AlUla or Dubai?

On beaches there is no contest. AlUla is a desert oasis far from any coast, so swimming means the pool at your resort or desert camp. The pools are welcome in the warmer months, but that is all there is.

Dubai has a long coast of pale sand on calm, shallow water. There are public beaches at Jumeirah, Kite Beach and JBR, and private hotel beaches on Palm Jumeirah. The shore is engineered rather than wild, and in summer the sand is only bearable early and late in the day, but in winter it makes a proper beach vacation.

In AlUla you mostly eat where you sleep. The resorts have restaurants with chef-led menus, a short row of Old Town terraces serves grills, Saudi dishes and cardamom coffee, and the dates from the oasis are superb. Beyond that there is little casual eating and no street food.

Dubai offers far more choice. The canteens of Deira, Karama and Al Satwa serve cheap Keralan, Pakistani, Iranian and Filipino food. The towers of Downtown and DIFC hold serious fine dining, and there is the long Friday brunch. Regional cooking is the one thing that is easier to taste on AlUla's terraces, because Dubai's Emirati dishes are found mainly in a few heritage restaurants.

AlUla is the place for ancient heritage on a grand scale. Hegra's Nabataean tombs stand alone in open desert, Dadan has lion tombs cut high in the cliff, and the inscribed walls of Jabal Ikmah are often called an open-air library. The mud-brick Old Town climbs a rocky spur to its fort. There are few museums and you see the sites on guided visits, but each one stays in the memory.

Dubai's sights are mostly modern spectacle: the Burj Khalifa, the Museum of the Future and the skylines at dusk. Along the Creek, the wind towers of Al Fahidi, the Al Shindagha heritage area and the abra crossing to the Deira souks show the old trading port. Two or three days covers it all.

AlUla has no bars or clubs at all. An evening there means a late dinner, a walk through the lit lanes of the Old Town and stargazing in the desert, with concerts only in the winter season.

Dubai has a large and polished night out, though always inside hotels and licensed venues. There are DJ clubs, rooftop bars above Sheikh Zayed Road and the Marina, beach clubs on Palm Jumeirah and the long weekend brunch. Drinks are very expensive and there is no casual bar street, but it is a real scene that runs late.

Nature is AlUla's great strength. The landscape is the main reason to go: a palm-filled valley between sandstone cliffs, Elephant Rock on its sand plain, the black lava plateau of Harrat Uwayrid and the red canyons of the Sharaan reserve. Hikes, climbing, balloon flights and dark skies fill the days.

Dubai's outdoors means a trip to the red dunes of Al Marmoom or Lahbab, watersports along the coast and the flamingos at Ras Al Khor in winter. For rock and mountains you drive ninety minutes to Hatta in the Hajar range.

Dubai has more within reach. Abu Dhabi, about ninety minutes away, has the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque and the Louvre Abu Dhabi. Sharjah's museums and heritage quarter are right next door, and Al Ain adds UNESCO-listed oases and mud-brick forts.

Most of AlUla's sights lie within its own valley. The two outings worth making are to the old oasis towns of Tayma and Khaybar. Each is about two hours across the desert and best done as a full guided day.

Dubai is built for children. It has Legoland and the other theme parks near Jebel Ali, water parks, the aquarium in the Dubai Mall, indoor snow at the Mall of the Emirates and a shallow sea that suits toddlers. The summer heat keeps everyone indoors, but the indoor parks are made for exactly that.

AlUla suits older children who love scrambling on rocks, camel rides, ziplines and the sheer size of Hegra, and it is calm and safe. Nothing there is made for children, though, and with long drives between sites and walking in the sun, it is hard going with little ones.

Neither city is good for walking, but Dubai is much easier to get around. Its driverless metro runs from the airport through Downtown to the Marina and the Creek, a tram and the abras fill some gaps, and taxis are plentiful. The heat and wide roads still make walking between stations tiring.

AlUla has no public transport in the usual sense. Hotels and sites lie 20km or more apart along the valley, and the archaeological sites are reached by ticketed shuttle. Everything else needs a hire car, a driver or a tour. The roads are good and empty, but you plan each day around getting from place to place.

Dubai is a shopping destination in its own right. It has the vast Dubai Mall and Mall of the Emirates and a deep choice of jewellery and watches. In Deira, the Gold Souk sells jewellery by weight, and the spice and perfume souks sell saffron and oud.

AlUla has a handful of craft shops in the Old Town selling weaving, pottery, perfume and work from the town's arts and crafts school. Dates from the oasis farms are the best thing to take home. It is a pleasant browse rather than a reason to go.

Neither city is cheap, but Dubai gives you more room to save. Its canteens in Deira and Karama cost very little, the metro and abras are cheap, and hotel rates drop sharply in summer. Winter resorts, the big attractions and alcohol are still very expensive.

AlUla offers fewer ways around the cost. Accommodation leans towards luxury resorts and upmarket camps, the main sites are reached through costly guided tours, and a car or driver adds more. Meals in the Old Town and cheap petrol are the only real savings.

Both cities rely on visiting performers and the winter season. Dubai has the edge, because the Dubai Opera and the big arena keep a reliable programme of touring ballet, opera, musicals and pop concerts through the cooler months. Hotel lounges also have resident jazz bands.

AlUla's stage is Maraya, the mirror-clad concert hall in a desert canyon. In the festival season it has headline concerts, and there is Saudi dance and music among the rocks. The setting is striking, but outside those months there is little on, so plan the trip around the events calendar.

In both cities, wellness depends on the resort you book, and neither has public baths or springs. The difference is the setting. AlUla is quiet through and through, with silent desert nights, sunrise yoga, pools among the rocks and evenings by a fire.

Dubai's resort spas on Palm Jumeirah and the Jumeirah coast are larger and more elaborate. They offer hammam rituals, hydrotherapy and long treatment menus, and they work in any season, but the city around them is fast and full of traffic. For the kind of stillness AlUla gives you, Dubai sends you to a desert retreat an hour inland.