Barcelona or Rome?

Barcelona has the sea built into a city stay. Sandy beaches run several kilometres from Barceloneta to Mar Bella, and they are a short walk or metro ride from the old town, so a swim after sightseeing is easy. The beaches are man-made and crowded in high summer. For more room, the coastal trains reach Sitges or the Maresme.

Rome's nearest sea is Ostia, about half an hour away by suburban train. The sand is dark and volcanic, most of it is divided into paid lidos, and the water is rarely clear. The water is just as warm in summer, but the attractive coves at Sperlonga and Sabaudia make for a long day out.

Both are first-rate places to eat, but in different ways. Barcelona offers more range: Catalan dishes such as suquet and calçots, tapas and late-morning vermouth, seafood rice by the water, and a tasting-menu scene as well as cheap set lunches. Its markets, from Santa Caterina to Sant Antoni, are where you eat at the counter.

Rome's strength is depth in a narrower, simpler style. Plain trattorias serve the four classic pastas, the Ghetto has its fried artichokes, and Testaccio has its offal dishes, while supplì, pizza al taglio and gelato make the streets a meal in themselves. In both cities you should avoid the tourist menus near the main sights and head for Gràcia or Poble Sec in Barcelona, and Trastevere, Monti or Testaccio in Rome.

Barcelona has one thing nobody else has: the Modernista city of Gaudí, from the Sagrada Família to La Pedrera and Park Güell. Behind it sit the Gothic Quarter, Santa Maria del Mar and focused museums such as the Picasso and the MNAC. A week covers it well.

Rome works on a different scale. Two thousand years are stacked in one centre, from the Colosseum and the Pantheon through early Christian mosaics to Bernini's fountains. The Vatican Museums, the Borghese and the Capitoline collections are each worth a trip in themselves, and in a week you will still be choosing what to leave out.

Barcelona is a real night-out city. Dinner runs until eleven, bars fill after that and clubs keep going until dawn. Each district has its own feel, from cocktails in Born cellars to Blai's pintxos bars and the Eixample's gay scene, and electronic music runs deep, with open-air parties all summer.

Rome's evenings are gentler and mostly outdoors. They start with aperitivo, then wine in Trastevere's lanes, cocktails in Monti or cheap drinks in San Lorenzo. Clubbing is limited to Testaccio and Ostiense and few people travel for it.

In Barcelona the outdoors starts at the edge of town. Trails into the wooded Collserola hills set off from Gràcia and Sarrià, the Carretera de les Aigües gives a flat run with views over the city, and you can paddleboard or windsurf off Mar Bella. Montserrat's pinnacles and the cliff paths of the Costa Brava are within easy reach.

Rome's green spaces are gentler. There are the villa parks, the cycle along the Appian Way past tombs and aqueducts, and the crater lakes of the Alban Hills. Its one advantage is the Apennines, about ninety minutes away, with hiking and winter skiing at Terminillo.

Barcelona has good trips by fast train. Girona's walled town is under forty minutes away, and you can also reach Dalí's museum at Figueres, Roman Tarragona, Montserrat and the cava cellars of the Penedès.

Rome's list is longer and more famous. Ostia Antica and Tivoli's two great villas are close by, and further out are the Etruscan tombs at Tarquinia, cliff-top Orvieto, Civita di Bagnoregio and Assisi. Florence and Naples are each about ninety minutes away by high-speed train, which turns a Rome stay into a wider tour of Italy.

Barcelona has plenty for children: the aquarium at the old port, CosmoCaixa's hands-on science, the zoo, Tibidabo's funicular and funfair, and beaches a metro ride away, with PortAventura for a bigger day out. Gaudí's fairy-tale buildings tend to win children over too.

Rome welcomes children just as warmly at the table, but its great sights are made for adults and the queues test their patience. Villa Borghese's zoo and rowing boats help, as do gladiator stories. Cobbles, traffic and summer heat make for tiring days with a pushchair.

Both centres are best explored on foot, but Barcelona backs this up with a proper network. The flat grid of the Eixample is easy to walk, a clear metro and bike lanes cover the longer distances, and only Montjuïc, Park Güell and Tibidabo need a climb or a funicular.

Rome's historic core is compact and walking it is a pleasure, but the metro barely enters it because of the archaeology underground. Buses and trams get stuck in traffic, and cobbles, scooters and heat make every walk tiring.

The two are well matched, but they are good at different things. Barcelona does best in its small streets: independent designers in the Born, crafts in Gràcia and vintage and records in the Raval, with espadrilles, ceramics and turrón to take home. The Passeig de Gràcia has fashion houses but little luxury depth.

Rome is stronger at the top end, with the Italian fashion houses lining Via Condotti and the streets around the Spanish Steps, plus antique dealers and artisans around Via Margutta. Leather and handmade shoes are the buys here, and Porta Portese is a huge Sunday rummage.

Neither is cheap, and in both hotels and sight entry fees take most of the budget. Barcelona is a little easier on the wallet, with weekday set lunches, market counters and good-value transport passes to balance the tourist tax and the Gaudí tickets.

In Rome, central rooms are small, costly and hard to find in spring and autumn. Day to day it can be kind: standing espresso, pizza by weight, free water from the street fountains and churches full of masterpieces that cost nothing to enter.

In Barcelona the building is half the show. A concert at the Palau de la Música Catalana, under its stained-glass ceiling, feels like an occasion whatever is on, and the Liceu on the Rambla is one of Europe's historic opera houses. The city also leans further towards popular music, with flamenco stages, jazz cellars in the Gothic Quarter, and Sónar and Primavera Sound taking over the city each early summer.

Rome's great stage is outdoors: in summer the opera moves to the ruins of the Baths of Caracalla. For the rest of the year the Santa Cecilia orchestra plays at Renzo Piano's Auditorium, and organ and sacred music fill the churches. In both cities spoken theatre is in the local language, so visitors are better off going for the music.

Neither is a city for resting. Both centres are loud and crowded, and their spas are mostly hotel spas or hammam-style bath houses. In Barcelona the calm comes from a long lunch, a terrace in Gràcia or the Collserola paths, and anyone who mainly wants to rest is better off in a nearby seaside town.

Rome has the edge in hot springs. The thermal pools of Bagni di Tivoli are close, and there are free open-air hot springs around Viterbo. In town, the Aventine and the villa gardens are the quiet places.