Alicante or Jerez de la Frontera?

In Alicante the beach is part of daily life. Postiguet sits at the foot of the old town, the tram runs to some 7km of pale sand at San Juan, and the island of Tabarca is a short boat ride away. The water is calm, shallow and warm, though the city beaches are packed in high summer.

Jerez has no shore of its own. The Atlantic beaches at El Puerto, Cádiz and Sanlúcar are fine, long and golden, but each one is an outing by train or car, the water is cooler, and the Levante wind can whip them up.

The two eat equally well, but in different ways. Alicante revolves around rice: arroz a banda, black rice and the egg-crusted arroz con costra at long lunches, with red prawns and mojama from the Mercado Central.

Jerez is built around a drink. Sherry from the barrel in the tabancos sets the tone, and the cooking follows with kidneys and oxtail cooked in sherry, berza stew and fried fish from the coast. Choose Alicante for seafood and rice, and Jerez for a tradition that you mostly sip.

Jerez offers more to see and more that is unique to it. The Almohad Alcázar with its Arab baths, the cathedral and the Gothic-Mudéjar parish churches fill the old centre. The gypsy quarters of Santiago and San Miguel, where flamenco took shape, sit alongside barrel-lined bodegas and the Royal Andalusian School of Equestrian Art.

Alicante's sights are fewer. The Santa Bárbara castle and its view, the flowerpot steps of Santa Cruz and the well-presented MARQ make a pleasant two days, but little else stands out.

Alicante has the livelier nights. El Barrio's small bars spill onto the steps until late, the port has bigger bars and clubs, and in summer the beach terraces at San Juan stay open late. Students keep it going outside the season too, and the Hogueras in June take over the streets.

Jerez is sociable but quieter. A night out means tapas, tabancos and copa bars around Plaza del Arenal and Calle Larga, with only a few clubs. The exception is the week of the Feria del Caballo in May, when the casetas go on until dawn.

Both offer good outdoors, but with different landscapes. From Alicante, the sea leads: snorkelling and diving around Tabarca, kayaking in the bay, flamingos on the Santa Pola salt lagoons, and limestone hiking and climbing in Aitana and at Sella.

From Jerez, the land leads. Chalky vineyards for gentle cycling and riding give way to the gorges of Grazalema, the cork forests and the edge of Doñana for birds, with kitesurfing towards Tarifa. Either way you will want a car, and in summer the outdoors means early mornings.

Jerez is the stronger base. Seville is about an hour away by train and Cádiz half an hour. Sanlúcar and El Puerto complete the sherry triangle, and with a car, Arcos, Vejer, Grazalema and Ronda make a chain of white towns.

Alicante has good options too. Elche's palm grove is close, the coastal tram reaches Villajoyosa and Altea, and Guadalest sits inland. Valencia, though, is about two hours away, and nothing nearby matches the weight of Seville.

Alicante is the easier city with children. Playa de San Juan has shallow, gentle water and Postiguet is walkable from the centre. The palm-lined promenade suits pushchairs, and the theme, water and marine parks near Benidorm cover the big days out.

Jerez has a good zoo and the horse show, and some bodega tours offer carriage rides, but the beach always means a trip. July and August in town are very hot, and the centre holds little to excite younger children.

Both centres are easy on foot, with a different strength each. Alicante's tram runs along the coast to the beaches and on to Benidorm and Dénia, which is useful for a seaside stay.

Flat, compact Jerez sits on a rail line, with fast trains to Seville, Cádiz and El Puerto and an airport one stop away. Beyond the rail lines, both need a hired car, for the white towns in one case and the mountain villages in the other.

Neither is a shopping destination, but Alicante has a little more variety. Department stores and chains line Avenida Maisonnave, and Elche's shoe outlets are half an hour away.

Jerez is narrower and more specialised. Sherry and brandy from the bodegas, saddlery and riding boots made for the horse world, and flamenco dresses and guitars are the things worth taking home.

Jerez stretches a budget slightly further. Sherry and tapas in the tabancos cost little, bodega tours are inexpensive and central hotels are moderately priced, though rooms tighten during the Feria, the flamenco festival and motorcycle race weekends.

Alicante is fair for the coast, with cheap trams and good lunch menus, but beachside rooms climb steeply in July and August. Visiting between October and May brings it much closer to Jerez.

Jerez is the clear choice here, because flamenco is its own art. Peñas in Santiago and San Miguel open their evenings to visitors, tabancos host rough, close-up sessions, and the late-winter festival fills the Teatro Villamarta with major dancers.

Alicante's offer is solid but small. Spanish-language theatre plays at the Teatro Principal and the provincial orchestra performs at the ADDA, and nothing there draws visitors in the way flamenco draws them to Jerez.

Neither city has a bathing tradition, and rest in both means long lunches and a quiet afternoon. Jerez has an Arab-style bathhouse right in the old town. In Alicante the sea does the work, with the shaded Explanada for slow walks and the Roman-era thermal springs of Archena about an hour away.