Amman or Cairo?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Amman has the easier day out. The Dead Sea is about an hour downhill, with sunbeds, showers and water so salty you float rather than swim. It makes a memorable afternoon, though it is not a swim.

From Cairo the nearest shore is Ain Sokhna on the Red Sea, a longer drive to a coast of resort compounds that works better for a few nights than a day trip. In both cities, proper sea swimming means a separate stay on the coast, at Aqaba or on the Red Sea.

The two are evenly matched, and both are at their best cheap and local. Amman leans Levantine: hummus and fuul breakfasts downtown, manakish, hot knafeh, mansaf at a family table, and rooftop terraces in Jabal Amman and Weibdeh for a more modern Arab meal.

Cairo is more of a street city, built on koshari shops, taameya in baladi bread, feteer and stuffed pigeon, with the ahwa coffeehouse at the centre of the day. Neither has much depth at the upmarket end, and alcohol is a side note in both.

This is where Cairo pulls furthest ahead. The pyramids and Sphinx at Giza, the Grand Egyptian Museum with Tutankhamun's treasures, the royal mummies at Fustat and the mosques, madrasas and Citadel of Islamic Cairo add up to a city you could explore for weeks.

Amman has a fine short list: the Citadel with its Temple of Hercules, the Roman Theatre and the Jordan Museum with its Dead Sea Scrolls and 'Ain Ghazal statues. Two or three days cover it, and Jordan's great heritage lies outside the city.

In both cities the night revolves around tea and shisha more than drinking, but Cairo has more of it. Its streets fill after dark, families walk the Nile corniche, the ahwas of downtown stay packed past midnight, and Zamalek, the big hotels and party boats on the river give a small but real bar scene.

Amman's evenings are quieter and more social, with cafés along Rainbow Street and a handful of bars and rooftop lounges in Jabal Amman, Weibdeh and Abdoun, plus a few weekend DJ nights.

Amman has the better landscapes close by. The road drops about 400 metres below sea level to the Dead Sea, Wadi Mujib offers wading hikes up a sandstone gorge in the warmer months, and the oak and pine trails of Ajloun turn green in spring.

Cairo's outdoors is more limited: Al-Azhar Park, a felucca sail at sunset and the dry canyons of Wadi Degla. The real scenery, the lakes and dunes of the Fayoum and the whale fossils of Wadi Al-Hitan, needs a long day out.

Amman is the stronger base, because first-rate sites lie in every direction. Jerash, one of the finest Roman provincial cities anywhere, is under an hour north, with Ajloun castle and Umm Qais beyond, while Madaba's mosaic map, Mount Nebo, Salt, the desert castles and Kerak fill other days.

Cairo's best outing is the string of pyramid fields south of Giza, Saqqara, Dahshur and Memphis, which is superb. After that the options thin out and stretch longer, to the monasteries of Wadi Natrun, the Fayoum and a long day in Alexandria. Both cities need a hired driver for most of these.

Neither city is built for children, and Amman is only a little easier. It feels relaxed and safe, it has a hands-on children's museum in King Hussein Park, and floating in the Dead Sea is a day children remember, though steep streets defeat pushchairs.

Cairo has the bigger thrills, the pyramids, a camel ride and the mummies, but relentless traffic, touts and harsh summer heat make it hard going. Families there do best with a hotel pool, a driver and a winter visit.

Both are hard work to get around, in different ways. Amman's problem is its hills: there is no metro, the centre joins up only by stone stairways between downtown, Jabal Amman and Weibdeh, and taxis and ride-hailing do the rest.

Cairo has a metro that reaches Coptic Cairo and Heliopolis, but not the pyramids, and its traffic is among the heaviest anywhere. Walking works in short stretches along Al-Muizz Street, in Zamalek or across downtown, and river taxis offer a calmer way over the Nile.

Cairo has the richer shopping. Khan el-Khalili has been trading since the fourteenth century, and close by are the appliqué workers of the Street of the Tentmakers and the coppersmiths' alley, while Zamalek's boutiques sell contemporary Egyptian design. Expect to haggle and to put up with pushy sellers.

Amman is smaller and gentler. Its downtown souks and gold street are for browsing, and the best things to buy are the embroidery, Hebron glass and olive-oil soap from women's cooperatives around Rainbow Street.

Cairo is far cheaper. Meals, the metro, ride-hailing and comfortable rooms downtown or in Zamalek cost very little, and a whole stay comes in low even after tips.

Amman is cheap only at the bottom end, for falafel breakfasts, shawarma and taxis. Its mid-range hotels and restaurants are priced like Southern Europe. Both charge foreigners heavily at the headline sites, and alcohol is expensive in both.

Cairo offers far more to watch. The Opera House on Gezira Island has a symphony orchestra, ballet and Arabic music, and the whirling tanoura dance in the medieval Wikala of al-Ghouri is one of the city's great evenings, with zar and traditional music in smaller halls.

In Amman, a visitor may see nothing at all. There are occasional concerts at the Royal Cultural Centre and irregular, mostly Arabic programmes in Weibdeh, and the one big event is the summer Jerash Festival in the ancient theatres.

Amman wins this easily, though mostly thanks to what lies below it. The Dead Sea resort spas, with their salt water and mineral mud, are about an hour away, the Ma'in hot springs fall through a desert canyon nearby, and the city itself still has working hammams.

Cairo offers little rest. Its old bathhouses have fallen out of use, so calm means a hotel spa on the Nile, a felucca at dusk or a historic courtyard garden, and many visitors save the unwinding for the Red Sea afterwards.