Benidorm or Malaga?

Benidorm is the stronger beach destination. Levante and Poniente are two long curves of fine, groomed sand with clear, shallow water, and the sea runs a few degrees warmer through summer. The catch is the summer crowd, packed from morning to sunset.

Malaga's city beaches, La Malagueta, Pedregalejo and El Palo, are grey-brown and practical rather than beautiful, though sardines grilling on the sand give them character. For prettier water you go east to the coves of Nerja and Maro, about an hour away.

Malaga eats far better. Espetos on the beach, plates of fried fish in El Palo, the Atarazanas market and barrel-poured sweet moscatel make food a reason to visit in itself.

Benidorm's seafront serves package fare of full breakfasts and grills; good meals mean seeking out the old town's tapas lane or a proper Alicante-style rice dish such as arroz a banda.

This is the widest gap between the two. Malaga has a compact, layered historic core: a Roman theatre beneath the Moorish Alcazaba, Gibralfaro castle above, the unfinished cathedral, and Picasso's birthplace alongside a museum of his work and the Carmen Thyssen collection. It fills two good days.

Benidorm's heritage is a handful of whitewashed lanes, the blue-domed church on the headland and the Balcón del Mediterráneo view. The tower skyline is its real sight.

Benidorm goes out harder. Themed pubs, karaoke and drag cabaret around the Rincón de Loix, stag and hen groups in fancy dress and big clubs open till dawn make the night a main event in summer, though it quietens sharply out of season.

Malaga's evenings are Spanish in rhythm: late dinners, then terraces and small bars around Plaza de la Merced and Calle Granada, mixed in age and sociable rather than wild. Serious clubbing means a train to Torremolinos.

Both have mountains right behind the coast, but Malaga has the wider range. The Caminito del Rey gorge walkway, El Torcal's limestone plateau with ibex, the Montes de Malaga forest and, further off, skiing in the Sierra Nevada give it more variety.

Benidorm answers with the Serra Gelada cliff path straight from the beach, Puig Campana and the Bernia ridge for hiking and climbing, the Algar waterfalls, and diving around the island off the shore.

Malaga is the better base by some way. Cordoba's Mezquita and Granada's Alhambra are reachable by train, Ronda and Antequera's dolmens are close, and Nerja, Frigiliana and the white villages add easy days.

Benidorm's outings are pleasant but smaller in scale: Altea and Villajoyosa minutes away, Guadalest's castle rock, Alicante by tram, Elche's palm grove, and Valencia as a long day.

Benidorm is built for children in a way Malaga is not. Gentle sandy bays, flat promenades, and a theme park, water park, marine park and zoo all on the edge of town mean little travel; staying near Poniente avoids the adult bar streets behind Levante.

Malaga welcomes children warmly in its squares and tapas bars, and the Alcazaba ramparts appeal to older ones, but the zoo, aquarium and dolphin park are along the coast at Fuengirola and Benalmadena.

Both are easy on foot, in different ways. Benidorm is a long ribbon of flat promenades, with local buses and the coastal tram to Alicante and Altea, though hotels on the hills behind Levante mean steep climbs.

Malaga's compact pedestrian centre puts cathedral, museums, market and beach within a short walk, and its main station sends fast trains across Andalucia and to Madrid, which Benidorm cannot match.

Malaga is the better place to shop. Calle Larios offers a polished marble street of Spanish chains, the port promenade and Soho add more, and the Atarazanas market is good for olive oil, almonds and ham to take home.

Benidorm sells beachwear, souvenirs and market fakes; for anything more, visitors take the tram to Alicante.

Benidorm is the cheaper stay. Its sheer volume of hotel rooms and all-inclusive deals keeps prices low much of the year, and winter is especially good value, though summer and the theme parks push costs up.

In Malaga eating, drinking and local trains are fair value, but rooms near the old town and beach are expensive from spring to autumn.

Malaga has more to see on stage. The Teatro Cervantes hosts the city's philharmonic, drama and dance, and flamenco, best in the peñas where locals perform for each other, gives an evening real local character.

Benidorm's entertainment is dinner-show spectaculars, tribute acts, comedians and drag cabaret, fun and nightly but with no classical music or theatre.

Neither has a bathing tradition, but Malaga offers a little more: an Arab-style bathhouse in the old town and resort spas towards Marbella, plus a siesta rhythm that slows the day.

Benidorm relies on hotel spas. Its restful side shows in winter, when the town calms into mild, sunny promenade walks, with Poniente always the quieter end.