Benidorm or Cordoba?

Benidorm is a beach town first and last. Levante and Poniente stretch for kilometres of groomed sand on either side of the old town, and there are coves under the Serra Gelada cliffs for a change. Levante is right by the bars, while Poniente is broader and calmer.

Cordoba has no beach at all. The Costa del Sol means a train and then a bus, which makes for a long day out just to swim. In summer the realistic choices are a hotel pool or a reservoir in the Sierra Morena.

Cordoba eats better. Its tabernas, often in old patio houses, serve the city's own dishes, such as salmorejo, flamenquin and rabo de toro, with chilled Montilla-Moriles wine. A tapas round through Santa Marina or the Corredera is a pleasure in itself.

Most of Benidorm's seafront serves breakfasts, roasts and pizzas for package visitors. Good meals do exist, in the old town's lane of tapas bars and in the rice restaurants cooking arroz a banda and arroz negro, but you have to look for them.

Here the gap is wide. Cordoba has one of the great buildings of Europe in the Mezquita-Cathedral, where a Renaissance cathedral stands among the striped arches of the old mosque. Around it are the Juderia, the Roman bridge, the Alcazar gardens and the Palacio de Viana, with the ruins of Medina Azahara just outside the city.

Benidorm's heritage is the small whitewashed village on the headland, with its blue-domed church and the Balcón del Mediterráneo lookout. The tower skyline at sunset is its most memorable sight, and anything deeper means a trip out of town.

Benidorm is built for a night out. Themed pubs, karaoke and drag cabaret fill the streets around the Rincón de Loix, and the big clubs on the edge of town run until dawn. The old town has a quieter, more Spanish night of tapas and terraces.

Cordoba's evenings are slower and later, with drinks and tapas on the terraces of the Corredera, Las Tendillas and the riverside, and student bars busy at weekends. The city only really comes alive at night in summer and during the May fair.

Benidorm has the more dramatic outdoors right on its doorstep. The Serra Gelada cliff path starts at the end of Levante beach, and Puig Campana and the Bernia ridge give serious hiking within half an hour. The sea adds snorkelling, diving and kayaking.

Cordoba's countryside is gentler: the wooded Sierra Morena to the north, birds of prey in Hornachuelos and the limestone Subbetica an hour to the south. You need a car for most of it, and in summer the heat limits walking to the early morning.

Cordoba is the stronger base. Seville, Granada and Malaga can all be reached by fast train without changing hotel. With a car you can also see Ubeda and Baeza, the dolmens at Antequera and the bodegas of Montilla.

Benidorm's outings are smaller but close at hand: white Altea, painted Villajoyosa, the castle village of Guadalest, and Alicante by tram. Valencia, the one big city within reach, makes a long two-hour journey each way.

With children, Benidorm is much the easier choice. The beaches shelve gently, the promenades suit strollers, and the theme park, water park, marine park and zoo on the edge of town fill several days. Staying near Poniente keeps the adult nightlife at a distance.

Cordoba is welcoming, and its traffic-free lanes are safe for children to roam. Beyond the Alcazar fountains, the horse show and the castle at Almodovar del Rio, though, the sights are aimed at adults, and summer is too hot for small children.

Both are easy on foot, in different ways. Benidorm is a long, thin town strung along two flat promenades, with seafront buses and a coastal tram to Alicante and Altea. Hotels on the slopes behind Levante, though, can mean steep climbs.

Cordoba packs its sights into a compact maze of cobbled lanes. They are pleasant to walk but awkward with luggage, and the railway station gives fast trains to Seville, Madrid and Malaga. In both places, you need a car for the countryside.

Neither city is a shopping destination, but Cordoba has more worth bringing home: silver filigree, embossed leather in the guadameci and cordobán tradition, and ceramics and guitars from local workshops, with Spanish chains around Cruz Conde. Benidorm's shops sell beachwear, sunglasses and souvenirs, its weekly markets add clothes and leather, and serious shoppers take the tram to Alicante.

Both are cheap by Western European standards, but you save in different ways. In Benidorm, the huge supply of rooms and the all-inclusive packages keep costs low, especially in winter, though July, August and days at the theme parks push the bill up.

In Cordoba, the savings come from small glasses of Montilla, generous lunch menus and a centre where you never pay for transport. Costs climb for rooms beside the Mezquita and during the May festivals.

Cordoba has the deeper live scene, and it centres on flamenco: small tablaos, aficionados' peñas, a well-known guitar festival and the Noche Blanca del Flamenco. The Gran Teatro hosts the city orchestra and theatre.

Benidorm's entertainment is lighter and runs every night, with dinner-show spectaculars and drag cabaret, comedians and tribute acts in the bars. It is good fun with a drink in hand, but for classical music or drama you have to go to Alicante or Valencia.

Cordoba is the better choice for a restful stay. A few Arab-style bath houses in the old town recall the city's caliphal baths. Courtyards with fountains and orange trees, along with the midday shutdown, set a slow pace.

In Benidorm, relaxing means hotel spas and choosing the right season. From November to March the town settles into mild, sunny days of promenade walks and long lunches, and Poniente is the quieter side all year round.