Sequoia or Zion?

Neither has a coast, and in both places a swim is a way to cool off rather than a reason to go. Zion has a slight edge thanks to Sand Hollow near Hurricane, a reservoir with red-sand shores that stays warm enough from June to September. Hotel pools in Springdale and St. George are also common.

In Sequoia the swimming is wilder: granite pools on the Kaweah around Three Rivers once the snowmelt drops in late summer, and the small sandy shore at Hume Lake. The rivers in both places need caution, fast and icy in Sequoia in spring and prone to sudden floods in Zion after storms.

Both are places where you eat to refuel after a day on the trails, but they get there in different ways. Around Sequoia, the farm country of the San Joaquin Valley helps: summer fruit stands sell stone fruit and nuts from the orchards, and Fresno has Armenian and Hmong cooking. Inside the parks you are left with lodge dining rooms and camp stoves.

Springdale, at Zion's gate, has more on one street, including early cafés for the trailhead crowd and a couple of dining rooms with canyon views. Utah's liquor rules keep any drinking with dinner low-key, and St. George relies mostly on chains.

Zion has a little more history to visit. There is the Zion Human History Museum on the Southern Paiute and the Mormon settlers, the 1930 tunnel with galleries cut into the cliff, and the adobe ghost town of Grafton. St. George adds its pioneer temple, Brigham Young's winter home and a dinosaur trackway.

Sequoia's sights are smaller and lie scattered through the forest: the Giant Forest Museum, the rock paintings and grinding holes at Hospital Rock, Tharp's Log, and the ranger-led tours of Crystal Cave. In either place this fills a few hours, not days.

Both go quiet after dinner, and the real evening show is a very dark, starry sky. Sequoia's version is a ranger talk or a campfire, with a beer in Three Rivers at most. Zion's is a drink on a brewpub patio in Springdale, kept low-key by Utah's licensing rules.

These are two of the great landscapes of the American West, and the difference is forest against desert canyon. Sequoia offers the largest trees on earth, the granite views from Moro Rock and the deep walls of Kings Canyon at Cedar Grove. Multi-day routes cross the High Sierra towards Mount Whitney, and black bears are a common sight. It is at its best in summer, before snow closes the high country.

Zion is red and cream sandstone rising 600m above the Virgin River. Its walks are more dramatic but shorter: the Narrows waded upstream, the knife-edge ridge of Angels Landing, and canyoneering through slot canyons. Spring and autumn suit it best, because summer heat and flash floods limit what you can do.

Zion has better outings, mostly because more landscape lies within reach. Bryce Canyon's hoodoos are about two hours away, and Snow Canyon is near St. George. For history there is the Mormon ranch fort at Pipe Spring, Kanab's Western film heritage and Cedar City's frontier museum.

Around Sequoia the choice is limited to the flat farm valley. The best options are Fresno's hand-dug Forestiere Underground Gardens, Hanford's old Chinese quarter and Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park.

Children react strongly to both, but Zion takes far less effort. The free shuttle replaces the hunt for parking, the Pa'rus Trail is flat enough to cycle, and the Riverside Walk ends at a spot where children can paddle. In spring and autumn, those short walks fill a pleasant day.

Sequoia offers unforgettable moments: driving through the Tunnel Log, the paved Big Trees Trail and standing beneath the General Sherman. The cost is long switchback roads, the big drops on the Moro Rock stairway and dangerous spring rivers. Families do best there with a cabin close to the groves.

Zion is much simpler to get around. In busy months the shuttle runs the length of the scenic drive, a second shuttle links Springdale's hotels to the entrance, and good roads connect everything else. Las Vegas airport is about two and a half hours away.

In Sequoia, everything depends on the car and on patience with mountain roads. The Generals Highway needs about an hour of hairpins to link the Giant Forest and Grant Grove, Cedar Grove and Mineral King are long seasonal detours, and snow chains are often needed from late autumn. Staying inside the park saves hours of driving each day.

Neither is somewhere to shop, but Zion has a bit more to look at. Springdale's galleries sell Native American jewellery and pottery and landscape photography, outfitters rent dry suits for the Narrows, and St. George has outlet stores. Around Sequoia it comes down to visitor-centre bookshops, lodge gift stores and the valley's fruit stands.

Costs are much the same, and both charge a lot for a bed at the park gate in season. In Sequoia the way to save is camping among the pines, or sleeping in Visalia and accepting long drives up each day. In Zion, visitors usually stay in Hurricane or St. George, where chain motels and supermarkets cut costs, and winter is noticeably cheaper everywhere. Its free shuttles also save on driving inside the park.

This is one of the clearest differences between the two. Near Zion, the Tuacahn amphitheatre stages Broadway musicals outdoors against red cliffs, and the Utah Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City runs a long summer-to-autumn repertory. Springdale adds concerts and films under the canyon walls.

Sequoia offers little more than ranger campfire programmes. Visalia's Fox Theatre and Fresno's orchestra are a long night drive away from the trees.

Zion is the better choice for a restful stay with treatments. Around Ivins, outside St. George, a few destination spa resorts combine yoga, guided hikes and treatments among red rock, and several Springdale lodges have pools and spas with canyon views.

Sequoia has almost no spa offer and relies on silence instead: a cabin near the Giant Forest or a creekside cottage in Three Rivers, and mornings alone in the groves. It is often calmer than Zion's crowded main canyon.