Benidorm or Bilbao?

In Benidorm the beach is right outside the hotel. Levante and Poniente run for several kilometres of fine, groomed sand on either side of the old town, with shallow, clear water. Coves under the Serra Gelada and the pebble beach at Albir add variety, though the main sands are packed in high summer.

Bilbao has no beach in the city at all. The metro reaches Getxo, Sopelana and Plentzia in well under an hour, and the cooler Atlantic water and open swell at Sopelana suit surfers more than toddlers. Treat it as a good afternoon out rather than a beach vacation.

Bilbao is one of Spain's great places to eat. You can move between pintxo counters in the Casco Viejo and Plaza Nueva with a glass of txakoli, eat bacalao al pil-pil or a txuleta steak at an asador, and finish at the top with several Michelin-starred kitchens. The Mercado de la Ribera shows the produce it is all built on.

Benidorm's seafront eating is mostly cheap, filling food for package visitors. The good meals are in the old town's tapas lane and in the rice restaurants that cook paella and arroz negro in the Alicante way. You have to know where to look.

Benidorm's sights take an hour: the whitewashed lanes and blue-domed church on the headland, the Balcón del Mediterráneo over both bays, and the tower skyline at sunset. For heritage you have to leave town.

Bilbao has enough for two or three full days. Gehry's Guggenheim alone justifies the trip, the Museo de Bellas Artes runs from Flemish masters to Basque painters, and the Siete Calles of the medieval core sit beside the 19th-century Ensanche. The Vizcaya Bridge, a UNESCO site, is a metro ride down the estuary.

Benidorm is the bigger night out. The streets around the Rincón de Loix and behind Levante are full of themed pubs, karaoke and drag cabaret, stag and hen groups stay out well past midnight, and the clubs on the edge of town run until dawn. It is cheap and noisy, and much quieter out of season.

Bilbao's evenings grow out of the pintxo crawl and peak from Thursday to Saturday, around the old town and Licenciado Poza. It is more about bars and conversation than clubs. The exception is Aste Nagusia in August, when the riverbanks become one long party.

Bilbao has the edge, because mountains and wild coast are both close. You can take the funicular up Artxanda, hike the Pagasarri, or go into the beech forests of Gorbea and the limestone of Urkiola. On the coast there is the stairway to San Juan de Gaztelugatxe and the famous left-hand wave at Mundaka. The catch is rain in every season.

Benidorm's landscape is drier and harsher: the sheer cliffs of the Serra Gelada, the jagged Puig Campana and the Algar waterfalls. It is better than Bilbao for diving and snorkelling around the island offshore, but its mountains are for spring and autumn only.

From Benidorm the best outings are short ones: white Altea, the painted houses of Villajoyosa, and Guadalest's castle on its rock. The tram goes to Alicante, and Elche's palm grove and Valencia make longer days out.

Bilbao has more options and more variety within reach. San Sebastián is a little over an hour away, Gernika and the fishing ports of Bermeo and Lekeitio are close, and Vitoria-Gasteiz has a medieval hilltop quarter. A full day can take in the bodegas of Rioja Alavesa and walled Laguardia, or head west to Santillana del Mar and Altamira.

Benidorm is built for children. The water is calm and shallow, the promenades are flat, and a theme park, one of Europe's longest-running water parks, a marine park and a zoo sit just outside town. Staying near Poniente keeps you away from the adult streets behind Levante.

Bilbao is pleasant with children rather than aimed at them. The centre is safe and flat, Doña Casilda Park has playgrounds, and the Artxanda funicular and Puppy outside the Guggenheim go down well. Rainy days need a plan, and the beaches are a metro ride away.

Bilbao is the easier city to get around. A flat riverside walk links the Casco Viejo, the Ensanche and the Guggenheim, with a tram along the same stretch. Foster's metro runs down both banks to the beaches, and buses go often to San Sebastián and Vitoria.

In Benidorm you mostly walk the long promenades, with seafront buses out to the parks and the coastal tram to Alicante and Altea. Hotels high on the hills behind Levante mean steep climbs, and the inland villages really need a car or a tour.

Neither city is a shopping destination, but Bilbao offers more. The Gran Vía has the chains and a department store, the Casco Viejo has old family shops selling berets, espadrilles and linen, and the delicatessens around the Ribera sell cheese, anchovies and txakoli worth taking home.

Benidorm's shops sell beachwear, sunglasses, souvenirs and cheap drinks, and its weekly markets deal in clothes and fakes. Anyone wanting more takes the tram to Alicante.

Benidorm is the cheaper place to stay. A huge supply of rooms and all-inclusive packages keeps hotel rates down, and everyday meals and drinks cost little. Winter is especially good value, though July, August and the theme parks push the cost up.

Bilbao is on the expensive side for Spain, with central hotels costing more and the asadores and starred restaurants charging accordingly. A pintxo crawl and the inexpensive metro help keep a visit within reason.

Bilbao has a real stage life. ABAO's opera season and the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra play at the Euskalduna, the Teatro Arriaga and the Campos Elíseos put on theatre and dance, and BBK Live brings international bands to Mount Cobetas each July.

Benidorm's entertainment is cabaret: dinner-show spectaculars, drag acts, comedians and tribute singers in the bars every night. It is fun, but there is no opera or theatre to speak of.

Neither city has a bathing tradition, so wellness in both means hotel spas. The difference is the kind of rest each offers. Benidorm has a few larger spa hotels aimed at long stays, and from November to March a mild, sunny pace of promenade walks that suits people who come to unwind, with Poniente the quiet side. Bilbao's calm comes from long lunches and riverside strolls, and for a proper spa you have to travel to the balnearios inland.