Albufeira or Lisbon?

Albufeira was built around its beaches. Golden sand and ochre rock stacks begin right below the old town at Pescadores and Peneco, then run east to Falésia, with quieter coves such as São Rafael to the west. The water is generally calm and clear, and in summer most beaches have lifeguards and sunbeds.

Lisbon has no beach of its own. The Cascais train stops at Carcavelos and the bays of Estoril, and Costa da Caparica lies across the river. The sea there is a little cooler and often rougher, so some beaches suit surfing better than swimming. A beach day in Lisbon is a break from the city, not the point of the trip.

Lisbon eats far better. Neighbourhood tascas, seafood beer halls, warm custard tarts at the counter and cheap glasses of Alentejo and Douro wine make every meal part of the trip. The markets at Ribeira and Campo de Ourique are good places to graze.

In the centre of Albufeira, menus lean on full breakfasts, pizza and curry for the package crowd. Real Algarve cooking such as grilled sardines and cataplana can be found near the fishermen's beach and in the villages inland, but you have to look for it. A good fish lunch by the sea is the best Albufeira offers, not what you can expect every day.

This is where the two differ most. Lisbon has the Manueline Jerónimos Monastery and Belém Tower, the Baixa grid rebuilt after the earthquake of 1755, and the castle above Alfama. Add museums such as the Gulbenkian and the National Tile Museum, and you have enough for three or four full days.

Albufeira's whitewashed old town, clock tower and two small museums fill a morning stroll. Anyone curious about history there ends up driving to Silves or Faro.

Albufeira offers one kind of night and does it hard. The Strip is a summer-long party built for groups who have come to celebrate, with drinks offers and promoters on every corner and clubs open until morning. Oura and the old town square are only a slightly gentler version of the same thing. If that is the plan, it delivers, but one bar is much like the next, and out of season the town goes quiet early.

Lisbon is the better place to go out overall, because it has more range and doesn't depend on the season. A single evening can begin with sunset over the river at a miradouro, move to the street crowds outside Bairro Alto's tiny bars and then to Cais do Sodré. It can end in a warehouse club by the water after 2am, and Príncipe Real offers cocktails and the gay scene instead. You go out among people who live in the city, not in a strip laid on for visitors.

Both are coastal rather than mountain country, and Lisbon has the wider range. Within easy reach are Sintra's misty forests, the wild shore at Cabo da Roca and Guincho, the Arrábida ridges and the surf at Ericeira. That gives walkers, kitesurfers and surfers more variety.

Albufeira's strength is one superb landscape: the golden cliffs, arches and caves around Benagil. The Seven Hanging Valleys walk follows them, and kayak trips go into the grottoes. For gentler hills, the Serra de Monchique is about an hour inland.

Lisbon is the better base for days out. Sintra's palaces fill a day and are easy to reach by train. Évora has Roman remains and Alentejo wine, and the monasteries of Alcobaça, Batalha and Tomar add three UNESCO sites.

From Albufeira, the outings are to pleasant towns: Silves with its castle, Loulé with its market, walled Faro and Tavira, all within about an hour. None of them is a major heritage site, though, and most are easiest by car.

Albufeira suits the classic family beach vacation. It has Zoomarine, several water parks, calm lifeguarded sand at Oura and Galé, and resort complexes with kids' clubs and shallow pools. Staying east or west of town keeps you away from the noise of the Strip.

Lisbon makes for more varied days out, with the Oceanário, the science centre and tram rides, and restaurants welcome children late into the evening. But its hills, stairways and slippery stone are hard going with a pushchair, so the city works better with older children than with toddlers.

Lisbon is much easier without a car. The metro reaches the airport, and trams, funiculars, suburban trains to Sintra and Cascais and the river ferries all run on one card. The hills still call for good shoes.

Albufeira's compact old town is walkable, and a lift and an escalator help with the climb up from the beach. Beyond that, the resort stretches for kilometres through Montechoro, Oura and Galé, and the buses between them are patchy. The railway station is 6km inland, so most visitors rely on taxis and a hire car.

Lisbon is the place to shop. Chiado has the old shopping streets and glove makers, Príncipe Real has local designers and antiques, and there are the LX Factory, the Feira da Ladra flea market and the luxury labels on Avenida da Liberdade. Azulejo tiles, Burel wool and tinned sardines make distinctive things to carry home.

Albufeira sells beachwear, football shirts and trinkets, and painted pottery and medronho are the more genuine finds. For real choice, visitors drive to the mall at Guia or the market in Loulé.

Overall costs come out about even, but the money goes in different places. In Albufeira, competition keeps set menus, beer and wine cheap, and self-catering apartments are plentiful. July and August push up the cost of rooms and taxis sharply, while winter stays are cheap.

In Lisbon, coffee, tasca lunches and transport are cheap, but rooms in the centre cost as much as in other southern European capitals. Staying a little outside the centre keeps a trip reasonable.

Lisbon has a real performing life. Fado plays every night in Alfama, Mouraria and Bairro Alto, in places ranging from polished dining rooms to tiny neighbourhood rooms. There is also the Gulbenkian orchestra, opera at the São Carlos theatre and the programme at the Centro Cultural de Belém.

Albufeira offers tribute acts, hotel cabaret and fado dinner shows put on for visitors. The free summer concerts on the square by the fishermen's beach are the most enjoyable part.

Neither city has a bathing tradition, and in both a spa means the wellness area of a resort or a large hotel. The difference is the setting. Albufeira's calm cliff-top resorts and its mild, sunny winters suit a slow stay, and there are real thermal waters at Caldas de Monchique, about an hour away.

In Lisbon, rest comes from long lunches, river viewpoints and the shade of the Gulbenkian and Estrela gardens. The old quarters are noisy, though, so for quiet nights most people stay out at Cascais or in the Sintra hills.