Bilbao or Valencia?

Bilbao has no beach of its own. The metro runs out to Ereaga and Arrigunaga in Getxo, the open sands of Sopelana and the sheltered bay at Plentzia. That makes a good afternoon out, but the Biscay water is cool until late summer and July can still turn grey. Sopelana's swell suits surfers better than toddlers.

In Valencia the beach is part of daily life. A long, wide band of fine sand at Las Arenas and Malvarrosa lies about twenty minutes from the centre, with shallow, calm water. Quieter dune beaches at El Saler sit behind the pines of the Albufera park. For days spent on the sand, Valencia is far ahead.

Both cities take food seriously, but Bilbao has the edge. The poteo means drifting from counter to counter in the Casco Viejo and Plaza Nueva for txakoli and pintxos. Behind it stands a Basque kitchen of grilled hake, bacalao al pil-pil and txuleta, with several Michelin-starred restaurants in the city and the hills around it.

Valencia's cooking is built around rice and the long lunch. Try paella valenciana, arroz negro and all i pebre at the beach restaurants and in the Albufera villages, and horchata in Alboraya. The Mercado Central is the grander market of the two. Valencia's best eating happens at midday, while Bilbao's continues through the evening.

Bilbao's culture rests on two museums of real weight, the Guggenheim and the Bellas Artes. It adds a compact Casco Viejo and the Vizcaya Bridge, a transporter bridge down the estuary. It is the sharper choice for anyone travelling for contemporary art and architecture.

Valencia goes further back in time and has more to see. It has the UNESCO-listed Lonja de la Seda, the cathedral with its Holy Grail chalice and Miguelete tower, the medieval gates of Serranos and Quart, and the ceramics museum in the Marqués de Dos Aguas palace. Add the white City of Arts and Sciences at the far end of the Turia, and Valencia makes the fuller sightseeing trip.

In Bilbao, a night out is the pintxo crawl carried on later. The Casco Viejo and the streets around Licenciado Poza are busy from Thursday to Saturday, but there are few clubs and weeknights are quiet.

Valencia has more nightlife and more variety: the cocktail bars and terraces of Ruzafa, the rougher bars of El Carmen and the cheap student streets of Benimaclet. In summer, open-air clubs near Malvarrosa run until dawn. The big street parties also fall at different times of year: Bilbao's Aste Nagusia is in August, Valencia's Fallas in March.

Bilbao is greener and hillier. The Artxanda funicular and the Pagasarri hike start from town, and the limestone of Urkiola and the beech woods of Gorbea are about an hour away. The coast adds cliff paths, the Urdaibai reserve, San Juan de Gaztelugatxe and the surf at Mundaka. The price is rain in every season.

Valencia's outdoors is flat and watery. There is the Albufera lagoon with its rice fields, herons and sunset boat trips, the pine and dune trails of the Devesa, and 9km of Turia gardens for running and cycling. Mountains mean a drive to the Sierra Calderona or the gorge at Chulilla.

Bilbao has the richer surroundings. San Sebastián is a little over an hour away by bus, and Gernika and the fishing ports of Mundaka, Elantxobe and Lekeitio are close. Further days can go to the wine villages of the Rioja Alavesa around Laguardia, or along the Cantabrian coast to Santillana del Mar.

Valencia's outings are good but more spread out. Sagunto's Roman theatre and Xàtiva's castle are about half an hour away, and the fast train reaches Cuenca's hanging houses in about an hour. Peñíscola, Elche and the Costa Blanca take an hour and a half or more.

Bilbao is pleasant with children: flat, safe and clean, with Doña Casilda Park, the Artxanda funicular and Puppy outside the Guggenheim. But it has no zoo, aquarium or theme park, and rainy days need a backup plan.

Valencia has much more for children. The Oceanogràfic, the hands-on science museum and the Hemisfèric sit together in the City of Arts and Sciences, and Bioparc shows African animals in open habitats. The Gulliver playground and the shallow city beaches fill the rest of the day. Only the heat of summer afternoons counts against it.

Both are easy without a car, in different ways. Bilbao's sights line a flat few kilometres of river that you can walk or ride by tram. Norman Foster's metro runs down both banks to the beaches and the Vizcaya Bridge, and regional buses run often to San Sebastián and Vitoria.

Valencia is a city for bikes. The car-free Turia gardens run from the old town to the City of Arts and Sciences, with bike lanes and a bike-share scheme across the centre. Metro and tram reach the airport and the beaches, though the beaches and the City of Arts and Sciences are a ride or a long walk from the old town.

Bilbao's Gran Vía has the main chains and a department store, but little beyond them for fashion. The better browsing is in the old family shops of the Casco Viejo, for berets, linen and espadrilles, and at the Ribera market for txakoli, Idiazabal and tinned anchovies.

Valencia has more range for clothes. Luxury boutiques sit alongside the chains around Calle Colón and Poeta Querol, and El Carmen and Ruzafa have vintage and independent design. Local crafts include Manises ceramics, painted fans and silk, while saffron and turrón from the Mercado Central make the edible souvenirs.

Bilbao is one of the dearer Spanish cities, and central hotels cost more than in most of the country. A pintxo crawl keeps evenings reasonable, but the asadores and starred kitchens charge accordingly.

Valencia goes further on the same budget. The multi-course set lunch with wine is everywhere, tapas cost little away from the tourist squares, and hotels are fairly priced for most of the year. Only beachside summer and Fallas push costs up.

The two are close in scale, and each centres on a landmark modern hall. Bilbao's Euskalduna hosts the ABAO opera season and the symphony orchestra, and the Arriaga and Campos Elíseos stage theatre and dance. In July, the BBK Live festival brings international bands to Mount Cobetas.

Valencia's Palau de les Arts, with its own highly regarded orchestra, makes it a little stronger for opera and ballet. The Palau de la Música stands on the edge of the Turia gardens, and Ruzafa has small jazz stages. Bilbao has Basque choral singing at its festivals; in Valencia, the village wind bands play all through Fallas.

Bilbao has no bathing tradition, so relaxing there means hotel spas, long lunches and riverside walks. For a proper spa stay, the historic balnearios of the Basque interior are a separate trip.

Valencia is the more restful of the two. Its Arab-style bath houses add a little, and the mild, dry weather, the seafront promenade and the shady Turia paths make doing very little easy. For serious pampering, though, you still need the resort hotels on the coast.