Biarritz or Toledo?

Biarritz is a beach resort first and foremost, with town beaches below the casino and the cliffs and kilometres of sand running on into Anglet. The water is open Atlantic, with big waves, strong currents and swimming between the flags, and Port Vieux is the calm option.

Toledo has nothing comparable. It sits on the Castilian plateau hours from the coast, and the Tagus in its gorge is for looking at, not for swimming. A summer dip there means a hotel or municipal pool.

Biarritz eats better. Les Halles market and its pintxo counters give you Bay of Biscay fish, Bayonne ham, Espelette pepper and sheep's cheese, with Txakoli or Irouléguy to drink and gâteau basque to finish. The variety beyond Basque and French cooking is thin, though.

Toledo's cooking is heartier and narrower: partridge, game from the Montes de Toledo, carcamusas and Manchego, plus convent marzipan. The lanes by the cathedral lean towards set menus for day-trippers, so the better meals are in the taverns and tapa bars a few streets out.

Here Toledo is in a different league. Roman, Visigothic, Islamic, Jewish and Christian Spain are stacked on one hill: the cathedral with its El Greco and Goya sacristy, Cristo de la Luz, the Sephardic Museum in El Tránsito, San Juan de los Reyes and the Alcázar. It is enough to fill two full days on foot.

What Biarritz has to show is the resort itself: the imperial villa built for Eugénie, the Art Deco casino, the Russian Orthodox church and the Rocher de la Vierge. Its museums are about the sea rather than art or history.

Neither town is made for big nights, but Biarritz has more going on in summer. Wine and pintxos flow around Les Halles until late, surfers have sundowners above the Côte des Basques, and the casino and a few clubs keep going. Bayonne and San Sebastián are close if you want more.

Toledo winds down to a late dinner and a round of tapas near Zocodover, with a few student bars open at weekends. Once the day crowds leave for Madrid the old town goes quiet. Some visitors enjoy that, but anyone wanting to go out takes the train to Madrid.

Biarritz is the outdoor base. It has surf breaks for beginners and experts, paddleboarding and kayaking along the Basque Corniche, a cliff path towards Spain, and the green Pyrenean foothills around La Rhune, Sare and Ainhoa within half an hour.

Toledo's best outdoor walk is the riverside path through the Tagus gorge below the walls, with views back from the cigarrales. Beyond it lie the dry plains of La Mancha, the low Montes de Toledo and Cabañeros, which is two hours off and good for deer and birds of prey. Summer heat limits walking to spring and autumn.

Both make excellent bases, and the difference is in the kind of day out. From Biarritz you cross between France and Spain: San Sebastián's pintxo bars and La Concha, Bayonne next door, Saint-Jean-de-Luz by train, and Basque villages and Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port inland.

From Toledo the big draw is Madrid, half an hour away by high-speed train, with the Prado and the royal palace. Aranjuez, El Escorial, the windmills of Consuegra and Almagro's theatre are all within reach, and Segovia and Cuenca make longer days. Both bases are easier with a car for the rural sights.

Biarritz is easier with children. They can learn to surf, the aquarium's seals and sharks fill a rainy day, and Port Vieux gives small children calm water away from the big waves. Steep streets do make pushchairs hard work.

Toledo has some things children love, such as swords, armour and the castle-like Alcázar, as well as the history theme park on the outskirts. Most of the sights are churches and paintings, though, and the cobbled lanes and hot afternoons mean a short stay works best.

Toledo is a little easier to get around, simply because nearly everything sits inside one walled old town you can cross in twenty minutes. Public escalators take you up from the car parks, though the cobbled lanes are steep and twisting, and the station is a bus ride across the river.

Biarritz is also walkable between the beaches, the market and the lighthouse, with steps and hills in between. It does have an airport right on the edge of town and coastal trains towards Spain, but most visitors hire a car to reach the Basque villages and the mountains.

Biarritz is the more rewarding place to browse, with fashion boutiques and surf shops between Place Clemenceau and the market, striped Basque linen, espadrilles, chocolatiers and Les Halles for ham and pepper. Bayonne adds a few more streets.

Toledo's shopping is about its crafts: damascene inlay, steel blades, Talavera ceramics and marzipan. Much of what is sold near the cathedral is souvenir stock, so it pays to seek out the workshops, and for fashion people go to Madrid.

Toledo is clearly the cheaper stay. A tapa often comes with your drink, set lunches in the taverns are good value, and rooms just outside the walls are moderate. Separate entry charges for each monument add up over a day of sightseeing.

Biarritz charges resort rates, especially in July and August when rooms book up early. Eating at the market bars, coming outside summer or staying in Anglet or Bayonne all help, but it remains an expensive beach town.

Biarritz has the edge thanks to dance. It is home to a national choreographic centre and ballet company that performs at the Gare du Midi, and it holds an autumn dance festival. Otherwise it offers touring shows and village Basque choirs.

Toledo's stage is the Teatro de Rojas, with a regional programme and occasional church music. Its standout event is the Corpus Christi procession through streets hung with tapestries. For opera or serious concerts on an ordinary night, both towns send you elsewhere, and from Toledo that means Madrid.

Biarritz was built on sea bathing and remains one of France's thalassotherapy towns, where seawater pools, algae wraps and multi-day cures can be the whole point of a stay. Outside high summer the slow resort pace and the headland walks add to it.

Toledo offers a few Arab-style bath houses and hotel spas in vaulted rooms, and lovely quiet mornings and evenings over the Tagus. It is pleasant for a calm night or two, but it is not a place to come to recover.