Alexandria or Cairo?

Alexandria has a real beach life, and Cairo does not. From June to September, Alexandrian families fill the Corniche beaches and the sea is warm. The public stretches are narrow and crowded, though, the nicer sand at Montaza and Mamoura is behind paid gates, and outside private clubs people swim in a conservative way.

In Cairo the Nile is not for swimming, so a swim means a hotel pool. The nearest sea is the Red Sea at Ain Sokhna, about 130km east, and its resort compounds make it a weekend away rather than a day out.

The two cities eat equally well but in different ways. Alexandria is a fish city: you pick your catch at the restaurants of Anfushi and the Eastern Harbour, then finish in an old Greek-era patisserie or a seafront coffee house.

Cairo's strength is the street, with koshari, taameya breakfasts, feteer and stuffed pigeon, and Zamalek adds a thin layer of international restaurants. Neither city has much fine dining, and in both alcohol sits on the margins.

Alexandria's past is real but mostly buried or underwater, so you piece it together from separate sites: the Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa, the Roman theatre at Kom el-Dikka, Pompey's Pillar and the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, with a faded cosmopolitan city in between. Two or three days covers it.

Cairo is in another league entirely. It has the pyramids and Sphinx at Giza, the Grand Egyptian Museum and the Egyptian Museum on Tahrir Square, the mosques and madrasas of Islamic Cairo and the churches of Coptic Cairo. Together they need many days, not a weekend.

Neither city is built around drinking, but Cairo gives you far more to do after dark. The coffeehouses of downtown and Islamic Cairo stay full past midnight and families walk the Nile bridges. For a drink, Zamalek has bars and rooftop terraces, and there are a few party boats on the river.

Alexandria's evenings are the summer Corniche, with shisha terraces and juice stalls facing the sea. Drinking is limited to a few old Greek-era bars and hotel lounges, and there are no clubs at all.

Alexandria's natural setting is the sea and its sunsets, plus diving among the sunken remains of the Pharos. Inland there is only flat farmland, the reed beds of Lake Mariout and desert, with nothing to hike.

Cairo has more within reach. There is Al-Azhar Park above the old city, felucca sails on the Nile, and the canyons of Wadi Degla for hiking and biking. The Fayoum, about two hours away, adds the lakes and dunes of Wadi El Rayan and the whale fossils of Wadi Al-Hitan, though summer heat limits these trips to the cooler months.

Both cities can reach the old monasteries of Wadi Natrun, but Cairo has the stronger set of trips. South of the city lie Saqqara's Step Pyramid, the Bent and Red Pyramids at Dahshur and the ruins of Memphis, all under an hour or so by car. The Fayoum oasis is further out.

From Alexandria, the Ottoman houses of Rosetta and the war cemeteries of El Alamein are worth the trip, and Abu Mena is close by. Seeing the pyramids, though, means a long day by rail to Cairo and back.

Both cities welcome children warmly and both are hard work with them, so the difference is in what children get out of each. Alexandria offers the summer seafront, with paddling, horse carriages and Montaza's gardens, though the beaches are crowded and the Corniche traffic is daunting.

Cairo offers fewer chances to play and more to be amazed by: camel rides by the pyramids, the mummies and Tutankhamun's gold. Against that come touts, punishing summer heat and relentless traffic, which are best handled with a hired driver and a winter visit.

Alexandria is a long, thin strip and Cairo a sprawl, and each slows you down in its own way. Alexandria runs about 20km along the coast, so the sights from Qaitbay to Montaza are far apart and you reach them by taxi or the slow old tram. Downtown around Raml Station is the only part that is easy to walk, and even there the multi-lane Corniche is a hazard to cross.

Cairo spreads in every direction. Its metro helps between Tahrir, Coptic Cairo and Heliopolis but does not run out to the pyramids, so for those and most other journeys you take ride-hailing or a hired driver through some of the heaviest traffic anywhere. On foot it works only in short stretches, such as Al-Muizz Street or the shaded streets of Zamalek, and river taxis across the Nile are the calm exception.

Cairo is the place to shop. Khan el-Khalili has traded since the fourteenth century, and nearby the Street of the Tentmakers and the coppersmiths' alley still work by hand. Zamalek's boutiques sell contemporary Egyptian design and cotton linens.

Alexandria's Attarin quarter is fun to browse for antiques from its cosmopolitan era, but the souks sell household goods to locals, not things to take home.

Both are among the cheapest places a visitor can go, with taxis, street food and comfortable hotels costing little. In Alexandria the main extra costs are site fees and higher room rates in the busy summer weeks. In Cairo they are the foreigner prices at the big monuments, guided tours, constant tipping and the touts at Giza.

Cairo has more to see on stage. The Cairo Opera House on Gezira Island runs a season of symphony, ballet and Arabic music, and the whirling tanoura dance in the Wikala of al-Ghouri is worth planning an evening around.

Alexandria's Sayed Darwish Theatre and the arts centre at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina host good events, but the programme is irregular, so catching a performance there is a matter of luck.

Neither city is a place for spas, but Alexandria is easier on the nerves. Outside the summer rush, its old cafés, sea air and harbour walks set a slower pace. In Cairo the noise, traffic and dust rarely let up, and the only real breaks are hotel spas, an evening on a felucca or a quiet hour in the courtyard of a historic house.