Sedona or Snowbird?

Neither place is for a beach trip, but Sedona at least has proper wild swimming. On Oak Creek you can ride Slide Rock's sandstone chute or swim in the deeper pools at Grasshopper Point and Red Rock Crossing. The water is cold but makes a memorable break under the cliffs on a hot afternoon.

At Snowbird, swimming means the resort's heated pools, with the Heber Valley reservoirs about an hour's drive away for a cold summer dip. The Great Salt Lake is something to look at, not swim in.

Sedona offers more choice of the two. There is Southwestern cooking built on chilli and grilled meat, plenty of vegetarian and health-minded menus, terraces facing the sunset, and Verde Valley tasting rooms a short drive away. It is still a small-town range, though, and runs thin after a few meals.

At Snowbird you eat at the resort, from the dining room at the top of the tram to slopeside cafeterias and après-ski pizza. The food is competent but nothing about it is local. For variety, guests drive forty minutes down to Salt Lake City, and most do that once or twice a week.

Sedona has a modest but real set of sights. There is the Chapel of the Holy Cross built into the red rock, galleries of Western and Native American art, and the Sinagua cliff dwellings and petroglyphs at Palatki, Honanki and V Bar V. Snowbird has almost nothing to visit apart from its own 1970s concrete lodges, and the canyon's silver-mining past has left little to see, so museums and historic buildings mean a trip to Salt Lake City.

Both go quiet early, for the same reason: people are up at dawn for the trail or the first tram. An evening in Sedona means a glass in an Uptown brewpub or wine bar, then the night sky, which is dark enough for real stargazing.

Snowbird's lively hour comes earlier, when the après-ski crowd fills the lodge bars and the sunny deck at the end of the ski day. After dinner nothing is going on, and a proper night out means a mountain drive to Salt Lake City or Park City.

Both are outstanding, in very different ways. Sedona is all red sandstone: hikes to Cathedral Rock, Devil's Bridge and up the West Fork, slickrock mountain biking and jeep roads, with the Grand Canyon's South Rim about two hours away. It is a place for spring, autumn and mild winters.

Snowbird is all snow. A tram climbs to Hidden Peak at about 3,350m, the chutes and bowls connect across the ridge to Alta, and the season often lasts into late spring. In summer the same slopes lead onto wilderness trails, the wildflowers of Albion Basin and granite climbing, all far cooler than anything around Sedona.

Sedona has more to reach in a day, and more variety. Jerome sits on its mountainside, the Verde Canyon Railroad runs through a roadless canyon, and Cottonwood and Cornville have the tasting rooms. Montezuma Castle and Tuzigoot are within half an hour, with Flagstaff, Walnut Canyon and Wupatki further north.

Snowbird's outings come down mainly to two. Salt Lake City has Temple Square and the Capitol, and Park City has its Victorian Main Street. Midway, Sundance and Ogden make pleasant extras rather than reasons to go.

Both suit active families rather than those looking for zoos or theme parks, and in both places anything built for children means a drive. In Sedona the draws are Slide Rock in summer, the easy paths around Bell Rock and open-air jeep tours, though heat and exposed trails need watching.

Snowbird's car-free base is easier to manage, and in summer there is a mountain coaster, an alpine slide and a ropes course. In winter it suits teenagers and confident young skiers better than toddlers, and the altitude can tire small children.

Once you have arrived, Snowbird is the easier of the two to get around. The lodges, tram and lifts are a short walk apart on a car-free base, and in winter ski buses run up from the valley. The catch is the single canyon road, which jams on powder mornings and can close for avalanche control.

Sedona spreads along two highways around the Y. Apart from walkable Uptown, nearly everything needs a car, with only a shuttle to some trailheads and parking that fills early. Getting there differs too: Snowbird is about forty minutes from Salt Lake City's airport, while Sedona is a two-hour drive from Phoenix.

Sedona is a real place to browse, though for art rather than fashion. There are the courtyards of Tlaquepaque, galleries selling Western painting and Native American jewellery, pottery and rugs, and the crystal and metaphysical shops the town is known for. Snowbird has only a few base-area stores selling ski gear and branded clothing, handy for replacing lost goggles. For anything more you go to Salt Lake City or Park City's main street.

Neither is a cheap stay, and the costs fall in different places. In Sedona, resort hotels, restaurants and extras such as jeep tours, balloon flights and spa treatments add up. The trails cost little beyond a parking pass, though, and Cottonwood or Flagstaff have cheaper beds.

At Snowbird the big costs are lift tickets, rentals and slopeside rooms in peak winter. You can cut them with a multi-resort pass, by sleeping in Salt Lake City and driving up, or by coming in summer, when stays are noticeably cheaper.

Neither has a stage worth planning a trip around, and serious concerts or theatre mean a drive to Phoenix, Flagstaff or Salt Lake City. Sedona has the slightly fuller calendar, with chamber music, local theatre and its long-running film festival in late winter, plus acoustic sets and Native American flute players. Snowbird's music is seasonal and outdoors: plaza concerts in summer, oompah bands on Oktoberfest weekends and the odd band at après-ski.

This is Sedona's other great strength. It is a true retreat town, with destination spas facing the canyons and a wide choice of yoga, meditation, breathwork, massage and alternative therapies, and sunrise walks to the vortexes add a quiet ritual.

Snowbird has one large rooftop spa with a pool, hot tubs and steam rooms, best for recovering after a ski day. The warm mineral water of the Homestead crater in Midway is about an hour away. Neither town has hot springs of its own.