Page, Arizona or South Lake Tahoe?

Both lakes are equally good for swimming, but the experience is very different. Lake Powell is warm, around 26°C at the surface by midsummer, and much of the best swimming is done from a boat or kayak in red-rock coves. Lone Rock gives you open sand you can drive onto. There are no lifeguards, and the shoreline moves as the lake level rises and falls.

At South Lake Tahoe the beaches start at the edge of town. Pope, Baldwin and Kiva sit under Jeffrey pines, and the water over white sand is strikingly clear. The water is cold though, about 20°C in the shallows at best. You'll swim in July and August and walk the shore for the rest of the year.

South Lake Tahoe has a little more choice. It has casino steakhouses and late diners at Stateline, brewpubs and taquerias along Highway 50, and a few lakeview dining rooms for a special night. Its craft beer from small local breweries is the one thing worth seeking out.

Page is plainer. Its diners, barbecue and chains are built for tour groups. The single dish worth finding is the Navajo taco on frybread, from casual places and reservation roadside stands. Kitchens close early, so plan dinner around the canyon schedule.

Neither town has much to see indoors, and the history behind each is very different. Page is a 1950s dam town. The Carl Hayden Visitor Center at Glen Canyon Dam and the small John Wesley Powell museum tell an engineering and exploration story, and the Navajo Nation around the town adds a deeper layer. Tahoe looks back to the early 20th-century summer estates of wealthy San Franciscans at the Tallac Historic Site and Vikingsholm on Emerald Bay, with a small museum on the Washoe people and logging.

South Lake Tahoe is clearly the place for a late night. Just across the Nevada line, the Stateline casinos keep their bars and gaming floors open all night, and a club or two fills on long weekends. In winter, après-ski at the gondola base is the most sociable hour of the day.

Page has a handful of bars and a brewpub, and it is quiet well before midnight. Most people there are getting up before sunrise for the canyons. The best thing to do after dark is drive out of town and look at a sky full of stars.

Both are outstanding, in completely different landscapes. Around Page the scenery is desert sandstone: the glowing slot walls of Antelope Canyon, the river looping round Horseshoe Bend, flooded red canyons on Lake Powell leading to Rainbow Bridge, and rafting from Lees Ferry. The Wave and the Vermilion Cliffs are within a couple of hours.

Tahoe is alpine granite and pine forest. It has Emerald Bay, the lake basins of the Desolation Wilderness and the Tahoe Rim Trail, and in winter there is deep snow at Heavenly, Kirkwood and Sierra-at-Tahoe. Page is at its best for hiking in spring and autumn. Tahoe works all year, switching from skiing to hiking, biking and paddling.

South Lake Tahoe has far more towns within a day's drive. Virginia City's boardwalks and saloons are about an hour away, passing Genoa and the state museum in Carson City. Coloma, where gold was found in 1848, and the Amador wine country are down Highway 50, and Reno and Sacramento's old town are also within reach.

From Page the scenery is grand but the places to visit are few and far apart. Lees Ferry's pioneer buildings make an easy half day. The Betatakin cliff dwellings at Navajo National Monument are about two hours away, and Kanab and Pipe Spring take another long drive.

South Lake Tahoe is the easier choice with children. Summer brings shallow sandy beaches, paddleboard rentals, bike paths and gentle walks at Taylor Creek, and winter adds ski schools, snow play areas and the gondola ride. Cabins and condos with kitchens make daily life simple.

Page can be a hit with outdoor families: a day splashing at Lone Rock and the short Antelope Canyon tours appeal to all ages. However, the cliff edges at Horseshoe Bend are sheer and mostly unfenced, some slot tours use steep ladders, the summer sun is harsh and the drives are long.

South Lake Tahoe gives you a bit more freedom. You can walk the compact core around Stateline and the gondola base, and in winter free shuttles run along the highway and up to the ski areas. You'll still want a car for beaches and trailheads, and in winter you need chains and spare time for snowy passes.

In Page a car is essential. There is no useful public transport, Horseshoe Bend and the marinas are outside town, and the big airports are hours away, so almost everyone arrives on a road trip.

Neither is a shopping destination, but Page has the more interesting thing to take home: Navajo silver and turquoise jewellery, rugs and pottery, bought at trading posts or directly from the maker at roadside stalls. In South Lake Tahoe shopping means ski and outdoor gear, souvenir shops around the gondola base, and a few galleries selling lake photography.

Both are expensive at the times people most want to go, but the costs build up in different ways. In Page the costs are the guided-only Antelope Canyon tours, boat and houseboat rentals, and scarce rooms in busy months. Camping at Lone Rock or Wahweap, or visiting in winter, keeps the bill down.

At Tahoe, lift tickets and peak-week cabin rates are the big expenses. Midweek and shoulder-season discounts at the Nevada casino hotels, a cabin kitchen, and free trails and beaches help a lot.

South Lake Tahoe has a real if modest programme. Casino showrooms and an event arena bring touring rock and country acts and comedians all year, and in summer there are concerts at the Tallac estates and a long-running Shakespeare festival on the beach at Sand Harbor. Page offers little beyond Navajo dance presentations and dinner shows for visitors, and you wouldn't plan an evening around them.

South Lake Tahoe is the better place to slow down. It has spas at the casino hotels and ski lodges, quiet cabins in the pines, and natural hot springs nearby: the mineral pool at Grover Hot Springs in an alpine meadow, and the resorts around Genoa about half an hour away.

Page's restful moments come from the desert itself: wide views and very dark skies at night. With dawn canyon tours and long drives, though, a stay there tends to be more active than restful.