Biarritz or Bilbao?

Biarritz is built around its sand. You can walk from town to the Grande Plage below the casino, the Côte des Basques under the cliffs and the long beaches of Anglet, and Port Vieux is there for a calm swim. Bilbao has no beach of its own. You take the metro out to Getxo, Sopelana or Plentzia, which is easy but makes the sea an outing rather than the setting of the trip.

Both face the same Bay of Biscay, which warms to about 21-22°C late in summer, and in both the open beaches get big swell and call for care. The difference is that in Biarritz the sea is right outside your door.

Both cities eat in the Basque way, with pintxos at the counter and a market hall at the heart of things: Les Halles in Biarritz and the Ribera on Bilbao's river. The difference is depth. Biarritz has a good range for a small resort, with seafood terraces and modern bistros, but tourist places water down the seafront.

In Bilbao eating is the main event. There is the poteo from bar to bar through the Casco Viejo, the Plaza Nueva and the Ensanche, there are asadores grilling txuleta steaks and bacalao al pil-pil, and there are several Michelin-starred kitchens. Neither city offers much beyond Basque food, but in Bilbao that is hardly a complaint.

Biarritz's sights are the resort itself: the former imperial villa, the Art Deco casino, the Rocher de la Vierge and the aquarium. They are pleasant but don't add up to much. Bilbao has the Guggenheim, the Bellas Artes with its old masters and Basque painters, the Basque Museum and the medieval streets of Siete Calles. Down the estuary is the Vizcaya Bridge, a UNESCO site.

If you stay in Biarritz and want serious museums, you will end up taking a day trip, quite often to Bilbao.

For a night out, Biarritz is the smaller of the two and depends on summer. In season there are pintxos and wine at the bars around Les Halles, sunset drinks on the terraces above the Côte des Basques, and a few clubs and the casino for later. Out of season most evenings end after dinner, and for a bigger night you would go to Bayonne or San Sebastián.

Bilbao offers more because its bar life lasts all year and keeps Spanish hours. The pintxo crawl through the Casco Viejo and the Plaza Nueva carries on late, Licenciado Poza draws a younger crowd, and at weekends the night runs past 3am. Clubs are few, but in August Aste Nagusia fills the riverbanks for nine days.

Both are green and rainy, with the sea and the hills close by, but they lean different ways. Biarritz faces the ocean. It has surf schools along the front, beginner waves on the Côte des Basques and the Basque Corniche path running towards Spain, and La Rhune and the Pyrenean foothills are half an hour inland.

Bilbao looks first to the mountains. The Artxanda funicular and the Pagasarri hike start from town, and the limestone peaks of Urkiola and the beech forests of Gorbea are within an hour. On the coast it has Gaztelugatxe, the Urdaibai reserve and the famous wave at Mundaka. Surfers lean towards Biarritz and mountain walkers towards Bilbao.

San Sebastián is about an hour from either city, so the most obvious outing is one they share. Beyond that, the choice from Biarritz spans two countries. Bayonne is next door and Saint-Jean-de-Luz a short train ride down the coast. Inland are Espelette, Sare and Ainhoa and the walled pilgrim town of Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, and walled Hondarribia is just over the border.

From Bilbao the outings spread in every direction. East along the coast are Gernika and the fishing ports of Mundaka and Lekeitio. To the south are medieval Vitoria-Gasteiz and the wine cellars of the Rioja Alavesa around Laguardia, and to the west is Cantabria, with Santillana del Mar. Buses from Bilbao reach the main towns, while Biarritz's inland villages are easier with a car.

Biarritz has the edge for a summer with children. There are the seals and sharks at the aquarium and the ocean science centre for wet days, surf lessons on the beach and the sheltered Port Vieux cove for small swimmers, although the steep streets are hard work with a pushchair. Bilbao is easier to get around, flat along the river with the playgrounds of Doña Casilda Park and the funicular up Artxanda. It has no aquarium or zoo, though, and its beaches are a metro ride out.

Bilbao is the easier city to get around. A flat riverside walk links the old town, the Ensanche and the Guggenheim, a tram runs along the same stretch, and Foster's metro runs down both banks of the estuary to the beaches. Biarritz is small enough to walk, but it is hilly, with steep streets and steps between the cliffs and the seafront.

Buses and coastal trains link Biarritz with Bayonne and the Spanish border, but most visitors hire a car for the villages and the mountains. From Bilbao you need a car only for the wine country and the remoter coast.

Neither city is a shopping destination, and the difference is one of kind. Biarritz has fashion boutiques, surf shops, Basque linen, espadrilles and chocolatiers, in the setting of a smart resort with no department stores. Bilbao has the high-street chains and a department store on the Gran Vía, and old family shops in the Casco Viejo selling berets and cookware. Its best souvenirs are edible: anchovies, txakoli and Idiazabal cheese from around the Ribera market.

Neither city is cheap, but Bilbao makes a budget go further. Biarritz charges resort prices, and summer rooms are expensive and book up early. Staying in Anglet or Bayonne, eating at the market bars and coming outside July and August all help. Bilbao is mid-priced for Western Europe, a pintxo crawl is good value, and the cheap metro and tram and the walkable centre keep transport costs low.

Biarritz's one real strength is dance. It has a national choreographic centre with its own ballet company, which performs at the Gare du Midi, and a dance festival in autumn, but otherwise it has a small town's programme. Bilbao's stage life is broader, with ABAO opera and the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra at the Euskalduna, theatre at the Arriaga and the Campos Elíseos, and the BBK Live festival each July. Ballet lovers may still prefer Biarritz.

This is where Biarritz pulls clearly ahead. It has been a sea-bathing cure town since the nineteenth century, and people plan whole vacations around the thalassotherapy programmes at its seawater spas. They are best visited outside the summer crowds.

Bilbao has hotel spas and a few day spas, which are fine for an afternoon, and an unhurried rhythm of long lunches and riverside walks. For a real spa stay you would have to travel to the historic spa towns of the Basque interior.