Sedona or Sun Valley?

Neither has a coast, and swimming in both is a side activity. What differs is the kind of water. Sedona's is creek swimming close to town: you ride down the sandstone chute at Slide Rock or drop into the deeper pools at Grasshopper Point and Red Rock Crossing, with red cliffs above you.

Sun Valley's best natural swim is Redfish Lake under the Sawtooths, an hour's drive away. It has a real sandy shore, but the water is cold even in August, so the heated outdoor pools in the valley are the more dependable swim.

The two eat at much the same level, with a small choice of good kitchens in each. Sedona's menus lean Southwestern, built on chilli, corn and grilled meat, with plenty of vegetarian and health-minded cooking, and the best tables are the ones facing the sunset over the red rock. The Verde Valley wineries down the road give it a wine-tasting side.

Sun Valley's eating is concentrated in Ketchum and follows the ski calendar: après-ski grills and pizza in winter, a farmers' market and patio dining in summer, and a few ambitious kitchens cooking Idaho trout, lamb and elk. In the quiet spring and autumn months some of them close or cut back.

Sedona has more worth seeing, though it is still an outdoor town first. The Chapel of the Holy Cross, built into a butte, is a real piece of architecture. The Sinagua cliff dwellings at Palatki and Honanki and the V Bar V petroglyphs take you back many centuries, and the heritage museum and galleries of Native American art fill out a day.

Sun Valley's interest lies in its own short story: America's first destination ski resort, the world's first chairlifts, and the Lodge corridors lined with photographs of old film stars. Add Hemingway's grave and his memorial by Trail Creek, and an afternoon covers it.

Neither is a place for a night out, but Sun Valley has more life after dark, at least in season. Skiers pour into Ketchum's saloons and wine bars as the lifts close, a band sometimes plays on busy winter weekends, and a couple of old western bars stay loud until closing.

In Sedona evenings end early, with a quiet drink at a brewpub or resort lounge in Uptown, because people are on the trail at dawn. The best thing to do after dark there is look up, since the clear desert sky is excellent for stargazing.

Both are among the finest outdoor bases in the American West, but they offer very different landscapes. Sedona is desert hiking among red sandstone: Cathedral Rock, Bell Rock, Devil's Bridge and Boynton Canyon start almost in town, the slickrock is famous for mountain biking, and Oak Creek Canyon climbs into pine forest, with the Grand Canyon's South Rim about two hours away. It is best in spring and autumn.

Sun Valley is alpine and changes with the seasons. Winter is for skiing on Bald Mountain, Nordic trails and backcountry touring. Summer brings singletrack, fly fishing on the Big Wood and at Silver Creek, rafting on the Salmon River and long hikes to the Sawtooth lakes, and in autumn the aspens turn gold.

Sedona is the far better base for outings. Within an easy drive are the mountainside mining town of Jerome, the cliff dwelling of Montezuma Castle, the pueblo at Tuzigoot, the Verde Canyon Railroad through roadless canyon, and Flagstaff, with Walnut Canyon and Wupatki beyond it.

From Sun Valley the roads lead mostly into wild country rather than to other places. Hailey's old main street and the log-cabin outpost of Stanley are pleasant, and Shoshone Falls is about two hours south, but days away from Sun Valley are usually spent in the mountains.

Both suit outdoor families about equally, and neither has a zoo, aquarium or theme park. In Sedona the fun is in summer and in the open air: children slide down the chute at Slide Rock, walk the short lower paths around Bell Rock and bounce over the slickrock on jeep tours. Parents need to plan for the heat, exposed trails and a drive to everything.

Sun Valley is at its best for children in winter, when they can learn to ski on their own gentle hill with a well-run ski school. In summer there are the outdoor ice rink, horse rides and bike paths. The altitude, the deep midwinter cold and rainy days are the drawbacks there.

Sun Valley is much easier to manage without a car. Ketchum's small, flat grid is walkable, a free bus links the town with the resort village and the lift bases, and a paved bike path runs down the valley. The car is needed only for trailheads, the hot springs and the Sawtooths, and the small airport at Hailey is close, though the larger ones are a long, sometimes snowy drive away.

Sedona is spread along two highways that meet at the Y, and apart from walkable Uptown, the trailheads, the chapel and the day-trip towns all mean driving. Trailhead car parks fill early, weekend traffic backs up, and most visitors start with the two-hour drive up from Phoenix.

Sedona offers more to browse. Tlaquepaque, its arts village of courtyards and fountains, holds craft studios and galleries, and the main road adds Western art and Native American jewellery, pottery and rugs. The crystal and metaphysical shops are a part of Sedona's character you will not find in Sun Valley.

Sun Valley's shopping fills a few blocks of Ketchum and is aimed at second-home owners: cashmere, western wear and home decor, plus galleries with evening art walks. Its real strength is ski, fly-fishing and outdoor gear, which is better stocked there.

Both are expensive, but Sun Valley is the harder one to do cheaply. Lift access, restaurant meals and rooms there are all priced around a wealthy second-home community, and there is little budget lodging. Coming in the quiet spring or autumn months, staying down the valley and using the free buses are the main ways to save.

Sedona's resorts and restaurants are pricey too, especially in spring and autumn, but its main attraction costs little: most trails need only a parking pass. Staying in Cottonwood or Flagstaff and driving in brings the bill down further.

Sun Valley has the real performing season, though only in summer. The Sun Valley Music Festival brings a full professional orchestra to the open-sided pavilion by the lodge for weeks of free concerts, with listeners picnicking on the lawn, and star skaters perform in evening ice shows on the outdoor rink, a tradition from the resort's early years.

Sedona's offering is scattered through the year rather than packed into one season: the long-running international film festival in late winter, chamber concerts, local theatre and Native American flute players at resorts. Neither has a concert hall or a theatre season.

Sedona is the retreat destination of the two, by some distance. Destination resorts have spas facing the canyons, and the town is full of yoga, meditation, breathwork and alternative therapies. The vortexes give the whole place a contemplative ritual that Sun Valley has nothing like.

Sun Valley's rest is simpler: spa treatments at the resort, steaming outdoor pools under falling snow and quiet mountain evenings. It does have something Sedona lacks, though: natural hot springs up the Warm Springs valley, rough creekside pools at the end of a dirt road.