Aqaba or Cairo?

These two are not really competing here. Aqaba sits on the Gulf of Aqaba, where the water is calm and clear and coral reefs begin a few metres from South Beach, so even an ordinary swim comes with a snorkel. The town beaches are narrow and conservative, and most visitors use the resort stretches south of town and at Tala Bay.

In Cairo you swim in a hotel pool, since the Nile is not for swimming. The nearest sea is at Ain Sokhna, about 130km east, a coast of resort compounds that suits a weekend away better than a day trip.

Cairo is the better place to eat, mostly thanks to its street food: ful and taameya for breakfast, koshari shops that make nothing else, flaky feteer, stuffed pigeon and fresh sugar-cane juice, all taken at the pace of the ahwa. Neither city offers much fine dining.

Aqaba's choice is narrower. There is sayadieh and fish picked by weight near the old town, then the usual falafel, shawarma and grills, with resort buffets on top. It does better for a drink: alcohol is easier to find and cheaper in tax-free Aqaba, while in Cairo it stays outside everyday eating.

This is the widest gap between the two. Aqaba's history fills a morning: the Mamluk fort, the low walls of early Islamic Ayla, an early church site and a small museum. Anyone serious about heritage saves it for the trip to Petra.

Cairo needs days. The pyramids and the Sphinx stand at Giza, Tutankhamun's treasures are in the Grand Egyptian Museum and the royal mummies are at Fustat. Islamic Cairo's mosques, madrasas and Citadel make up one of the great medieval cityscapes anywhere, with Coptic Cairo's churches and synagogue besides.

Neither city revolves around drinking, but Cairo's nights have far more life. The streets fill after dark, and the ahwas around downtown and Islamic Cairo stay crowded with shisha and backgammon past midnight. For a drink there are Zamalek's rooftop bars and a few clubs and party boats on the river.

Aqaba winds down early. An evening means a walk on the corniche, a shisha café, a resort bar or a divers' pub, with the odd DJ night at a south-coast beach club in winter.

Aqaba is the outdoors destination of the two. Underwater there are shore dives at the Japanese Garden, coral shallow enough for snorkellers and wrecks sunk as artificial reefs. Inland, Wadi Rum's red sandstone valleys, arches and Bedouin camps are about an hour away.

Cairo's green space comes down to Al-Azhar Park, a felucca on the Nile and canyon hikes at Wadi Degla. For real landscape you drive two hours to the lakes and dunes of the Fayoum or further to the whale fossils of Wadi Al-Hitan. In both cities the summer heat puts most of this off until autumn.

Aqaba has the single most famous outing: Petra, about two hours away, usually with Little Petra on the same day. After that the list is short, since Eilat and Sinai lie across borders.

Cairo has more variety. Saqqara, Dahshur and Memphis are under an hour south, Wadi Natrun's monasteries and Alexandria lie along the desert road, and the Fayoum adds oasis villages and pottery. Most of these need a driver or a tour, just as Petra does from Aqaba.

Aqaba is the easier vacation with children. The sea is calm and shallow at the edges, glass-bottomed boats show off the reef, resorts have pools and kids' clubs, and a night in a Wadi Rum camp is often the highlight.

Cairo gives children bigger memories, such as the pyramids, a camel ride and Tutankhamun's gold. It is tiring to manage with them, though, with relentless traffic, missing pavements and touts at the sights. In both cities the winter months make a family trip far easier.

Neither is easy, for opposite reasons. Aqaba is spread out rather than congested. The centre is small enough to walk, but the resorts and dive sites line the coast road south, so you rely on taxis, shuttles or a hire car on good, quiet roads.

Cairo has a metro that beats the traffic between Tahrir, Coptic Cairo and Heliopolis, but it does not reach the pyramids. Everything else means ride-hailing through some of the heaviest traffic anywhere, and walking works only in short stretches, such as along Al-Muizz Street or through Zamalek.

Cairo is the stronger choice. Khan el-Khalili has traded since the fourteenth century, and alongside the tourist stock you can find real craft: hand-stitched appliqué on the Street of the Tentmakers, the coppersmiths' alley, and contemporary design boutiques in Zamalek.

Aqaba's market streets sell spices, dates and Dead Sea mud, with little genuine handwork. Its one advantage is the special economic zone, which makes perfume, electronics and alcohol cheaper than elsewhere in Jordan.

Cairo is the cheaper trip by a wide margin. Street food, the metro, ride-hailing and comfortable hotels downtown or in Zamalek cost very little. Only site entry fees, alcohol and the luxury Nile hotels push the bill up.

Aqaba is cheap only at the local level. Once you add a south-coast resort, dive courses, desert tours and the entrance to Petra, a beach stay costs about as much as one on the Mediterranean.

Cairo has a real stage and Aqaba barely has one. The Cairo Opera House on Gezira Island hosts the symphony orchestra, the ballet and Arabic music ensembles, and tanoura dancers whirl to live music in the Wikala of al-Ghouri. Plays there are almost all in Arabic, so an evening of music or dance works better for a foreign visitor than the theatre.

Aqaba has nothing like this, only the odd singer in a hotel lounge. The performance most people remember is Bedouin music around a campfire in Wadi Rum. For a concert or a play in Jordan, you have to go to Amman.

Aqaba is the place to rest. The pace is slow, the winters are warm and dry, the town still has working Turkish baths, and the south-coast resorts have full spas using Dead Sea mud and salt.

Cairo works against relaxation, with constant noise, traffic and dust, and most of its old hammams have fallen out of use. Rest there means a hotel spa or an evening felucca, which is why many visitors end a Cairo trip with a few days on the Red Sea.