Benidorm or Granada?

Benidorm was built around its beaches. Levante and Poniente are long crescents of fine sand with shallow, clear water. Mal Pas cove sits under the old town, and the coves below the Serra Gelada and the pebble beach at Albir are close by when you want a change.

Granada has no beach of its own. The Costa Tropical, with its pebble and dark-sand bays at Salobreña, Almuñécar and La Herradura, is an hour's drive over the mountains. It makes a good day out for snorkelling, but on most days in the city a swim means a hotel pool.

Granada eats better. Its tapas round, with a plate arriving with every drink in the bars of the Realejo, Calle Navas and the lower Albaicín, gives every evening a shape. The Moorish teterías along Calderería Nueva add mint tea and pastries that Benidorm has no answer to.

Benidorm's seafront is full of full breakfasts and pizza made for package visitors. Its best eating is the paella, arroz a banda and arroz negro of the Alicante coast, and the tapas lane in the old town, so good meals take some looking for.

The two are a world apart here. In Benidorm, history is the whitewashed old village on the headland, the blue-domed church and the view from the Balcón del Mediterráneo. Beyond that, the sight is the skyline of towers itself, best at sunset.

Granada has one of Europe's great monuments. The Nasrid palaces, the Alcazaba and the Generalife stand facing the Albaicín's lanes and garden houses, and below them are the cathedral, the Royal Chapel with the tombs of Ferdinand and Isabella, the Carthusian monastery and the cave houses of Sacromonte.

Benidorm goes harder and later. The streets behind Levante and around the Rincón de Loix are packed with themed pubs, karaoke and drag cabaret, stag and hen groups crowd the pavements after midnight, and big clubs on the edge of town run until dawn. It is loud, cheap and unashamed, and it fades quickly out of season.

Granada's night is a student one. It runs from tapas to the bars of Calle Elvira and Plaza Nueva and on to the pubs around Pedro Antonio de Alarcón. It is friendlier and more Spanish, with fewer big clubs, and it thins out in summer when the university empties.

Granada has the bigger landscape. The Sierra Nevada rises straight behind the city, with skiing above Pradollano in winter and summer routes towards Mulhacén, the highest peak in mainland Spain. The terraced valleys and old mule paths of the Alpujarras lie along its southern side.

Benidorm still has plenty. The Serra Gelada cliff path starts at the end of Levante, while Puig Campana, the Bernia ridge and the Algar waterfalls are within half an hour inland. It also has the sea, with diving and snorkelling round the island offshore and kayaking under the cliffs.

Granada's day trips carry more weight. Córdoba's Mezquita is an hour and a half away by fast train, the Renaissance towns of Úbeda and Baeza and the dolmens of Antequera are UNESCO-listed, and there are the white villages of the Alpujarras and the cave quarter of Guadix.

Benidorm's outings are shorter and gentler. Altea's white old quarter and the painted houses of Villajoyosa are minutes away, Guadalest's rock-top castle is a short drive into the hills, and the tram runs to Alicante. Valencia is about two hours away, a long day.

Benidorm is the easier choice with children. Calm, gently shelving water, flat promenades and a resort full of Spanish families make the days simple. A theme park, a water park, a marine park and a zoo cover the days off the beach. Staying near Poniente keeps you away from the adult nightlife behind Levante.

Granada works best with older children. The Parque de las Ciencias, with its planetarium and butterfly house, fills a day, and the Alhambra's fountains hold young attention. The steps and cobbles of the Albaicín, though, are hard work with a pushchair.

Both are easy on foot, but the walking differs. Benidorm is mostly flat promenade between the two beaches and the old town, with buses to the parks and a coastal tram to Alicante and Altea. Steep streets only matter if your hotel sits up behind Levante.

Granada's lower town is flat, but the sights sit on hills of cobbles and steps. The small red minibuses up to the Alhambra, the Albaicín and Sacromonte save a lot of effort. In both places a car is mainly useful for the mountains.

Neither is a shopping destination, but Granada has more worth bringing home. There is taracea inlaid woodwork, blue and green Fajalauza pottery and guitars from local workshops, and the old silk market of the Alcaicería is a pleasant place to browse even if much of it is souvenirs. The Spanish chains and a department store line Calle Recogidas.

Benidorm's shopping is beachwear, sunglasses and the weekly open-air markets. For anything more, people take the tram to Alicante.

Both are easy on the wallet, for different reasons. Benidorm's huge stock of rooms and all-inclusive packages keeps stays cheap, especially in winter, though July, August and park tickets push the bill up.

In Granada the savings come from the free tapa and cheap rooms in the lower town and the Realejo. Prices rise around the Alhambra, at boutique stays in the Albaicín and at terraces with palace views.

Granada has a real cultural life. Zambra flamenco is danced in the Sacromonte caves, with rawer evenings in the peñas, and the city has the legacy of Lorca and Falla. Since 1952 a summer festival has staged music and dance in the Alhambra's palaces and the Generalife's open-air theatre, and the city orchestra plays through the year.

Benidorm's entertainment is light and constant: a big dinner show, plus nightly drag acts, comedians and tribute singers in the bars. For classical music or theatre you would have to go to Alicante or Valencia.

Granada has the stronger bathing tradition. Hammams in the lower Albaicín recreate the Moorish sequence of warm, tepid and cold pools under vaulted ceilings, and the thermal waters of Lanjarón and Alhama de Granada are within an hour.

Benidorm's wellness is hotel spas with indoor pools and saunas. Its real draw for rest is the season: between November and March the town turns quiet and mild, and Poniente stays calm all year.