Grand Canyon or Sequoia?

Neither is a place to swim, but the water you do find is different. At the Grand Canyon, the Colorado on the canyon floor stays cold, around 10°C, and the turquoise pools at Havasu Falls require a permit and a long hike. The one real lake, Lake Powell at Page, means a separate base several hours from the South Rim.

In Sequoia, a swim fits into an ordinary day. In late summer there are granite pools on the Kaweah near Three Rivers, and Hume Lake has a small sandy shore. The catch is that those same rivers run fast and icy in spring.

Both feed you adequately rather than well, and the difference lies in where the better meals are. The Grand Canyon has the historic El Tovar dining room on the rim and Flagstaff's old downtown of breweries and diners, with green chile and Navajo frybread to try.

Sequoia's best eating is down in the San Joaquin Valley. You'll find orchard fruit sold at the roadside, taquerias in Visalia, and Armenian and Hmong cooking in Fresno, while Three Rivers covers burgers and barbecue after the trails.

On the South Rim the buildings are part of the visit, while in Sequoia the trees are the monuments. Grand Canyon Village keeps its early twentieth-century railway-era lodges, and Mary Colter's Hopi House and Desert View Watchtower borrow Pueblo forms, so a walk along the rim also introduces you to the peoples of the plateau. Flagstaff's Museum of Northern Arizona and Lowell Observatory, where Pluto was discovered, can fill a spare morning.

Sequoia tells its human story in a few modest stops. There are the Western Mono rock paintings at Hospital Rock on the Kaweah, Tharp's Log, a settler's cabin inside a fallen giant, and the Giant Forest Museum, with the Crystal Cave tour the nearest thing to a classic sight. Anyone who travels for museums or architecture will run out of things to see within a day.

Both regions go to bed early, but the Grand Canyon at least has a town nearby for a night out. Flagstaff's historic downtown has brewpubs, dive bars and late venues for its students, though it is too far from the rim if you want to be up for sunrise. Around Sequoia, an evening out means a beer in Three Rivers or a few bars in Visalia, and the campfire under a dark sky usually wins.

These are two of the great landscapes of North America, and they work in opposite ways. At the Grand Canyon you look out and down into a mile-deep gorge whose rock layers change colour through the day. You can follow the rim, descend the Bright Angel or South Kaibab trails, raft the Colorado or watch condors on the thermals.

In Sequoia you walk up and among things: the General Sherman and the other giants of the Giant Forest, Moro Rock's stairway, the sheer walls of Kings Canyon and the high passes beyond Mineral King. Black bears, spring wildflowers and winter snowshoeing in the groves give it more variety through the seasons.

The Grand Canyon has far more within reach. From Flagstaff you can visit the red rock of Sedona, the hillside mining town of Jerome, the cliff dwellings at Walnut Canyon and Montezuma Castle, and the pueblos of Wupatki. Antelope Canyon lies out on the Navajo lands. The drives are long, but every one of them leads somewhere distinctive.

Sequoia's outings beyond the parks are few and modest: Visalia's tree-lined downtown, Fresno's hand-dug Forestiere Underground Gardens and the history at Hanford and Allensworth, all set in flat farmland.

Neither is easy with small children, and the Grand Canyon has a slight edge. Besides the view, it has a few extras that children enjoy: the vintage train from Williams to the rim and the drive-through wildlife park with bears and bison. Against that, much of the rim is unfenced and the altitude is high.

Sequoia offers easy wonders such as the paved Big Trees Trail, driving through the Tunnel Log and the Crystal Cave tour. But it has nothing built for children, and the switchback roads are hard on those who get carsick.

Getting around the Grand Canyon is noticeably easier. Good, quiet highways lead to the South Rim, and once you are there, free shuttles and the Rim Trail link the viewpoints, so the car can stay parked. The real distances only begin beyond the village, with the North Rim hours away by road.

In Sequoia, nearly every journey is a slow mountain drive. The Generals Highway climbs through dozens of hairpins, the Cedar Grove and Mineral King roads open only in season, and snow chains are often needed from late autumn. The summer shuttle around the Giant Forest helps, but staying near the groves saves the most time.

The Grand Canyon has one thing genuinely worth buying: Native American craft. Hopi House and the old trading posts at Cameron sell Navajo weaving, silver, kachina carvings and pottery, with staff who can explain who made them. In Sequoia, shopping hardly goes beyond lodge gift stores, a few galleries in Three Rivers and the valley fruit stands.

Sequoia is easier on the budget. Its campgrounds among the pines are some of the cheapest places to sleep in California, and with few restaurants, cooking your own meals comes naturally. Sleeping down in Visalia saves money too, at the cost of long drives each day.

The Grand Canyon's historic rim lodges and the hotels at Tusayan charge high summer rates, and the park restaurants know you have nowhere else to eat. Motels in Williams and Flagstaff bring the cost down, but mule rides, helicopter flights and rafting trips are among the most expensive outings in the West.

There is very little performance at either, but the Grand Canyon occasionally brings it to the scenery itself. A long-running chamber music festival holds concerts on the South Rim in late summer, Native American dancers sometimes perform in the warm months, and Flagstaff has a small symphony orchestra. In Sequoia, the ranger campfire is the evening show, and Visalia's Fox Theatre and Fresno's orchestra are a long drive down from the trees.

Neither has spas or hot springs, so in both places relaxation comes from stillness. At the Grand Canyon that means a quiet viewpoint at dawn or the slower North Rim, and anyone who wants treatments or yoga drives to Sedona.

Sequoia builds the calm into where you sleep, in cabins near the Giant Forest or creekside cottages in Three Rivers. Late spring and September are its quietest times in the groves.