Barcelona or San Sebastian?

Barcelona has the better beach trip. Several kilometres of sand run from Barceloneta to Mar Bella, the Mediterranean is warm from June to late September, and the coastal trains reach the quieter strands at Sitges and Castelldefels. The catch is that the city beaches are man-made, and in high summer they are packed and attract pickpockets.

San Sebastian has the more beautiful setting. La Concha is a natural, sheltered bay in the middle of town, with calm water and Santa Clara island offshore, and Zurriola across the river gets proper Atlantic surf. Its season is shorter, though, and the water is cooler, so outside July and August the sand is mostly for walking.

San Sebastian is the better place to eat. A whole evening can go on bar-hopping through the Parte Vieja and Gros, with a different speciality at each counter and txakoli poured from a height. Above the bars are several of Spain's most celebrated restaurants, and in late winter the cider houses in Astigarraga open their barrels.

Barcelona has more variety. Catalan cooking, seafood rice by the sea, vermouth and cava sit alongside food from much of the world, and there are neighbourhood markets such as Santa Caterina and Sant Antoni. San Sebastian is almost entirely Basque, so a long stay there means a lot of the same cuisine, however good it is.

The two are far apart here. Barcelona has Gaudí's UNESCO-listed buildings, from the Sagrada Família to Park Güell, plus a Gothic Quarter with Roman walls and serious museums: the Picasso, the MNAC's Romanesque frescoes and the Miró foundation. A week of sightseeing passes easily.

San Sebastian is more about enjoying the whole town than ticking off sights. It has elegant 19th-century streets, the baroque Santa Maria basilica, the castle on Monte Urgull, the San Telmo Museum and Chillida's Peine del Viento on the rocks. It is charming, and two or three days cover it.

Barcelona is the place for a big night out. Each district has its own scene: cocktail bars in the Born's cellars, rougher bars in the Raval, people drinking outdoors in the squares of Gràcia, and electronic club nights that run until dawn. The city stays busy midweek too.

San Sebastian's evenings centre on the pintxo bars, which are sociable and noisy until late, especially at weekends. After that there are only a few late bars and clubs. The town stays out much later in summer and during Semana Grande, and the rest of the year a night out mostly means dinner.

Both cities are well placed for the outdoors, but the scenery is different. Barcelona has the wooded Collserola hills behind it, the stone pinnacles of Montserrat an hour away, and the Costa Brava's rocky inlets and the Pyrenees within reach. It is a dry, Mediterranean landscape, and summer is too hot for serious hiking.

San Sebastian is green and wet. Its best walk starts in town: the coastal path from Monte Ulia goes over the cliffs to Pasaia and on across Jaizkibel to Hondarribia. Surfers have Zurriola and the coast beyond it. Bring a rain jacket in any season.

Both make excellent bases, but the trips are different. From Barcelona, fast trains reach Girona's walled town, Dalí's museum in Figueres and Roman Tarragona, while Montserrat, Sitges and the cava cellars of the Penedès are closer still.

San Sebastian sits on the border with France, so in one week you could see the Guggenheim in Bilbao, Biarritz and Bayonne on the French Basque coast, Pamplona and the Rioja Alavesa vineyards. Fishing ports such as Getaria and Hondarribia are only short hops away.

Barcelona keeps children busy for longer. The aquarium, the CosmoCaixa science museum, the zoo, the funfair on Tibidabo and Gaudí's buildings, which look like something from a storybook, fill many days, and PortAventura is about an hour south. The crowded old town is hard work with a pushchair, and high summer is hot.

San Sebastian is easier to handle, with calm beaches in the centre, a flat promenade with no cars and a safe, compact old town. It also has an aquarium, the Eureka science museum and a small funfair on Monte Igueldo. After three or four days, though, families tend to run out of things to do, and rain can rule out the beach for days.

Barcelona's flat centre lets you walk from the Gothic Quarter through the Eixample to Gràcia in under an hour. The metro, buses, trams and local trains all use the same tickets. The hard part is the hills. Park Güell means the metro and a steep climb or a bus, while Montjuïc has a cable car and Tibidabo a funicular.

San Sebastian is small enough to walk almost everywhere, and you can cross the whole bay on foot in under an hour, with bike lanes along the water. The Euskotren trains run east to the French border at Hendaye and west towards Bilbao. You only need a car for the rural cider houses and the inland hills.

Barcelona is much the stronger city for shopping. The Passeig de Gràcia has the international and Spanish fashion houses, the Rambla de Catalunya has calmer local shops, and the side streets of the Born, Gràcia and the Raval have independent designers, vintage clothes and records. Espadrilles, ceramics and turrón make good souvenirs.

San Sebastian has some well-kept boutiques in the Centro, small shops in the Parte Vieja selling berets and linen, and surf shops in Gros. The best things to take home there are tinned anchovies, Idiazabal cheese and txakoli.

Neither city is cheap, but Barcelona is easier on the budget. Hotels are its biggest cost, along with the entry fees for the Gaudí buildings. Set lunches, market counters and neighbourhood tapas bars keep meals reasonable, and travel passes are good value.

San Sebastian is one of the most expensive places to stay in Spain. It has few hotel rooms, and summer and festival weeks push prices up, while the famous restaurants are a real splurge. A pintxo crawl also adds up quickly. The beaches and walks are free, and coming outside the summer peak saves the most.

Barcelona has performances all year. There is opera and ballet at the Liceu, concerts in the Palau de la Música's stained-glass hall, and the symphony orchestra at L'Auditori. Jazz cellars and flamenco stages fill the evenings, and Sónar, Primavera Sound and the Grec festival take over early summer.

San Sebastian is at its best for music in July and August, when Jazzaldia brings jazz to the Kursaal and Zurriola beach and the Quincena Musical brings orchestral music and opera. The rest of the year is quieter, with the Basque National Orchestra and touring shows at the Kursaal and the Victoria Eugenia.

San Sebastian is the better place to unwind. Sea bathing has been part of the town since its days as a royal resort, and the historic pavilion on the La Concha promenade is a seawater spa with pools looking out over the bay. The town is quiet and orderly, and an evening walk along the water is part of daily life.

In Barcelona, you get a few Arab-style bath houses in the old town and some hotel spas, but the centre is crowded and the nights are noisy. To rest there, take long lunches, sit on a terrace in a Gràcia square, or go up into the Collserola hills.