AlUla or Riyadh?

Neither city is anywhere near the water. AlUla lies far inland, with mountains between it and the Red Sea, and Riyadh is around 400km from the Gulf, so in both places swimming means a pool. The difference is the setting: AlUla's desert camps and resorts have pools set among the sandstone, while Riyadh also has water parks and hotel day passes, which give a family more choice.

Riyadh is the better place to eat, because eating out is the city's main way of spending an evening. Najdi platters of kabsa, mandi and jareesh sit alongside Lebanese, Yemeni, Turkish and South Asian kitchens, and the specialty coffee shops of Olaya give it a coffee culture AlUla cannot match.

In AlUla, dining mostly means your resort's restaurant or the terraces of the Old Town. Its strength is the oasis produce, dates and citrus from the farms, but the choice is narrow and some kitchens close outside the season.

AlUla's ancient sites are on a different scale. Hegra's hundred-plus Nabataean tombs stand alone in open desert, and with the lion tombs of Dadan and the inscribed canyon walls of Jabal Ikmah they take you back to kingdoms far older than the Saudi state. The abandoned mud-brick Old Town completes the picture.

Riyadh's heritage is much younger and centres on the founding of the Saudi state, at At-Turaif in Diriyah, Masmak Fort and the Murabba Palace. Its advantage is the National Museum, a well-presented account of Arabian history with no real equivalent in AlUla.

Neither city has bars or clubs, so anyone looking for a drink or a dance floor should go elsewhere. What differs is the kind of evening.

AlUla's evenings are quiet: dinner, a walk through the lit lanes of the Old Town and stargazing at dark-sky sites outside town. Riyadh has a bit more going on, with coffee shops, dessert cafés, malls and entertainment zones busy past midnight, and the occasional alcohol-free club night.

AlUla is one of the great desert landscapes of the region and offers far more to do outdoors. Sandstone cliffs, palm groves, Elephant Rock, the lava plateau of Harrat Uwayrid and the canyons of the Sharaan reserve are the setting for hikes, via ferrata routes, balloon flights and camel rides.

Around Riyadh, the outdoors comes down to one big excursion, the Edge of the World escarpment two hours away by four-wheel drive, plus dune driving and camps east of the city and the green corridor of Wadi Hanifah. These are a few good outings, not a reason to go.

Neither city has much within reach, and their best outings are alike: old oasis settlements about two hours away across the desert. From AlUla these are Tayma, with its great stone well and walls, and Khaybar, with its fortress on a basalt outcrop, each a full guided day. From Riyadh the trip is to the restored mud-brick village of Ushaiger and the old Najdi quarter of Shaqra next to it, which fit easily into a single outing.

Children are welcome in both, and in both the cooler months are the only sensible time to bring them. The difference is in what they will do. AlUla is an outdoor adventure for older children, with rock scrambling, ziplines, camel rides and the tombs of Hegra, but nothing built for younger ones.

Riyadh has what AlUla lacks: a zoo, plus indoor amusement parks and ice rinks inside the malls, which also give shelter from the heat. The catch is that almost everything needs a car or taxi.

Neither is a walking city, but Riyadh is clearly easier to get around. A driverless metro runs along the main corridors and out to the airport, and ride-hailing apps cover the rest, so you can manage without hiring a car.

AlUla has no public transport in the usual sense. Its sights lie 20km or more apart along the valley, the archaeological sites are reached by ticketed shuttles, and everything else needs a hire car, a driver or a tour, so each day has to be planned around transport.

Riyadh is a proper shopping city and AlUla is not. The large malls of the northern districts and the luxury floors of the Kingdom Centre carry international fashion, perfume houses sell oud and Arabian scents, and Souq Al Zal near the old centre sells carpets, daggers and coffee pots, busiest in the evening.

In AlUla the choice is a handful of craft and design shops in the Old Town selling weaving, pottery and local perfume, plus dates from the oasis farms to take home.

Riyadh is the cheaper of the two, though neither is a bargain. Its hotels are priced for business travellers, but simple local and South Asian eateries, low metro fares and free or modest entry to the main museums and heritage sites keep costs down.

AlUla costs considerably more. Most rooms are in luxury resorts and tented camps, the main sites are seen on paid guided tours, and getting around means a hire car or a driver, so the bill grows quickly even before meals.

Both put on most of their performances in a winter season and have little the rest of the year, so when you go matters more than which city you choose. AlUla's draw is Maraya, the mirror-clad concert hall in a desert canyon, along with music and traditional Saudi dance staged among the rocks. Riyadh holds big concerts in arenas and at large outdoor festivals, and it is where you can see the ardah, the Najdi sword dance with drums and poetry, at national celebrations.

AlUla is far better for unwinding. The desert silence, sunrise yoga, spas, pools set among the rocks and evenings by a fire under a dark sky make the whole stay restful, as long as you book a resort that offers them.

In Riyadh, wellness means a hotel spa, often with hammam-style treatments, in a hot city full of traffic. The quiet moments come from getting out of the city, to a desert camp or the palm groves around Diriyah on a winter evening.