AlUla or Jeddah?

AlUla has no beach at all. The nearest sea is a long drive west across the mountains, so swimming means the pool at your desert camp or resort, which is welcome when the afternoons heat up.

Jeddah sits on the Red Sea, with warm, clear water and reefs right off the shore. You have to arrange it, though. The corniche is for strolling rather than swimming, and the good swimming and snorkelling is at the paid beach clubs and resorts up at Obhur.

Jeddah is much the better city to eat in. Its Hejazi cooking draws on centuries of pilgrims and traders, so you find mandi, saleeg and mutabbaq alongside Yemeni and East African dishes. The fish market will grill the morning catch for you, Al-Balad has street sweets, and the northern avenues are lined with Lebanese and Turkish restaurants.

In AlUla, meals depend mostly on your resort's kitchen and a short row of Old Town terraces. The real treat is the oasis produce, especially the dates and cardamom coffee that greet you everywhere.

AlUla has the deeper heritage by some distance. Hegra's free-standing Nabataean tombs, the lion tombs of Dadan, the inscribed walls of Jabal Ikmah and the mud-brick maze of the Old Town add up to ancient history on a scale that few places match. Seeing them takes guided visits spread across the valley.

Jeddah's culture centres on Al-Balad, a compact old town of coral-stone houses with carved wooden balconies, where you can go inside Nassif House. Beyond that you have the corniche sculptures and the floating Al-Rahma mosque. It is two or three days of pleasant sights rather than a reason to cross the world.

Neither city has bars or clubs, but Jeddah's evenings at least have some life. Families crowd the corniche after dark, and the cafés, dessert shops and shisha lounges in the north stay busy past midnight, especially in summer.

AlUla's nights are quieter: a late dinner, a walk through the lit Old Town lanes, then stargazing out in the dark desert.

This is AlUla's great strength. Its palm valley is walled by sandstone cliffs and surrounded by wind-carved rocks such as Elephant Rock, with the black lava plateau of Harrat Uwayrid and the canyons of the Sharaan reserve further out. Hiking, climbing, cycling and balloon flights fill the cooler months.

Jeddah's best nature is underwater, on the fringing reefs and wrecks reached by dive boat from Obhur, along with kitesurfing on the northern creek. On land the city is flat and sandy, and real scenery means driving up the escarpment towards Taif.

Jeddah gives you a little more choice. Taif, about two hours up into the mountains, offers rose farms and cooler air. Medina is a long day by train, and for Muslim visitors Mecca is about an hour away, which non-Muslims cannot visit.

AlUla's two outings, the ancient oasis towns of Tayma and Khaybar, are rewarding but each takes a full day across open desert. Most of what you come for lies inside the valley anyway.

Jeddah is the easier city with children. The corniche has playgrounds and lawns for the evenings, and there is an aquarium, a seafront amusement park and indoor play centres in the malls for the hottest hours. Calm water at the northern beach clubs suits young swimmers.

AlUla works for older, outdoorsy children who will enjoy camel rides, ziplines, scrambling on rocks and the tombs of Hegra. But nothing is built specifically for children, and long sunny site visits are tough on small ones.

Both depend on the car, but the experience differs. AlUla's sights are scattered along a valley, often 20km or more apart. You reach the archaeological sites on ticketed shuttle buses from visitor centres, and otherwise need a hire car, a driver or a tour, on roads that are good and empty.

Jeddah is a long coastal sprawl with no metro and heavy rush-hour traffic, but taxis and ride-hailing are plentiful. Al-Balad and stretches of the corniche are the only parts you can comfortably walk.

Jeddah is far better for shopping. You can spend evenings in the huge air-conditioned malls of the north, and in the Al-Balad souks you can buy gold by weight, oud, perfumes blended to order and spices, with bargaining expected.

AlUla has only a handful of craft shops in the Old Town selling weaving, pottery and local perfume. A box of oasis dates is the souvenir most people remember.

Jeddah costs a good deal less. Simple restaurants serve good food cheaply, taxis are cheap thanks to low fuel prices, and hotels are mid-range. The costs that add up are beach-club entry and dining in the fashionable north.

AlUla is costly almost by design. Stays lean towards luxury resorts and tented camps, the main sites are seen on paid guided tours, and you need a car or driver every day. Only Old Town meals and petrol are moderate.

Both are seasonal, with nothing to see on an ordinary evening, but AlUla has the more memorable stage. Maraya, a mirror-clad concert hall in a desert canyon, hosts international singers and orchestras in the winter festival season, with dance and music among the rocks besides.

Jeddah's events are spread across arenas and open-air stages: Arab pop, touring acts and comedy, plus Hejazi oud music and the mizmar stick dance at heritage events in Al-Balad.

AlUla is the more restful choice. The desert is silent at night, the pace is slow, and the resorts offer spas, sunrise yoga and pools set among the rocks, with evenings by a fire under the stars.

Jeddah has good hotel spas, often with a hammam room, and day spas usually separated by gender. But traffic, heat and air conditioning set the city's rhythm, and only the Obhur seafront resorts really slow things down. Neither city has a public bathing tradition.