Salt Lake City or Sedona?

Neither place is for a beach trip, and the swimming differs in kind. Salt Lake City offers the novelty of floating in the Great Salt Lake, and for a proper swim the Wasatch reservoirs have sandy patches of shore, paddleboards and boats. In Sedona you swim in Oak Creek, riding the sandstone chute at Slide Rock or dropping into cold pools below the red cliffs, which is more scenic but small and crowded on hot weekends.

Salt Lake City has more to eat. The Mexican, Peruvian, Pacific Islander and Vietnamese kitchens along State Street are the best of it, with craft breweries in Sugar House and local quirks like fry sauce and dirty sodas, though Utah's rules keep wine and cocktails thin.

Sedona's choice is narrower: mostly resort terraces serving Southwestern menus and cafés for health-minded visitors, where the sunset view counts as much as the cooking. Its edge is wine, with the Verde Valley tasting rooms just down the road.

Salt Lake City has far more to see. Temple Square fills a morning on its own, and the State Capitol, the painted Cathedral of the Madeleine and the dinosaur halls of the Natural History Museum make up two full days.

Sedona's sights are a handful: the Chapel of the Holy Cross built into its butte, plus the Western and Native American galleries. The real cultural reward is the Sinagua cliff dwellings at Palatki and Honanki, a drive into the backcountry.

Neither is a place for big nights out, but Salt Lake City at least has something to go out to. There are bars, breweries and a few dance clubs downtown and in the Granary District, plus a long-standing gay scene, all shaped by Utah's liquor rules. Sedona has a few brewpubs and resort lounges and goes quiet early, so the evening plan there is stargazing.

Both are outstanding outdoor bases, but the landscapes could hardly be less alike. Salt Lake City is alpine. Peaks rise above 3,000m, four ski resorts are under an hour away, and summer brings wildflower meadows and mountain lakes, with the Bonneville Salt Flats and Antelope Island's bison out to the west.

Sedona is desert sandstone: red buttes, slickrock singletrack for mountain bikers, and trails to Cathedral Rock and Devil's Bridge almost from town. Oak Creek Canyon's pines and the Grand Canyon's South Rim are within reach.

Sedona has the better outings. Jerome on its mountainside, the Verde Canyon Railroad, the cliff dwelling at Montezuma Castle, the Tuzigoot pueblo, Flagstaff and the wine towns are all within about an hour.

From Salt Lake City, Park City's Victorian Main Street and Ogden's 25th Street make good outings, but the list soon runs out, and Utah's famous national parks are too far for a day.

Salt Lake City is by some way the stronger family base. Children are welcome everywhere, and there is a zoo, an aquarium, a children's museum, a planetarium and the Lagoon amusement park, plus ski schools in winter.

Sedona works for outdoor families who like the creek slide and jeep rides over the slickrock. It has no attractions built for children, though, and its resorts mostly cater to couples.

A car helps in both, but Salt Lake City gives you more alternatives. TRAX light rail links the airport, downtown and the University, FrontRunner trains reach Ogden and Provo, and the grid addresses are simple once you learn them, though the wide streets and long blocks make walks longer than they look.

In Sedona only Uptown is walkable. Trailheads, the chapel and every day trip need a car, and most visitors drive up from Phoenix.

Neither is a shopping destination, and each sells what its visitors come for. Salt Lake City has the City Creek mall, the streetcar barns of Trolley Square and excellent local ski, climbing and camping shops. Sedona has the courtyard galleries of Tlaquepaque, Native American jewellery and pottery, and its crystal and metaphysical shops. Buy gear in one and art in the other.

Salt Lake City is noticeably easier on the wallet. Downtown hotels are reasonable and everything on Temple Square is free, though a ski week with lift passes and canyon lodging soon changes the sums.

Sedona is a resort town and is priced like one, with expensive lodges, restaurants, jeep tours and spa sessions. The trails themselves cost little, and budget travellers often sleep in Cottonwood or Flagstaff and drive in.

Here Salt Lake City is far ahead. Hearing the Tabernacle Choir and the great organ in the Tabernacle is a real draw, and the Utah Symphony, Utah Opera, Ballet West and touring Broadway shows give the city a full season. Sedona offers chamber concerts, local theatre and its long-running film festival, but it has no concert hall.

Sedona is the retreat of the two, with destination resort spas facing the red rock, yoga, meditation and massage all over town, and sunrise walks to the vortexes. In Salt Lake City, rest comes mostly from the city's quiet pace and the spas at the ski resorts.

Only Salt Lake City has warm water to soak in, though. The Homestead Crater in Midway, a mineral pool inside a limestone dome, has no match in Sedona, which has no hot springs at all.