Albufeira or Ronda?

Albufeira is built around its beaches. Pescadores and Peneco lie right below the old town, the long sands of Oura and Falésia run east, and the quieter coves of São Rafael and Coelha lie to the west. Most have lifeguards in summer. The Atlantic never feels tropical, but the water is clear and swimming is easy from June into early October.

Ronda has no beach of its own. The nearest sand is on the built-up Costa del Sol around Estepona, roughly 50km away down a road of hairpin bends. The sea there is warmer, but the trip takes up a whole day, so most visitors cool off in a hotel or country-house pool instead.

Neither town is a food destination, and the difference is between sea and mountains. In Albufeira, look past the Strip's multilingual menus and you find charcoal-grilled sardines and bream, clam and pork cataplana and octopus, best eaten near the fishermen's beach or in the old town's backstreets.

Ronda cooks for the hills: oxtail stew, lamb, game, cured hams, and chestnuts and mushrooms from the Genal valley in autumn. You can also taste local wines at the vineyards outside town. Its tapas bars in the Mercadillo beat the gorge-view terraces, much as Albufeira's backstreets beat the Strip.

Ronda has far more to see. The Puente Nuevo spans a gorge more than 100m deep between the Moorish town and the Mercadillo. Around it are the Real Maestranza bullring, where bullfighting on foot took shape, some of Spain's best-preserved Arab baths and the rock-cut stairway at the Casa del Rey Moro.

Albufeira's whitewashed old town, with its fragments of Moorish wall and its clock tower, makes a pleasant early-evening wander, but it fills a morning at most. Visitors with an interest in history drive out to Silves or Faro.

For a night out, Albufeira wins easily. In high summer the Strip at Montechoro runs neon bars, karaoke, sports pubs and clubs until dawn for a young crowd that includes plenty of stag and hen groups. Oura and the old town square are a little calmer. The scene is loud rather than stylish, and much of it closes from November to March.

Ronda's evenings are long dinners and tapas around the Plaza del Socorro, with a few bars afterwards. There is almost no club scene, and the town is quiet by the early hours except during the September fair.

Both have fine scenery, but Ronda is better for walkers. It sits between two mountain ranges: the green, rain-catching Sierra de Grazalema, with griffon vultures and the Garganta Verde, and the Spanish fir forests of the Sierra de las Nieves. Climbers use the Tajo cliffs, and the Caminito del Rey is about an hour away.

Albufeira's nature is mostly found along the coast. The Seven Hanging Valleys cliff walk is half an hour away, boats and kayaks go to the sea caves at Benagil, and dolphin trips head offshore. The Serra de Monchique adds gentler hill walking an hour inland.

Ronda has the better outings. Setenil de las Bodegas, with its houses built under overhanging rock, is twenty minutes away, and Grazalema and Zahara de la Sierra are within the hour. The Roman ruins of Acinipo and the cave paintings of the Cueva de la Pileta are close by. Seville and Málaga can be done as long days.

From Albufeira, Silves and its red castle, Loulé's market hall, walled Faro and graceful Tavira are all an easy hour away. They make pleasant trips, though none is a major heritage site. From either base, a hire car makes these trips much easier.

Albufeira is much easier with children. Zoomarine's dolphin shows and pools are just outside town, several water parks are a short drive away, and wide, calm, lifeguarded beaches such as Galé and Oura sit beside family resorts with kids' clubs. The trick is to stay well away from the Strip.

Ronda is safe, and children are welcome in its squares late into the evening. Older children enjoy the bridge and the walk down into the gorge, but there is no zoo, aquarium or theme park. The high, exposed viewpoints need watching, so a country house with a pool works best as a base.

Ronda is easier to get around on foot. The old town, the bridge, the bullring and the shops of the Mercadillo are a few minutes apart, and the railway station and bus links are in town, although they are slow for exploring.

Albufeira spreads for kilometres along the coast through Montechoro, Oura and Galé, which local buses link only patchily. Its station is about 6km inland, so taxis and ride-hailing do much of the work. Both places need a car for the countryside, and Ronda's old town has very little parking.

Shopping is an afterthought in both places. Albufeira sells beachwear, football shirts, painted pottery, cork goods and medronho, with a large mall at Guia for ordinary fashion. Ronda's Carrera Espinel has Spanish chain stores and leather and ceramics shops, but its best buys are things to eat and drink: local wine, cured meats, olive oil and convent sweets.

Both are reasonable value, and their prices rise at different times. Albufeira's competing restaurants keep set menus and beer cheap, and self-catering apartments are very cheap from October to May, but July and August push up rooms, beachfront meals and car hire.

Ronda's tapas bars, set lunches and modest entry fees keep everyday costs low, and you can walk everywhere for free. Prices rise at the gorge-view hotels and around Easter and the September fair, and a hire car is the biggest extra cost.

Neither is worth choosing for live performance, but Ronda's offering has more local character. Small venues stage flamenco, and in September the Corrida Goyesca, a bullfight in eighteenth-century costume, is held in the old bullring. In Albufeira, performance means tribute bands, hotel cabaret and fado dinner shows for tourists, plus free summer concerts on the square above the fishermen's beach.

Albufeira offers the quiet of the seaside. You find it at the cliff-top resorts west of town and along the stretches around Galé and Falésia, where the larger hotels have spas with heated pools and massage. Its mild, sunny winters suit a slow stay. For real thermal waters, Caldas de Monchique is an hour away in the hills.

Ronda's calm belongs to a mountain town. It settles once the coach parties leave in the late afternoon, and old farmhouses in the hills add pools, olive groves and big views. The Arab baths are a monument to visit rather than a place to bathe, and spa treatment means one of a few hotel spas.