Andalusia or Lanzarote?

Andalusia gives you two coasts to choose from. The calm, warm Mediterranean runs from the Costa del Sol to the volcanic coves of Cabo de Gata, and on the Atlantic the wide, dune-backed sand of Bolonia, Zahara and Conil rivals anything in Spain. In summer, that range and the warmer water put it ahead.

Lanzarote has fewer good beaches. Most of the best sand is at the Papagayo coves and the town beaches of Playa Blanca and Puerto del Carmen, and the Atlantic around the island stays cool. Its advantage is the calendar: in January you can lie on a beach there, while on the mainland a winter day by the sea means a walk along the promenade.

Andalusia is one of Spain's great eating regions, built around the tapas counter. There are free tapas in Granada, oxtail in Córdoba, fried fish along the coast and jamón from the oak pastures of Huelva, all washed down with fino from the sherry triangle. You can eat well in almost any town.

Lanzarote's cooking is honest but narrow: wrinkled potatoes with mojo, grilled fish and goat's cheese. The good meals are in fishing villages such as El Golfo and Arrieta rather than in the resorts. Its real draw is the malvasía wine of La Geria, grown in pits of black ash, which is worth a tasting but not a whole food trip.

Andalusia has some of Europe's greatest monuments: the Alhambra, the Mezquita, and Seville's cathedral and Alcázar. Beyond those come Úbeda, Baeza, Ronda and Cádiz, with enough Roman, Moorish and Christian heritage to fill weeks spread across several cities.

Lanzarote's culture is largely one artist's vision. César Manrique's Jameos del Agua, the Mirador del Río and his lava-bubble house at Tahíche are original and worth a day or two, and Teguise has some old streets and convents. Nothing on the island compares in scale or age with what the mainland offers.

Andalusian nights are long and spent outdoors. There are terraces in Triana and around Seville's Alameda, cheap student bars below the Albaicín, and in summer the beach clubs of Marbella and Puerto Banús and the gay scene of Torremolinos.

Lanzarote has one real strip for going out: the pubs, karaoke bars and handful of clubs in Puerto del Carmen. Everywhere else, the island is quiet soon after dinner.

Andalusia has more kinds of landscape. The Sierra Nevada rises to nearly 3,500m with skiing in winter, and below it lie the Alpujarras villages, the Caminito del Rey gorge, the limestone towers of El Torcal and the Doñana wetlands. Tarifa adds world-class kitesurfing and whale-watching in the Strait.

Lanzarote offers one landscape, but a dramatic one: the lava fields and cones of Timanfaya, the Famara cliffs and the green lagoon at El Golfo. It is very good for surfing, windsurfing and diving. Inside the national park, though, you mostly see it from a coach, and there is almost no shade anywhere.

From any base in Andalusia the options keep going: Itálica and Carmona from Seville, Ronda and Antequera from Málaga, the white villages of the Cádiz hills, Gibraltar, and even a ferry to Tangier.

On Lanzarote itself, Teguise, Haría and La Geria fit into a single loop. The two short ferry crossings are what make the island's day trips worthwhile: one goes to car-free La Graciosa, the other to the dunes beyond Corralejo on Fuerteventura.

Both work well with children, and Andalusia has more to fill the days: water parks, a zoo and an aquarium on the Costa del Sol, Seville's theme park, Granada's hands-on science museum and the Western film sets near Almería. The catch is heat, which rules out inland sightseeing with small children in July and August.

Lanzarote is simpler and gentler. It has shallow beaches at Playa Dorada and Playa Grande, resort kids' clubs, short drives, and mild weather in every school vacation, with the geysers at Timanfaya as the highlight. There are few built attractions, and Famara is no place for paddling.

Andalusia's main cities are linked by fast trains, so you can see Seville, Córdoba and Málaga without a car. The villages, the mountains and the Costa de la Luz really do need one, though.

Lanzarote is much smaller, about 60km from end to end, but its buses barely reach the interior and the north. Almost everyone hires a car. The drives are short, but you depend on the car more.

Andalusia has proper shopping streets in Seville and Málaga, plus things made in the region: Triana ceramics, flamenco dresses and fans bought for real use, Ubrique leather, and luxury boutiques in Marbella.

Lanzarote's shopping comes down mainly to the Sunday market at Teguise, along with aloe vera, olivine jewellery and Manrique designs. Beyond that, it is beachwear in the resorts and a mall in Arrecife.

Andalusia is the cheaper of the two day to day, especially for eating out, where free tapas in Granada and Jaén and set lunch menus keep costs low. Rooms only get expensive during Seville's festival weeks and on the Costa del Sol in summer.

On Lanzarote, package apartments, cheap car hire and low local taxes help. Costs rise in the winter high season, though, and the admission charges at Timanfaya and each of the Manrique sites add up over a week.

Flamenco is a reason to visit Andalusia in its own right. There are nightly shows in Santa Cruz and Triana, the peñas of Jerez, zambra in the cave houses of Sacromonte and Seville's Bienal, and the Maestranza adds opera.

Lanzarote has little on in an ordinary week. The one thing worth seeking out is a concert in the lava-tube auditoriums of Jameos del Agua or Cueva de los Verdes, if one falls during your stay.

Neither is really a spa destination, and the two help you relax in different ways. Andalusia has a little more to book: Moorish-style bathhouses in Granada, Córdoba and Seville, old-fashioned spa towns such as Lanjarón, and the large resort spas around Marbella.

Lanzarote offers hotel thalasso pools and yoga retreats. Its real help is the calm of Haría, Uga and La Graciosa and an island with no high-rises.