Los Angeles or Sedona?

Los Angeles has a real coastline. It runs for more than 100km from the coves of Malibu to the South Bay and Long Beach, with surf breaks, volleyball nets and the bike path along the sand. The Pacific is cool, so this is a coast for walking, surfing and people-watching more than for long swims.

Sedona has no coast at all. You swim in Oak Creek instead, at the sandstone chute of Slide Rock or in the pools at Grasshopper Point. That is a cold dip after a summer hike, not a beach day.

Food is one of the widest gaps between the two. In Los Angeles you can eat your way through whole immigrant neighbourhoods, from Koreatown and Thai Town to the San Gabriel Valley and the taco trucks of the Eastside. It also has Grand Central Market and serious chef-led restaurants.

Sedona does breakfast and lunch well around a hike, and dinner means Southwestern plates with a red rock view. After a few good kitchens, though, the choice runs out. Its consolation is the Verde Valley tasting rooms just down the road.

Los Angeles has the museums: the Getty Center and Getty Villa, LACMA, the Broad and the Huntington. Add Hollywood's movie palaces and the Disney Concert Hall. There is no old centre, but there is enough here to fill several days.

Sedona's sights take about a morning: the Chapel of the Holy Cross built into the rock, the heritage museum and the galleries. Its most interesting history lies in the Sinagua cliff dwellings at Palatki and Honanki, which you reach by driving into the backcountry.

Los Angeles is a real city for going out. It has Hollywood clubs, the gay bars of West Hollywood, rooftop bars downtown and dive bars in Silver Lake, although the 2am last orders and the distances keep most nights in one neighbourhood.

Sedona barely has a nightlife. There are a few brewpubs and resort lounges, people go to bed early, and the sky is dark enough for stargazing.

Both are strong, but Sedona is the one people travel to for the outdoors. Its red sandstone buttes stand at the edge of town, trails to Cathedral Rock, Bell Rock and West Fork start beside the road, and Oak Creek Canyon and the Grand Canyon lie to the north.

Los Angeles does well for a big city, with Griffith Park, the Santa Monica Mountains and the San Gabriels behind the basin. It also adds what Sedona cannot: surfing, kayaking and winter whale watching on the Pacific.

The day trips are about equally good, but different in kind. From Los Angeles you go along the coast to Santa Barbara, with its mission and red-tile streets, take the ferry to Catalina, or head inland to Ojai and Palm Springs. Traffic decides how far you get.

Sedona's trips are shorter and the places are older. There is the cliff dwelling of Montezuma Castle, the pueblo at Tuzigoot, the mining town of Jerome and the Verde Canyon Railroad, with Flagstaff and the Wupatki ruins further north. They are small places, and a few days covers them.

Los Angeles is far easier with children. Disneyland, Universal Studios, the space shuttle at the California Science Center, the La Brea Tar Pits and the aquarium in Long Beach can fill a week, with beach days in between.

Sedona suits outdoorsy families who enjoy Slide Rock, short trails and jeep tours. There is no zoo or theme park, though, and summer heat calls for care with small children. It fits best as one stop on a Grand Canyon trip.

You need a car in both. In Los Angeles the problem is the size of the city and the traffic. Metro lines do reach Hollywood, Pasadena, Long Beach and Santa Monica, and a few neighbourhoods are pleasant on foot.

Sedona is small but spread along two highways. Only Uptown is walkable, a shuttle serves a few busy trailheads, and the daily problem is finding a parking space at the trails before they fill. Most visitors also drive about two hours up from Phoenix.

Los Angeles is a proper shopping city. It has luxury shops on Rodeo Drive, streetwear and vintage on Melrose, independent shops on Abbot Kinney and the Rose Bowl flea market for finds.

Sedona's shopping is narrower and more specialised. You find galleries of Western and Native American art, jewellery and pottery in the courtyards of Tlaquepaque, and crystal and metaphysical shops. For clothes, people drive to Phoenix.

Neither city is cheap. Los Angeles adds car hire, parking and theme park tickets to its costly hotels. Its taco trucks, Koreatown restaurants and free sights such as the Getty and Griffith Observatory soften the bill a little.

Sedona charges resort prices for both rooms and dinners, and jeep tours and spa treatments add more. The trails cost almost nothing, and staying in Cottonwood or Flagstaff is the usual way to save.

Los Angeles has a world-class orchestra at the Walt Disney Concert Hall and summer nights at the Hollywood Bowl. Alongside them are LA Opera, Broadway tours, the rock rooms on the Sunset Strip and the comedy clubs of Hollywood.

Sedona has chamber concerts, local theatre and its long-running film festival in late winter, but no concert hall. Anyone who wants a big show drives to Phoenix.

Sedona is built for rest. It has destination spas facing the red rock, plenty of yoga, meditation and massage, and quiet sunrise walks to the vortexes. There are no hot springs, though, so wellness here means treatments rather than bathing.

Los Angeles has the bathing that Sedona lacks, in the Koreatown bathhouses with their hot and cold pools, scrubs and late hours. The city around them is anything but calm, and locals go out to Ojai or Palm Springs to unwind.