Benidorm or San Sebastian?

Both towns have their beaches right in the middle, but Benidorm's are made for a long summer of swimming. Levante and Poniente stretch for kilometres of groomed sand, with shallow, warm Mediterranean water and a season that lasts into October.

San Sebastian's La Concha is the more beautiful setting: a sheltered shell of sand between two headlands, with quieter Ondarreta beside it and Zurriola for surfers. But the Bay of Biscay is cooler, grey days interrupt even July, and the beach season is really only two months long.

In Benidorm, a good dinner takes some deliberate choosing. The easy option near the beaches is cheap, filling food made for British package visitors, and it is rarely more than fuel. The meals worth remembering mean walking up to the old town, where Spanish families fill the tapas bars after dark, or sitting down to a long lunch over a proper seafood rice in the Alicante style.

San Sebastian is the opposite: it is hard to eat badly, and eating is the evening itself. You stand at one counter for a bite and a glass of txakoli, then move on to the next bar for its own speciality, and dinner happens without anyone sitting down. The same seriousness runs from the bar top to some of Spain's most famous dining rooms, and in late winter the cider houses outside town make a rowdy, meaty night out. The catch is that the cooking is Basque almost without exception, so for variety Benidorm's plainer mix of cuisines actually gives you more choice.

Benidorm's heritage takes about an hour on the headland: the old village lanes, the blue-domed church and the view from the Balcón del Mediterráneo. Its most memorable sight is the skyline of towers at sunset. For history you need to head inland or to Alicante and Valencia.

San Sebastian fills two or three days of sightseeing. It has the Parte Vieja rebuilt after 1813, the Basilica of Santa Maria, the castle on Monte Urgull, the Miramar Palace and the San Telmo Museum, with Chillida's Peine del Viento set into the rocks at the end of the bay.

Benidorm is the place to stay out late. In summer the Rincón de Loix and the streets behind Levante fill with themed pubs, karaoke, drag cabaret and stag and hen groups, and the clubs on the edge of town keep going until dawn. The old town offers a more Spanish night on its tapas terraces.

San Sebastian's nights centre on the pintxo crawl, which stays sociable and noisy until late at weekends and then narrows to a few late bars and clubs. The city goes out much later in August around Semana Grande, but out of season a night out mostly means dinner and drinks.

Both have hills rising straight behind the sea, and San Sebastian has a slight edge because its walks start in town. You can take the funicular up Monte Igueldo, or follow the coastal path from Monte Ulia to Pasaia and on over Jaizkibel to Hondarribia through green, rain-fed country. Zurriola adds surfing.

Benidorm's landscape is drier and more rugged. It has the sheer cliffs of Serra Gelada, the jagged Puig Campana and the Bernia and Aitana ranges for real hiking and climbing, plus diving around the island off the beach. It is best in spring and autumn, because summer is too hot for the mountains.

Benidorm's outings are pleasant but more local. White Altea and the painted houses of Villajoyosa are next door, Guadalest sits on its rock inland, the tram goes to Alicante, and Elche's palm grove is close by. Valencia makes a long day out.

San Sebastian's position between two countries gives it the richer choice. Bilbao and the Guggenheim, Pamplona and walled Hondarribia are all close, Biarritz and Bayonne are just across the border, Getaria is along the coast, and the Rioja Alavesa vineyards are within reach.

Benidorm is the easier family base. Its beaches shelve gently into calm, warm water, and the many Spanish families who stay there keep restaurants welcoming late into the evening. A theme park, a water park, a marine park and a zoo on the edge of town fill several days. Staying near Poniente keeps you away from the adult streets behind Levante.

San Sebastian also works well with children, with sheltered La Concha, the harbour aquarium, Eureka's hands-on science and the old funfair on Monte Igueldo. But rain can rule out the beach for days, and the attractions run out after a few days.

San Sebastian is the easier place to manage without a car. The Parte Vieja, the Centro, Gros and the whole bay are a short, flat walk apart, bike lanes follow the waterfront, and Euskotren trains run to the French border and towards Bilbao.

Benidorm's promenades are flat and easy to walk too, and the coastal tram links it with Alicante and Altea. Hotels on the hills behind Levante mean steep climbs, though, and the mountains and the Algar waterfalls really need a car or an organised excursion.

Neither is a shopping destination, but San Sebastian has more worth browsing: independent boutiques in the Centro, espadrilles and berets in the Parte Vieja, surf shops in Gros, and tinned anchovies, Idiazabal cheese and txakoli to take home. Benidorm's shops lean towards beachwear and souvenirs, along with weekly markets of clothes and leather and some turrón and ceramics in the old town.

Benidorm is much the cheaper of the two, and its everyday costs stay low all year: meals, a round on a terrace and the tram along the coast hardly dent a budget. The real expenses are July, August and Spanish long weekends, when room rates climb steeply, and a family day at the theme and water parks, which costs far more than a day on the beach.

In San Sebastian, the bed is where the money goes. In summer and festival weeks, rooms cost as much as in Europe's big capitals. Once you have paid for a room, the days can be kept gentle. A pintxo crawl is a reasonable way to eat if you choose with care, though a long evening soon adds up. City buses are cheap, the San Telmo Museum and the castle museum cost little, and La Concha and the coastal path to Pasaia are free.

Benidorm's entertainment is light: a large dinner-show venue and nightly drag, comedy and tribute acts in the bars. It is fun on its own terms, but there is no opera or theatre.

San Sebastian has a real cultural calendar. Jazzaldia brings international jazz to the city in July, with free concerts on Zurriola beach, and the Quincena Musical fills August with orchestral music and opera. For the rest of the year, the Kursaal and the ornate Teatro Victoria Eugenia stage concerts, plays and dance.

Benidorm relies on hotel spas, and in summer it is loud. From November to March, though, it settles into a mild, sunny routine that suits a long, restful stay, best on the quieter Poniente side.

San Sebastian makes a better case for rest. Its tradition of royal sea bathing lives on in the thalassotherapy spa in the old bathing pavilion on La Concha, and the city's calm, orderly pace makes promenade walks and long lunches part of every day.