Kings Canyon or Zion?

Neither is a swimming destination, but Zion gives you more chances to get in the water. The Sand Hollow reservoir near Hurricane, half an hour from the park, has red-sand shores and water that is pleasantly warm through the summer, and the hotel pools in Springdale help on hot afternoons.

At Kings Canyon, swimming is a cold dip during a hiking day. The best spots are the small sandy shore at Hume Lake and, once the snowmelt has eased in late summer, the pool at Muir Rock. Earlier in the year the Kings River runs too fast to go near.

Zion eats better, though not by much. Springdale's main road at the park gate has early cafés for the trailhead crowd, Mexican and Southwestern cooking, and a couple of more ambitious dining rooms with views of the canyon walls.

Kings Canyon has only the lodge grills and small markets at Grant Grove and Cedar Grove, plus a snack bar at Hume Lake. The real choice of restaurants is in Fresno, more than an hour's winding drive away, so most visitors cook at their campsite.

Zion has more of a human story to tell. The Zion Human History Museum covers the Southern Paiute and the Mormon settlers, rock art survives along the canyon, and the tunnel's galleries are cut into the cliff face. Outside the park are the ghost town of Grafton and St. George's pioneer temple and dinosaur trackway.

Kings Canyon's heritage comes down to a handful of sites: the General Grant Tree, honoured as the Nation's Christmas Tree, Gamlin Cabin, Knapp's Cabin and the logging stumps of the Big Stump area.

Both go quiet after dinner, and on both the evening's show is a very dark, starry sky. The small difference is that Springdale has a couple of brewpub-style patios for a drink after a hike, while Kings Canyon offers a glass with your lodge dinner and then a campfire in the silence.

Both are first-class outdoor country, equally strong but opposite in character. Kings Canyon is cool forest and pale granite on a huge scale: you walk among sequoia trunks that dwarf everything around them, then drop into a glacier-cut valley whose walls rise far higher than Zion's, with Zumwalt Meadow and the climb to Mist Falls on its floor. It is also the wilder of the two, a place where the road ends and the high country begins, rewarding anyone willing to walk for days rather than hours.

Zion is hot red sandstone, tighter and more concentrated. Its cliffs close in around the Virgin River, so the signature outings are short and intense: wading up the Narrows, hauling along the chains of Angels Landing, roping down through slot canyons. The main canyon is busy, so Kolob Canyons is where you go for emptier red rock, and spring and autumn rather than midsummer are the seasons to be on its exposed trails.

Zion has more to see on a day away from the park. Kanab keeps its Western film-set heritage, Pipe Spring preserves a Mormon ranch fort with a Paiute history exhibit, and Cedar City and the old mining town of Silver Reef are within reach. Bryce and Snow Canyon add more landscape.

From Kings Canyon, the one real outing is Fresno's Forestiere Underground Gardens, dug by hand beneath the valley floor. The foothill town of Three Rivers is good for an afternoon, but Yosemite is too far for a day trip.

Zion handles children more easily. The free shuttle, the flat and cyclable Pa'rus Trail and the river paddling at the end of the Riverside Walk make easy days. The Sand Hollow reservoir and the dinosaur tracks in St. George fill a spare afternoon, though in midsummer the heat cuts short what young walkers can manage.

Kings Canyon suits families who already enjoy camping. The paved loop round the General Grant Tree, the Junior Ranger badge and campfires under the sequoias go down well. However, the switchback drive into the canyon is hard on travel-sick children, and the fast Kings River needs constant watching.

Zion is much simpler to get around once you arrive. In the busy months a free shuttle runs up the scenic drive to the Temple of Sinawava, and a second one links Springdale's hotels to the park entrance, so you can leave the car parked for days. You still need a car for Kolob Canyons, the east side or Bryce, but the roads are good and the distances short.

Kings Canyon has no public transport at all. It is about an hour and a half from Fresno to Grant Grove, then another hour of switchbacks down to Cedar Grove, and the canyon road closes in winter.

Neither is a place to shop, but Zion has a little more. Springdale's outfitters rent dry suits for the Narrows, and its galleries sell Native American jewellery, pottery and landscape photography. St. George adds malls and outlet stores. At Kings Canyon there is a visitor-centre bookshop, sequoia souvenirs and firewood, so bring anything else from the valley.

Overall costs are much the same, but the ways to save differ. At Kings Canyon, camping and bringing your own food keep the trip cheap, and one vehicle pass also covers Sequoia National Park. Rooms in the park lodges are poor value, and the cheaper motels in Fresno or Visalia mean long drives each day.

At Zion, the expense is staying at the gate in Springdale in season. Hurricane and St. George are much cheaper and only a short drive away, the shuttles are free, and winter costs less everywhere. Guided canyoneering is the main extra.

Zion is the only one of the two with real performances, at least in summer. Broadway musicals are staged outdoors against the red cliffs at Tuacahn near Ivins, the Utah Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City has a long and well-regarded repertory season, and Springdale's small amphitheatre hosts concerts and films.

At Kings Canyon, an evening out means a ranger talk on bears or night skies at a campground amphitheatre.

Kings Canyon gives you stillness and Zion gives you pampering, and the second is easier to build a restful stay around. At Kings Canyon that stillness means cool mornings under the sequoias, very little phone signal and the sound of the river at Cedar Grove. There are no spas or hot springs to book.

Around Ivins, the spa resorts among the red rock offer yoga, guided hikes and treatments, and several Springdale lodges have spas and pools facing the canyon walls. The park itself can be crowded, so a quiet morning takes some planning.