern Arizona and Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff add depth.

The redwood coast's heritage is spread more thinly. The best of it is the Yurok and Tolowa plank-house village at Sue-meg State Park, along with Battery Point Lighthouse at low tide and Eureka's Victorian Old Town and Carson Mansion. It makes a pleasant half day rather than a few full mornings.

Both parks go quiet after dark, and in both the best of the night is outdoors. At the canyon that means some of the darkest skies in the country above the rim. At the redwoods it is campfires in the groves. For a drink with company you drive to a university town, Flagstaff's brewpubs and dive bars in Arizona or Arcata's plaza bars in California, and neither is close enough to the trails to make an early start easy.

These are two of the great natural sights of North America, and they feel completely different. The Grand Canyon is about open space: a mile-deep gorge of layered rock that changes colour through the day. The trails drop steeply towards the Colorado, and rim-to-rim crossings, rafting and mule rides take you further in, while condors ride the thermals overhead.

In the redwoods the forest closes in around you. The tallest trees on earth, past 100m, stand in the remote Tall Trees Grove, and Stout Grove and Lady Bird Johnson Grove are the easier walks through old growth. Fern Canyon's green walls and the Coastal Trail above the sea stacks add variety. Passing grey whales, sea lions and the tide pools around Trinidad bring sea life the canyon lacks, and the walking is gentler.

The canyon has the stronger choice of excursions, though the drives are long. Sedona's red rocks, the hillside mining town of Jerome, the cliff dwellings at Walnut Canyon and Montezuma Castle, the pueblos at Wupatki and Antelope Canyon near Page give a road trip real variety.

Outings from the redwoods are to small towns. They include Trinidad on its headland, Arcata and Eureka about an hour south, the Victorian dairy village of Ferndale and the harbours of southern Oregon. These make pleasant drives, but none is a major destination.

Both suit families who like the outdoors, but they suit different ages. The canyon's first view, the vintage train from Williams and the drive-through wildlife park make a big impression. Still, the unfenced rim, the altitude and the steep, hot descent trails make it better for school-age children who walk well.

The redwoods are easier with small children. The loop trails through the groves are flat, Fern Canyon is made for scrambling and wading, and spotting elk keeps children busy. The catch is a cold, dangerous sea and frequent rain with little indoors to fall back on.

You need a car for both, but they work differently once you arrive. At the South Rim the free shuttles around the village and along Hermit Road, together with the Rim Trail, let you park the car for the day. On the other hand the North Rim is about four and a half hours away by road, and summer brings queues at the gate.

The redwood parks have no shuttle to fall back on. You drive the roughly 70km of US-101 and the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway between groves, and the best corners are reached on gravel roads such as Howland Hill Road or the track to Fern Canyon, which can cross shallow creeks.

The Grand Canyon has one thing worth shopping for. Navajo rugs and silver, Hopi kachina carvings and pottery are sold at Hopi House and the old trading posts around Cameron, by staff who can explain who made them.

Near the redwoods, shopping comes down to roadside redwood burl carvings and chainsaw sculptures along US-101, plus galleries, bookshops and Native basketry in Eureka and Arcata. It makes a pleasant browse rather than a reason to stop.

The redwoods are noticeably cheaper. Entry to the national park is free, the state park campgrounds are inexpensive and motels in Crescent City cost far less than rooms near the famous parks. The fixed costs are a hire car and fuel.

At the Grand Canyon, staying on the rim is what makes it expensive, with lodges priced for high demand and meals for a captive audience. Once you have paid the entrance fee, the viewpoints, shuttles and ranger talks cost nothing more. A motel in Williams or Flagstaff keeps costs down, while helicopter flights and rafting trips push them up sharply.

A long-running chamber music festival brings concerts to the South Rim in late summer, and Native American dancers sometimes perform at Desert View and the village in the warm months. That gives the canyon a little live performance inside the park itself, even if it is seasonal.

The redwoods have nothing like it near the groves, only ranger campfire talks in summer. For a concert or a play you drive about an hour south to Arcata's university or Eureka's small symphony and community theatre. Both places offer occasional local performances, not a season worth planning a trip around.

Neither has spas or hot springs worth the name, but the redwoods are the easier place to unwind. The hush of the old-growth groves and the soft forest paths make a walk feel like forest bathing, and Arcata has private hot tubs and saunas to rent by the hour.

The canyon's calm comes in moments, at a quiet viewpoint at dawn or under a dark sky. Its days tend to be strenuous, and anyone who wants treatments or yoga has to drive a couple of hours to Sedona.