Bordeaux or Girona?

Neither city has a beach of its own, and both reach the sea in under an hour, so the difference is which sea. From Bordeaux you get the Atlantic: huge empty sand beaches at Lacanau and along the Médoc with real surf and rip currents, or the sheltered Arcachon basin by train for calmer water.

From Girona you get the Mediterranean. The Costa Brava mixes sandy bays with small pine-backed coves of very clear, warmer water around Begur and L'Escala, better for snorkelling and lazy swimming, though without a car the infrequent buses limit how far you get.

Bordeaux is the stronger food destination, and wine is why. You can drink Médoc, Graves, Saint-Émilion and Sauternes by the glass, eat entrecôte grilled over vine cuttings or lamprey in red wine, and stand at an oyster counter on a weekend morning, with brasseries and good bistros spread across several districts.

Girona eats very well for a small city, with Catalan home cooking, Empordà wines and some highly regarded tasting-menu kitchens. Its choice is narrower, though, and the best places tend to be across the river rather than in the old town.

The two old towns feel very different. Bordeaux is a grand, unified 18th-century cityscape of pale stone along the river, with the Place de la Bourse, the Grand Théâtre and Gothic churches, and museums such as the Musée d'Aquitaine. It is enough for three or four days.

Girona is medieval and vertical: the Barri Vell climbs from the Onyar to a cathedral with an enormous single nave, past the Jewish quarter of the Call and the Arab Baths, and you can walk the walls above the rooftops. It is atmospheric but smaller, and a day or two covers it.

Bordeaux gives you a proper night out. Wine bars and terraces fill Saint-Pierre, Place de la Victoire is loud with students, and there are clubs in the warehouses on the Quai de Paludate that run until morning.

Girona's evenings are mostly a late dinner on a terrace and a drink in the old town. A few music bars stay open at weekends, but anyone wanting to dance takes the train to Barcelona.

Girona wins easily outdoors. Road cyclists come from all over the world for its quiet lanes and climbs, greenways run to Olot and the coast, and within an hour or so you reach the volcanic beech forests of the Garrotxa, the coast-guard path above the Costa Brava and the wild Cap de Creus. The Pyrenees are close enough for summer hiking or winter skiing.

Bordeaux's surroundings are flat: vineyards, river meadows and Landes pine forest. Its highlights are the Dune du Pilat, birdlife on the Arcachon basin and the Médoc surf, with gentle cycling through Entre-Deux-Mers but no hills to walk.

Both cities make excellent bases, but Girona has more variety. Barcelona is a short high-speed train ride away, Figueres has the Dalí Theatre-Museum, and medieval Besalú, the stone villages of Pals and Peratallada, the ruins of Empúries and even southern France are all within reach.

Bordeaux's excursions are mainly about wine: Saint-Émilion by train, the Médoc châteaux at Margaux and Pauillac, and Sauternes. Arcachon adds the seaside, and Cognac or Biarritz are possible at the edge of a day.

Bordeaux is easier with children. The centre is flat and served by trams, pushchairs cope well, the Miroir d'eau becomes a paddling pool on hot days, and the Jardin Public and Cap Sciences fill a few hours. The Dune du Pilat makes a memorable outing.

Girona is safe and relaxed, and children enjoy walking the walls, but the old town is all stairs and cobbles. Nothing there is aimed at children, so families tend to spend their days on the Costa Brava beaches.

Bordeaux is simpler to get around. Its sights line up along a flat stretch of the left bank, Rue Sainte-Catherine is pedestrianised and the trams reach the Cité du Vin and the station. You only need a car for the vineyards.

Girona is compact enough to walk end to end in twenty minutes, but the Barri Vell is steep. Fast trains to Barcelona and Figueres are excellent. Beyond that the buses are infrequent, and many visitors hire a car for the coves, villages and wineries.

Bordeaux is the place to shop: high-street chains and a department store on Rue Sainte-Catherine, luxury labels in the Triangle d'Or, antique dealers along Rue Notre-Dame and wine cellars stocking everything from everyday bottles to rare vintages.

Girona's shopping is pleasant but small, mostly independent shops around the Rambla and Empordà cheeses, sausages and oil from the Mercat del Lleó. Its cycling shops are the one area where it has the edge.

Girona is somewhat easier on the budget, cheaper than the big Spanish cities, with good weekday set lunches and reasonably priced taverns. Old-town rooms are limited and get expensive in summer and the cycling season, and hiring a car adds to the cost.

Bordeaux has the prices of a prosperous French city. Set lunches and cheap trams help, but château tastings, wine tours and a good bottle at dinner add up quickly.

Bordeaux has the bigger stage life, and its centrepiece is the gilded Grand Théâtre of 1780, home to the city's opera and ballet, with a national orchestra next door and venues for jazz and touring acts. It goes quiet in high summer.

Girona has no resident opera or orchestra, and many plays are in Catalan. Its strength is seasonal: the Temporada Alta festival of international theatre and dance in autumn, and outdoor concerts along the coast in summer.

Neither city has a bathing culture, and both rely on hotel spas and an unhurried pace, but the nearby retreats differ. Around Bordeaux the speciality is vinotherapy at spa hotels among the vineyards, while real thermal waters at Dax are a longer trip south.

Girona has hot springs much closer. Caldes de Malavella, a spa town with Roman origins about 20 minutes away, has hotels with thermal pools, which makes a soak easy to fit into a day.