Alicante or Cadiz?

On sand alone the two are a close match, and the difference is the sea. Alicante's Mediterranean is warmer and calmer, with Postiguet right below the castle and the long shallow stretch of San Juan a tram ride away, plus a boat to Tabarca for clear water and rocks. Its city beaches do get packed in high summer.

Cadiz looks out on the Atlantic, which is cooler and livelier, and the levante wind can make some days hard work. In return, La Caleta has real old-town character, Playa Victoria is wide and walkable, and the wild strands of the Costa de la Luz down to Bolonia are far emptier than anything on the Costa Blanca.

The two eat equally well, but around different things. Alicante is a rice city, with arroz a banda, black rice and the egg-crusted arroz con costra shared at long lunches, and its modernist market hall sells red prawns from Dénia, mojama and Jijona turrón. Tapas rounds in the old town come with wines from the Alicante and Valencian denominations.

Cadiz is about fried fish and tuna: paper cones from the freidurías, shrimp fritters and almadraba bluefin in the bars of La Viña, with manzanilla and fino from the sherry towns nearby. Its range is narrower, though, so anyone who tires of seafood and tapas will find few alternatives inside the city.

Cadiz has much more to see. As one of the oldest cities in Western Europe, it layers Phoenician sarcophagi, a half-buried Roman theatre, the watchtowers of its Americas trading days, the gold-domed cathedral and the room where the 1812 constitution was signed into a compact, walkable peninsula.

Alicante's highlights are the Santa Bárbara fortress, the flowerpot steps of Santa Cruz and the well-presented MARQ. These are enjoyable, but they make a shorter list, and the city works better as a beach base with sights than as a sightseeing destination.

Alicante is the better place to go out. El Barrio's small bars fill the steps under the castle until late, the port and marina add bigger bars and clubs for a dressier crowd, and a student and international population keeps things going outside summer too. The Hogueras in late June bring several nights of street parties.

Cadiz is gentler: tapas rounds in La Viña, squares full on warm evenings and seafront terraces along Playa Victoria in summer. Its great exception is February Carnival, a ten-day costumed party that is livelier than anything in Alicante. Outside that, the nights are quiet.

There is little between them, but the landscapes differ. Alicante has dry mountains close behind the coast, with hiking on Puig Campana and the Sierra de Aitana, climbing at Sella, and snorkelling and diving in the Tabarca marine reserve.

Cadiz looks to water and wind: the salt marshes of the bay for birdwatching and kayaking, kitesurfing and whale-watching out of Tarifa, the cliff-top pines of La Breña and the Doñana wetlands, with the Sierra de Grazalema for mountain walks further off.

Cadiz is the stronger base. Jerez with its bodegas and riding school is half an hour by train, the ferry reaches El Puerto de Santa María, Seville is an easy day out, and by car Vejer, Arcos and the Roman ruins of Baelo Claudia are all close.

Alicante has good options too: Elche's UNESCO palm grove, the painted houses of Villajoyosa, Altea and the castle village of Guadalest. But its biggest draw, Valencia, takes longer to reach than Seville does from Cadiz, and nothing nearby matches the sherry towns and white villages.

Alicante does more for children. The shallow, calm water at San Juan suits small swimmers, the palm-lined promenade is good for scooters, and the theme park, water parks and marine park near Benidorm plus the animal park outside Elche fill the days when the beach palls.

Cadiz is pleasant with toddlers, thanks to its flat, car-light old town, shady parks such as the Genovés and the wide Playa Victoria. But there is no zoo, aquarium or theme park, and older children will have to make do with castle walls and the camera obscura.

Both are easy without a car, in different ways. Alicante's centre is a short walk end to end, and its coastal tram runs on to San Juan and up the Costa Blanca to Benidorm and Dénia, which is handy for beach-hopping.

Cadiz has the flatter, more traffic-free old town, trains leave straight from it for Jerez and Seville, and a catamaran crosses the bay. Its weak point is the Costa de la Luz and the white villages, which really need a hire car.

Neither city is a shopping destination, but Alicante goes a little further. The streets around Avenida Maisonnave have department stores and Spanish chains, and Elche's shoe factory outlets are half an hour away.

Cadiz keeps to family-run shops off Calle Ancha and the flower stalls by the market, with fans, flamenco fashion and sherry as its best souvenirs. Serious shopping means going to Seville.

Costs are much the same, and so is the pattern: eating out is cheap and rooms are the main expense. In Alicante that means set lunches and rice dishes away from the seafront, while in Cadiz it means freidurías, market counters and cheap glasses of sherry.

Both get expensive at the same seasons, high summer plus their own big festival, the Hogueras in June or Carnival in February. Cadiz's old town has few hotels, so staying out by Playa Victoria saves money, whereas Alicante's off-season rooms are easy to find.

Cadiz has a living tradition that visitors come for. It is a cradle of flamenco, with alegrías sung in the members' peñas of the Santa María quarter, and the Gran Teatro Falla stages the satirical chirigota contest at Carnival as well as an autumn Ibero-American theatre festival.

Alicante's scene is smaller and mostly in Spanish, with plays and musicals at the Teatro Principal. Its one advantage is classical music: the ADDA auditorium has a resident symphony orchestra, something Cadiz lacks.

Neither city has its own bathing culture, and rest in both means a long lunch, a siesta and a sunset walk. The difference is in the extras close by. From Alicante, the Roman-era thermal springs of Archena and Fortuna take about an hour by car.

From Cadiz, the sea-water spas of Novo Sancti Petri and the Arab-style baths in Jerez are both nearer. The sea walls and La Caleta at dusk also make the slower days feel more of an occasion.