Amman or Eilat?

Amman is a desert hill city with no shore of its own. Its nearest water is the Dead Sea, an hour downhill, where you float in brine for an afternoon at a resort or beach club. Real sea swimming means the four-hour drive to Aqaba.

Eilat is built around exactly what Amman lacks. North Beach is the sociable town strand, and along the coast road the reef beaches let you snorkel straight off a jetty. The sand is coarse, the shoreline is short and it fills on Israeli school breaks, but the warm, clear sea makes up for it.

Amman eats far better. Falafel, hummus and fuul for breakfast downtown, hot knafeh from the sweet shops and mansaf at a family restaurant make for a real Levantine table, and Jabal Amman and Weibdeh add cafés and modern Arab cooking.

Eilat's meals lean on hotel buffets and promenade restaurants aimed at visitors. The best food there is simple Israeli fare, hummus, skewers and Red Sea fish, but there is no market or local cuisine to explore, so the choice soon runs out.

Amman has a proper sightseeing programme: the Temple of Hercules and the Umayyad Palace on the Citadel, the Roman Theatre cut into the hillside below, and the Jordan Museum with its Dead Sea Scrolls and 'Ain Ghazal statues. Two or three days cover it well.

Eilat has almost nothing of the kind. It is a young town of hotel towers and malls, and for history you have to go out to the ancient copper workings at Timna or cross the border.

Amman's evenings are social rather than loud. Families and friends linger over shisha and tea, Rainbow Street stays busy late, and a modest bar scene runs through Jabal Amman, Weibdeh and Abdoun. During Ramadan, drinking almost vanishes.

Eilat goes further when the domestic crowds are in. On summer weekends and school breaks the promenade and lagoon fill with bars, beach parties and clubs open past midnight. The music is mainstream pop and dance, and midweek in the quieter months it thins out.

Amman's surroundings are dry hill country. Its highlights are the steep drop to the Dead Sea, the wade-and-scramble canyon at Wadi Mujib in the warmer months and the spring woodland at Ajloun. Dana and Wadi Rum need a night away.

Eilat has more right on its doorstep. Its coral reef is among the most accessible anywhere, with dives off the coast road, and the Eilat Mountains add colourful sandstone canyons such as the Red Canyon below red granite ridges. Timna's sandstone formations and a major spring and autumn bird migration add more. In summer the heat limits hiking to dawn.

Amman is an outstanding base. Jerash's Roman streets are under an hour north, Madaba's mosaic map, Mount Nebo and the Baptism Site lie to the south, and Salt, Ajloun, Umm Qais, Kerak and the frescoed desert castles fill more days.

Eilat has one great outing, and oddly it is the one Amman cannot manage comfortably: Petra, reached on a long organised day across the Jordanian border. Beyond that there are Aqaba and Timna, and then the empty Negev.

Amman is fond of children, and restaurants will happily seat them late, but little is built for them beyond the children's museum in King Hussein Park. Steep streets defeat pushchairs. Floating in the Dead Sea is the standout day.

Eilat is set up for family vacations. It has calm, warm water without surf, hotel pools and kids' clubs, an underwater observatory where children see the reef through glass, glass-bottom boats and snorkelling off the jetties. Summer middays are too hot for small children, so late autumn to spring suits best.

Amman sprawls over hills and valleys, with no metro and patchy pavements. Beyond downtown and the stone stairways up to Jabal Amman and Weibdeh, you rely on cheap taxis and ride-hailing, and on a hired driver for excursions.

Eilat's centre is compact: hotels, North Beach, the promenade and the malls are a short walk apart, and buses or taxis cover the few kilometres to the reef beaches. Timna and the mountain trails need a car or a tour, and in summer midday walking is hard work.

Neither city is a shopping destination, but they offer different kinds of buying. Amman has character: the downtown spice and gold souks, plus shops around Rainbow Street selling Palestinian embroidery, Hebron glass and craft from women's cooperatives.

Eilat's draw is VAT-free shopping at the chains in its big malls, plus jewellery set with the blue-green Eilat stone. A foreign visitor will find little there that they could not buy at home.

Amman is clearly the cheaper stay. Local food, coffee and taxis cost little, though mid-range hotels in the western districts, alcohol, private drivers and the country's main sites ask foreigners for real money.

Eilat is expensive on almost every front. Beachfront hotels are dearest during festivals and school breaks, and diving and tours cost more than at European resorts. The VAT exemption, midweek rates and the hummus counters soften the bill.

Neither is a place for a night at the theatre, but Amman offers more. There are concerts and Arabic theatre at the Royal Cultural Centre, small stages downtown and in Weibdeh for oud and Arab indie bands, and the summer Jerash Festival in the ancient theatres.

Eilat's live entertainment is mostly hotel shows and musicians in the promenade bars. The exceptions are its long-running Red Sea jazz festival and occasional concerts by Israeli stars in season.

Amman's advantage lies below it. The Dead Sea resort spas, with floating, mineral mud and pools, are an hour away, and the Ma'in hot springs pour into a desert canyon nearby. In town there are hammams, though the city itself is noisy and hilly.

Eilat offers a simpler kind of rest: hotel spas using Dead Sea minerals, pools and gardens, and dependable winter sun. It is peaceful midweek in the quiet months and loud during festival weeks.