Barcelona or Ronda?

Barcelona has a chain of sandy city beaches, from Barceloneta to Mar Bella, a short metro ride from the centre, so you can swim after a morning of sightseeing. They are man-made and crowded in high summer. For more space, the coastal trains reach Sitges and the Maresme beaches in well under an hour.

Ronda is up in the mountains, and the nearest sea is the built-up Costa del Sol around Estepona, down a road of hairpin bends. A beach day there takes the whole day and needs a car. Most visitors settle for a hotel pool instead.

Barcelona has a whole cuisine to explore, from calçots and suquet to seafood rice. Covered markets like Santa Caterina and Sant Antoni sit in every district, and the range runs from cheap workers' set lunches to serious tasting menus. Gràcia, Poble Sec and the Eixample alone could fill a week of meals.

Ronda's food is the hearty mountain cooking of the Serranía: oxtail stew, lamb, game, cured hams and autumn chestnuts, with local wine from wineries just outside town. It is good, but the range is narrow and fine dining is scarce, so a few days covers it. In both places, eat away from the famous views. In Barcelona that means avoiding the Rambla, and in Ronda the gorge-side terraces.

Barcelona has the deeper heritage. The Sagrada Família, La Pedrera and Park Güell sit alongside Roman walls, the Gothic Quarter and Santa Maria del Mar, and museums such as the Picasso and the MNAC add plenty more. It takes a week to see properly.

Ronda's main sight is its setting: the Puente Nuevo over the gorge, with the Moorish old town on one side and the Mercadillo on the other. Around that are a few strong monuments, including the Real Maestranza bullring, the Arab baths and the Mondragón palace. All of it fits comfortably into one or two days.

Barcelona has one of the latest nights in Europe. Dinner runs to eleven, the bars of the Raval, the Born and Gràcia fill after that, and the clubs and electronic nights keep going until dawn. In summer there are open-air parties too.

Ronda's evenings revolve around tapas and a late dinner in and around the Plaza del Socorro. A few bars stay open afterwards, but there are almost no clubs, and the town is quiet by the early hours except during the September fair.

Ronda has the better countryside on its doorstep. You can walk from town down to the foot of the gorge. The Sierra de Grazalema, green, craggy and patrolled by vultures, and the Spanish fir forests of the Sierra de las Nieves are a short drive away, and the gorge walls draw climbers.

Barcelona has more variety than you might expect for a big city. Collserola's trails and the Carretera de les Aigües start at the edge of town, and you can go sailing or windsurfing off Mar Bella. For real mountain scenery, though, you have to travel out to Montserrat or the Costa Brava cliffs.

Barcelona is slightly easier to explore from because of the fast trains. Girona is under forty minutes away, and Tarragona's Roman remains, Figueres, Sitges and Montserrat all work without a car. That gives you a choice of medieval towns, Dalí, the Roman past and the coast.

Ronda's outings are different. They are mostly villages: Setenil under its overhanging rock, Zahara below its castle, Grazalema, plus the cave paintings of the Cueva de la Pileta. A hire car is close to essential. Seville and Málaga are possible but make for long days.

Barcelona is much the easier place with children. The aquarium, CosmoCaixa, the zoo and the funfair on Tibidabo can fill several days, the beaches are a metro ride away, and PortAventura is about an hour south.

Ronda is safe and welcoming, and older children enjoy the bridge, the rock-cut stairway and the cave visits. There is no zoo, aquarium or theme park, though, and the steep cobbled lanes and exposed viewpoints are hard with small children. A country house with a pool works better than a hotel in town.

Barcelona combines a flat, walkable centre with a clear metro, buses, trams and local trains on the same tickets. A car is never needed. The only hard work is the climb up to Park Güell, Montjuïc and Tibidabo.

Ronda is small enough to cross on foot in minutes, though the lanes down into La Ciudad are steep. The trouble is getting out of town. Trains and buses are slow and infrequent, so the villages, natural parks and the Caminito del Rey really need a car.

Shopping can be a reason to visit Barcelona, but in Ronda it barely fills an afternoon. In Barcelona, luxury and Spanish fashion houses line the Passeig de Gràcia, independent designers work in the Born, Gràcia has small craft shops, the Raval has vintage and record shops, and Els Encants is good for a flea-market browse.

Ronda has one pedestrian street of ordinary shops and souvenir stalls near the bridge. The things worth taking home are edible: local wine, cured meats, olive oil and convent sweets.

Ronda is the cheaper stay. Mercadillo tapas bars, modest entry fees and fairly priced rural houses keep costs down, though prices rise for gorge-view rooms, at Easter and during the September fair. A hire car is the main extra cost.

In Barcelona, hotels are the biggest drain, especially in summer and near the old town. The tourist tax and the steep Gaudí entry fees add more. Set lunches, market counters and a transport pass help balance it out.

Opera, concerts and festivals give Barcelona a year-round calendar that Ronda cannot match. There is opera and ballet at the Liceu, concerts under the glass ceiling of the Palau de la Música, jazz cellars and flamenco stages, and in early summer come Sónar, Primavera Sound and the Grec.

Ronda offers small flamenco shows and the occasional programme at its municipal theatre. Its one big event is the Corrida Goyesca in the old bullring during the September fair. On most evenings there is little to see.

Neither place is built for a spa break. Barcelona has a few Arab-style bath houses and hotel spas, and Ronda's Arab baths are a monument you visit rather than bathe in. The difference is the setting.

Barcelona's centre is noisy and up late, so calm means a long lunch or an evening walk on Montjuïc. Ronda grows quiet once the day-trippers leave, and a farmhouse in the hills, with olive groves and a pool, suits a few days of doing very little.