Alicante or Toledo?

This is the widest gap between the two. Alicante has sand on its doorstep. Postiguet lies at the edge of the old town, the tram runs to the long, shallow bay at Playa de San Juan, and a boat crosses to Tabarca for clear water among the rocks. The one drawback is the crowds on the city beaches in high summer.

Toledo sits on the plateau several hours from any coast, and the Tagus in its gorge is not for swimming. On a hot afternoon your choice is a hotel pool or a municipal one.

Alicante eats better and more widely. Its rice dishes, arroz a banda, black rice and the egg-crusted arroz con costra, are worth planning a long lunch around, and the Mercado Central has red prawns, mojama and counters where you can stop for a drink. The tapas bars near the market and in the old town are where the good everyday eating is.

Toledo's cooking is heavier inland fare: partridge, venison, carcamusas, Manchego and convent marzipan. It is satisfying for a few meals, but the choice is narrow, and the set menus near the cathedral are best avoided in favour of taverns a few streets away.

Toledo is the far stronger city for sightseeing. The whole hilltop old town is the attraction, with the Gothic cathedral and its El Greco and Goya canvases, the synagogues of Santa María la Blanca and El Tránsito, the mosque of Cristo de la Luz and San Juan de los Reyes all packed into a short walk. Few places in Spain show its mixed past so clearly.

Alicante has a good castle with a view over the bay, the whitewashed steps of Santa Cruz and the well-presented MARQ archaeology museum. These make pleasant mornings on a beach trip, but they are not the reason to go.

Alicante has a real night out. Dinner starts after nine, El Barrio's small bars spill onto the steps until the early hours, and the port and San Juan's beach bars keep busy through the summer. The Hogueras in late June turns the whole city into a street party, though dedicated clubbers will find the choice thin.

Toledo goes quiet once the Madrid day visitors have left. An evening means tapas around Zocodover and perhaps a student bar at the weekend, and anyone wanting more takes the train to the capital.

Alicante offers more variety outdoors. You can snorkel in the Tabarca marine reserve, paddle round the bay, walk Cabo de las Huertas or watch flamingos on the Santa Pola salt lagoons. Within an hour, Puig Campana, the Sierra de Aitana and the crags at Sella give proper mountain hiking and climbing, though you will need a car.

Toledo's best outdoor moment is the riverside path through the Tagus gorge and the view back from the cigarrales. Beyond that lie the open La Mancha plain, the low Montes de Toledo and, further off, Cabañeros with its deer and birds of prey.

Toledo has the edge, mostly because Madrid is so close. Half an hour on the high-speed train brings the Prado and the royal palace within reach, and Aranjuez, El Escorial, the Consuegra windmills and Almagro's theatre all make full days. Segovia and Cuenca are possible too, if you accept long days.

Alicante's list is shorter but still good. The UNESCO-listed palm grove at Elche is half an hour away, the coastal tram reaches painted Villajoyosa and white Altea, and Guadalest perches above its reservoir. Valencia is about two hours away by train.

Alicante is much easier with children. Playa de San Juan has shallow, calm water and room to spread out, the palm-lined promenade suits scooters and pushchairs, and the theme and water parks near Benidorm are under an hour away by car.

Toledo's swords, armour and castle-like Alcázar will catch a child's imagination for a while, and the history-show theme park on the outskirts is a real draw. But the steep cobbled lanes are hard work with a pushchair, and a day of churches and paintings tests young patience.

Both centres are easy on foot, but the walking feels very different. Alicante's old quarter, market, port and beach are all on fairly flat ground within fifteen minutes of each other, with a lift up to the castle, and the coastal tram reaches the beaches and towns to the north.

Toledo is smaller still, but it sits on a steep hill of twisting cobbled lanes, so the walking is tiring even though distances are short. Escalators help you up from the car parks, and the station sits across the river, a bus ride or a steep walk from the centre.

Neither city is a shopping destination, but Alicante is the more practical place to shop. The streets around Avenida Maisonnave have department stores and Spanish chains, the market sells turrón and saffron to take home, and Elche's shoe factory outlets are half an hour away.

Toledo's appeal is craft. There is damascene work in gold on black steel, Toledo blades and Talavera ceramics, but many shops near the cathedral sell souvenirs of mixed quality, so look for workshops that make their own.

Costs are much the same, but you pay for different things. In Alicante the cheap tram, near-free castle and good-value rice lunches keep days inexpensive, while beach rooms cost far more in July, August and during the Hogueras, and much less from October to May.

In Toledo eating is the easy part, with a tapa served free with each drink, but the cathedral, synagogues and El Greco sites each charge for entry, so a full day of sightseeing adds up. Hotels with Tagus views inside the walls are the expensive option.

Alicante has a little more on stage. The Teatro Principal puts on drama, musicals and dance, and the ADDA auditorium is home to the provincial symphony orchestra and visiting jazz acts, although most theatre is in Spanish.

Toledo's Teatro de Rojas runs a regional programme, and organ music sometimes fills its churches. Its standout event is Corpus Christi, when the monstrance is carried through streets hung with tapestries. On most nights, serious concerts mean a trip to Madrid.

Neither city has a spa tradition of its own, and Alicante's way of resting is simply the more relaxing of the two. Seafront walks, a long lunch and a siesta make up the day, and the Roman-era thermal springs at Archena and Fortuna are about an hour away by car.

Toledo offers a few Arab-style bath houses with warm pools under vaulted ceilings, and the quiet of its lanes early in the morning and late in the evening. That makes a calm night or two rather than a restful week.