Albufeira or Jerez de la Frontera?

Albufeira is built on its beaches. Golden sand and ochre cliffs run from Pescadores and Peneco below the old town east to Falésia, and west to the quieter coves of São Rafael and Coelha. To swim, you simply walk downhill, and the water is usually calm.

Jerez has no shore of its own. The beaches at Valdelagrana, Cádiz and La Barrosa are long, open and fine, but they are a train ride or a drive away, and the Levante wind can make the sea rough. Here the beach is an outing rather than the rhythm of the day.

Jerez eats better, and in a more distinctive way. Sherry runs through everything, from fino poured straight from the barrel in the tabancos to kidneys and oxtail cooked in it. The tapas streets around Plaza del Arenal and Calle Larga are a reason to come in themselves.

Albufeira's good cooking, such as grilled sardines and cataplana, is there, but you have to look past the menus aimed at package tourists to find it. Head for the fishermen's beach and the backstreets of the old town. It makes for a pleasant fish lunch rather than a food trip.

Jerez has far more to see. The Almohad Alcázar, the Baroque cathedral and the Gothic-Mudéjar parish churches make up a proper historic centre. The sherry bodegas and the Royal Andalusian School of Equestrian Art are found nowhere else.

In Albufeira, the whitewashed lanes, the clock tower and the small museums take a morning. Keen sightseers end up driving to Silves or Faro.

Albufeira offers by far the bigger night out, in a very particular style. On the Strip in Montechoro, neon bars, karaoke and clubs run until dawn for young British and Irish crowds and stag groups. Much of it closes from November to March.

Jerez goes out the Andalusian way, with late tapas, tabancos and copa bars in the old quarters rather than clubs. It is sociable but provincial, except during the Feria del Caballo in May.

Both have fine landscapes, but of very different kinds. Albufeira's is the coast itself: sea caves, arches and the Seven Hanging Valleys cliff walk, with boat and kayak trips to Benagil and dolphin-watching offshore.

Jerez looks inland, to the gorges of the Sierra de Grazalema and the cork-oak forests of Los Alcornocales. From Sanlúcar, boats cross the river to the Doñana wetlands. Horse riding is easy to arrange, and the coast towards Tarifa is good for kitesurfing.

Jerez makes the stronger base. Seville is about an hour away by train and Cádiz about half an hour. Sanlúcar and El Puerto, the other corners of the sherry triangle, are close by, and with a car the white towns from Arcos to Ronda open up.

Albufeira's choices, Silves, Loulé, Faro, Lagos and Tavira, are attractive Algarve towns. None of them is a major heritage site, though, and most are easiest with a hire car.

Albufeira is set up for families in a way Jerez is not. Zoomarine and several water parks are close by, the beaches at Oura, Galé and Falésia are lifeguarded and calm, and many hotels have kids' clubs and shallow pools. Stay away from the Strip and the steep old town.

Jerez welcomes children without catering to them. They are welcome at late dinners, there is a fine zoo, and the dancing horses usually go down well. Its summers are very hot, though, and the beaches mean a trip out.

Jerez is much easier to get around. The Alcázar, the cathedral, the bodegas and the tapas streets are all a short, flat walk apart, and the station near the centre has direct trains to Seville and Cádiz.

Albufeira spreads for kilometres through hotel zones linked by patchy buses, and much of the old town is stairs. The station is 6km inland, so taxis and hire cars do most of the work. In both places you need a car to reach the countryside.

Neither is a shopping destination, but Jerez has more interesting things to take home. You can buy sherry and brandy from the bodegas, leather riding boots and saddlery, and flamenco dresses and guitars. Calle Larga also has a pleasant run of shops.

Albufeira's lanes sell mostly beachwear and souvenirs. Painted pottery, cork and medronho are the best buys, and for everything else people drive to the mall at Guia.

Jerez is a little easier on a budget. Tapas and sherry are cheap, central hotels are moderately priced and the sights are within walking distance. Rooms cost more during the Feria and the big motorcycle race weekends.

Albufeira is good value for a beach resort, but in summer sea-view rooms, taxis and car hire add up. From October to May its apartments become a bargain.

In Albufeira, live performance is resort entertainment: cover bands and tribute acts in the bars, cabaret in the hotels and fado dinner shows for visitors. In summer there are also free concerts on the square by the fishermen's beach.

Jerez is in another league. It is one of the places where flamenco was born, and Santiago and San Miguel are the quarters where it took shape. Their peñas and tabancos still host close, unpolished sessions. The late-winter festival brings major dancers to the Teatro Villamarta, which also runs a modest season of opera and zarzuela.

Neither town has a spa culture, and Jerez is only slightly better for it. It has an Arab-style bathhouse in the old town and a slow daily rhythm of long lunches and shaded patios.

In Albufeira, how relaxing it is depends on where you stay. The hotel spas and cliff-top resorts around Galé and Falésia are restful and the Strip is not. For real thermal waters, Caldas de Monchique is an hour away.