Bilbao or Salamanca?

Bilbao has no beach in the city, but the metro runs to Getxo, Sopelana and the sheltered bay at Plentzia in well under an hour. The Bay of Biscay is warm enough for a proper swim by late summer. The changeable weather makes a beach afternoon something to fit into a city stay, not a reason to come.

Salamanca is on the Castilian plain, a long way from any coast. In summer the only swimming is in municipal pools and river beaches on the Tormes, so if you want sea water at all, Bilbao is the only one of the two that offers it.

Both cities eat at the bar counter, but Bilbao takes it further. The poteo through the Casco Viejo and Plaza Nueva brings elaborate pintxos with txakoli, the Ribera market shows off the fish and produce, and the restaurants go from asadores grilling txuleta up to several Michelin-starred kitchens.

Salamanca's food is simpler, heartier inland cooking: Guijuelo ibérico ham, hornazo, suckling pig and morucha beef, with Toro and Ribera del Duero wines. It is generous and informal but narrower, with little seafood and few ambitious restaurants.

Salamanca is the finer place for sightseeing. The whole old town is a UNESCO site built in golden sandstone, with one of Spain's great baroque squares, the carved Plateresque university front, two cathedrals side by side and the Casa de las Conchas, all a short walk apart. Its museums are modest apart from the Casa Lis.

Bilbao is the reverse: its strength is art rather than old streets. The Guggenheim and the Bellas Artes collection outshine anything Salamanca has indoors, while the Casco Viejo is pleasant rather than grand. The Vizcaya Bridge adds a piece of industrial heritage a metro ride away.

Salamanca has the livelier nights, with a crowd made up largely of students. From Thursday to Saturday, students and language learners fill the bars around the Plaza Mayor and Calle Bordadores, then move on to dance bars until well past 3am, cheaply and with an international mix. It goes quiet outside term time.

Bilbao's evenings grow out of the pintxo crawl and are more mixed in age, with Licenciado Poza for a younger crowd and alternative bars near the Ribera. Clubs are few, but Aste Nagusia in August takes over the riverbanks for nine days.

Bilbao is the greener base by a distance. The funicular to Artxanda and the Pagasarri hike begin on the city's edge, and Urkiola's limestone peaks, the Urdaibai reserve and San Juan de Gaztelugatxe are all close, much of it reachable without a car. The cost is frequent rain.

Salamanca looks out over the open Meseta, with only riverside paths nearby. Its real landscapes, the chestnut forests of the Sierra de Francia and the granite gorge of the Arribes del Duero, are about an hour away and almost always need a car.

Bilbao's outings take in coast, cities and wine country, and that range gives it the edge. San Sebastián is a little over an hour by bus, the fishing ports of Bermeo, Mundaka and Lekeitio line the shore near Gernika's oak tree, and Vitoria and the walled hilltop village of Laguardia in the Rioja Alavesa make a full day inland. To the west, Santillana del Mar and the Altamira museum are within reach in Cantabria.

Salamanca's day trips are nearly all historic towns: walled Ávila, the Romanesque churches of Zamora, the ramparts of Ciudad Rodrigo and the half-timbered streets of La Alberca. Each one is worth the trip, but they are mostly the same kind of day out, and many of the villages are hard to reach without a car.

Bilbao gives children more to do, mostly outdoors and on the move. Doña Casilda Park has its pond and playgrounds, the funicular up Artxanda is a small adventure with a park at the top, and Puppy and the Guggenheim's family activities go down well with young visitors. With no zoo or aquarium, wet days still need some planning.

In Salamanca, the fun is mostly hunting for the frog and the astronaut carved into the stonework and climbing the cathedral towers. Little is made for children, summer afternoons are very hot and winters are bitter, so it works best as a day or two within a longer family trip.

Both are easy without a car, in different ways. Bilbao spreads along several kilometres of riverbank, so the tram and the Foster-designed metro come into their own, taking you to the Guggenheim, the beaches and the Vizcaya Bridge. Regional trains and buses reach the coast and San Sebastián.

Salamanca is the more compact of the two, an old town you can cross on foot in about twenty minutes with almost no need for transport. Beyond it, the trains to Madrid are good, but the sierras and villages really need a car.

Bilbao has a little more choice. The Gran Vía has the chains and a department store, and the old family shops of the Casco Viejo sell berets, espadrilles and cookware alongside small design stores.

Salamanca's shopping streets offer chains and university souvenirs. Its distinctive buy is charro silver filigree, and in both cities the best things to take home are edible: anchovies and txakoli in one, ibérico ham in the other.

Salamanca is clearly the cheaper stay. The student economy keeps tapas and drinks low, often with a free tapa at the counter, and guesthouses in the old town are moderately priced. The main extra cost is the admission charges at the cathedrals and the university.

Bilbao is on the expensive side for Spain, especially for central hotels. A pintxo crawl is still good value, but the asadores and starred restaurants that draw people here charge for it.

Bilbao has the stronger stage programme. The Euskalduna hosts the ABAO opera season and the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra, the Arriaga and Campos Elíseos theatres stage touring productions, and BBK Live brings international bands each July.

Salamanca has no opera or resident orchestra. Its stages are the Teatro Liceo and the university's concerts in historic halls. Its most memorable music is free: the caped student tunas singing under the arcades of the Plaza Mayor.

Salamanca is a little more restful. Its quiet cloisters at San Esteban and Las Dueñas, the real siesta and the small Arab-style bath houses make the pace slow. Traditional mineral-spring spas at Ledesma and at Baños de Montemayor, used since Roman times, are within a short drive.

Bilbao offers only hotel and day spas, and the old balnearios are a separate trip. What it has instead is long lunches and riverside walks.