Sedona or South Lake Tahoe?

Neither town is a beach destination, but South Lake Tahoe has real shoreline. Pope, Baldwin and Kiva beaches sit under the pines at the edge of town, with Nevada Beach and Zephyr Cove just over the state line. The water is turquoise over white sand, though cold enough that swimming is really a July and August thing.

Sedona's swimming is a creek dip. Slide Rock's sandstone chute and the pools at Grasshopper Point are fun after a hike, but they are small, chilly and crowded on hot weekends.

Both towns eat resort-style, and neither gives a reason to travel for the table. The difference is in kind. Sedona leans Southwestern and health-minded, with terraces facing the red rocks and wine tasting in the Verde Valley nearby.

Tahoe is more casual and hearty: casino steakhouses and buffets, taquerias, ski breakfasts and craft beer from local breweries. Many visitors end up cooking in the cabin.

Sightseeing is thin in both places, so this will rarely decide the trip. Sedona has a little more of it, and it reaches further back in time: the Chapel of the Holy Cross built into a butte, many galleries, and the Sinagua cliff dwellings at Palatki and Honanki a short drive away. Tahoe's history is the summer retreats of wealthy San Franciscans, seen at the Tallac estates and at Vikingsholm on Emerald Bay.

South Lake Tahoe is the only one of the two where you can stay out late. A short walk into Nevada, the Stateline casinos keep their gaming floors and bars open all night, with a club or two filling up on peak weekends, and après-ski at the gondola base is lively in winter.

Sedona hardly has an evening scene. There are a few brewpubs and resort lounges in Uptown, and most people are in bed early before a dawn hike. The real evening outing is stargazing under some of the darkest skies you will find near a town.

This is where both towns shine equally, in completely different landscapes. Sedona is desert sandstone: buttes and spires, slickrock mountain biking, the pine-shaded West Fork of Oak Creek, and the Grand Canyon's South Rim about two hours away.

Tahoe is granite and water: a deep blue lake, Emerald Bay, the lake basins of the Desolation Wilderness and the Tahoe Rim Trail. Snow turns it into a ski base in winter, and in summer you can paddle the lake, something Sedona has no answer to.

The two are roughly level for outings, and both regions are best for history in small towns. From Sedona the pull is ancient: Montezuma Castle, Tuzigoot and the Wupatki pueblos. Add the hillside mining town of Jerome and the Verde Canyon Railroad, which runs through a canyon with no road.

From Tahoe the story is the Gold Rush and the silver boom. Virginia City's boardwalks, Coloma, where gold was found in 1848, and the Amador wine country are all within reach, and Reno is there if you want a bigger city.

South Lake Tahoe is the easier place to bring children, because it works in two seasons. Summer has shallow beaches, paddleboards, bike paths and the short Taylor Creek trails, and winter adds ski schools, snow play areas and sledding. Cabins with kitchens make a family stay simple.

Sedona has fewer options for children. Slide Rock and the jeep tours go down well, but summer heat and exposed trails need care with small children, and much of the lodging is aimed at couples and spa guests.

You will want a car in both places. Tahoe makes it a bit easier without one: the core around Stateline and the gondola is walkable, and free shuttles run along the highway and up to the ski areas in winter. In return you must plan for chain controls and occasional pass closures in winter storms.

Sedona is spread along two highways meeting at the Y. Only Uptown is walkable, there are few shuttles beyond those to the busiest trailheads, and parking at the popular trails fills early.

Sedona gives you something to browse. Tlaquepaque's courtyards hold galleries and craft studios, and the main road sells Native American jewellery, pottery and rugs alongside Western art. On top of that come the crystal and metaphysical shops the town is known for.

In South Lake Tahoe, shopping is mostly about kit: ski and outdoor gear, rentals and a supermarket run, plus some souvenirs by the gondola. Neither town has fashion shopping.

Neither is a cheap place to stay. Sedona's resorts and boutique lodges charge high rates right through spring and autumn, its best seasons, and jeep tours, balloon flights and spa treatments add up quickly. Travellers watching their spending often sleep in Cottonwood or Flagstaff and drive in for the trails, which need little more than a parking pass.

South Lake Tahoe gives you more ways to cut the bill. Casino hotels on the Nevada side discount heavily midweek and in the spring and autumn shoulder seasons, and a cabin kitchen keeps food costs down. That only works if you avoid the peak ski weeks and the busy long weekends.

Tahoe has more live entertainment, almost all of it from the casino showrooms and arena, which host touring rock and country acts and comedians all year. Summer adds Shakespeare on the beach at Sand Harbor and concerts at the Tallac estates.

Sedona's calendar is a handful of occasions: chamber concerts, local theatre, the long-running film festival in late winter, and Native American flute players at resorts.

Sedona is a retreat town in a way Tahoe is not. Its destination spas look out on the canyons, and around them are yoga, meditation and breathwork, massage, alternative therapies and the sunrise vortex walks, all of it at resort prices.

Tahoe's spas mostly serve sore skiers. Its advantage is natural hot water, which Sedona lacks: the mineral pool at Grover Hot Springs and the Carson Valley springs near Genoa are both an easy afternoon trip.