Sedona or Winter Park, Colorado?

Neither is a beach destination, but Sedona at least has somewhere to swim. The sandstone chute at Slide Rock and the deeper pools at Grasshopper Point and Red Rock Crossing make a cold, cheerful break on a hot afternoon of hiking.

The lakes at Grand Lake and Granby near Winter Park stay snowmelt-cold all summer and suit paddling more than swimming. Water time there means a hotel pool or the hot springs further down the valley.

Sedona eats a little better. Southwestern cooking built on chilli and corn, plenty of vegetarian and health-minded menus, sunset terraces facing the red rocks and the Verde Valley tasting rooms give it more range, even if the good kitchens are few.

Winter Park cooks to feed a day on the slopes: breakfast burritos before the lifts open, burgers and green chile at the lodges, brewery taprooms and a few dinner rooms serving steak, elk and trout. Neither has street food or market life.

Sedona has more to see, though neither is a town for sightseeing. The Chapel of the Holy Cross set into its butte, the Heritage Museum, the Western and Native American galleries and the Sinagua cliff dwellings at Palatki and Honanki can fill a day or two between hikes.

At Winter Park the heritage is the railway history of the Moffat Tunnel and the small ranch museum in Fraser, and anyone wanting museums has to drive to Denver.

Winter Park has the livelier evenings, at least in ski season. The bars at the base village fill when the lifts close, the taprooms along the main road carry on into the evening, and winter weekends and spring-break weeks get loud and cheerful, though even then the town is quiet by late evening.

Sedona is calmer still: a few brewpubs, wine bars and resort lounges around Uptown for a drink after dinner. Its real night out is the dark sky above the canyon.

Both are outstanding outdoor bases, and they differ in kind. Sedona is desert slickrock, with hikes to Cathedral Rock, Devil's Bridge and Boynton Canyon, the shaded walk up West Fork of Oak Creek, technical mountain biking and jeep roads, all at their best in spring and autumn, and the Grand Canyon about two hours away.

Winter Park is high mountain country, with two connected ski mountains in winter, a lift-served bike park and forest singletrack in summer, and the moose, elk and tundra of Rocky Mountain National Park about an hour north. Mountain bikers find famous riding in both, but in Sedona it means red rock under a hot sun and in Winter Park alpine forest and afternoon storms.

Sedona has the wider choice of outings close by. Jerome on its mountainside, Montezuma Castle and Tuzigoot, the Verde Canyon Railroad and the wine towns of Cottonwood and Cornville are all a short drive away, with Flagstaff, Walnut Canyon and Wupatki a little further.

From Winter Park the choices are Georgetown and Idaho Springs over Berthoud Pass, the boardwalk at Grand Lake, and Denver about an hour and a half away. Those high pass roads can close in winter storms, which makes plans less certain.

Winter Park is built around families in a way Sedona is not. It offers a large children's ski school, gentle slopes at the base, tubing, sleigh rides and skating in winter, and an alpine slide, mini golf and easy bike trails in summer, all in a compact village. The altitude can mean a rough first night or two.

Sedona suits outdoor-minded families for a few days. Slide Rock, the lower Bell Rock paths and jeep tours go down well, but there is little else for children, summer heat on exposed trails calls for care, and many hotels are aimed at couples.

Winter Park is easier to manage without a car. A free shuttle links the ski base, the town and Fraser, so a ski week can be done on foot and by bus. Trailheads and the national park still need a car, though, and the drive up from Denver crosses Berthoud Pass.

In Sedona a car is close to essential. Only Uptown is walkable, the shuttle covers just some trailheads, weekend traffic backs up around the Y, and most visitors drive two hours up from Phoenix.

Sedona gives shoppers something to browse. The courtyards of Tlaquepaque hold galleries and craft studios, the main road sells Western art and Native American jewellery, pottery and rugs, and the crystal and metaphysical shops are part of the town's character.

Winter Park's shops are for ski tuning, bike parts and forgotten gloves. Neither has fashion shopping, which means Phoenix from Sedona and Denver from Winter Park.

Both are costly, but Winter Park is the gentler of the two, particularly in summer, when the trails are free and lodging rates drop. Condos in Fraser with kitchens cut the bill further, though in winter lift tickets, rentals and lessons add up quickly.

Sedona's resorts and boutique lodges charge high rates, peaking in spring and autumn, and jeep tours, balloon flights and spa treatments add more. Staying in Cottonwood or Flagstaff and driving in is the usual way to save.

Neither offers much, and what there is falls at different times of year. Sedona's occasions are chamber concerts, local theatre and the long-running International Film Festival in late winter, plus Native American flute players at some resorts.

Winter Park comes alive musically in summer, with free concerts in the town park and the mountains behind, and in winter its live music means bands in the après-ski bars. For a proper stage, Sedona looks to Phoenix and Winter Park to Denver.

This is where Sedona pulls well clear. Destination resort spas face the red canyons, yoga, meditation, breathwork and massage are on offer all over town, and sunrise walks to the vortexes give a stay a quiet ritual, though treatments come at resort prices.

Rest in Winter Park is simpler: a hot tub after a day outside and a few spas for sore legs. It does have the stepped mineral pools of Hot Sulphur Springs about half an hour west, a kind of bathing that Sedona, with no hot springs, cannot match.