Bordeaux or San Sebastian?

For Bordeaux, the sea is a day out. The wild, lifeguarded Atlantic sand at Lacanau and along the Médoc is about an hour away. So is the calmer Arcachon basin, near Cap Ferret and the Dune du Pilat.

San Sebastian has its beach in town. La Concha's sheltered curve of sand runs along the centre, Ondarreta continues more quietly towards Monte Igueldo, and Zurriola is for surfers, so you can fit a swim between lunch and a walk. In both places swimming is really for July and August.

Bordeaux's table is built around wine. You can drink by the glass from Médoc to Sauternes, eat entrecôte grilled over vine cuttings and have Arcachon oysters at the Capucins market. It is excellent, but it centres on the long sit-down meal.

San Sebastian goes further and makes food the whole evening. You move between pintxo counters in the Parte Vieja and Gros with a glass of txakoli, and a group of celebrated restaurants in the hills offers fine dining that few cities its size can match. Both cities stick closely to their own regional cooking.

Bordeaux has more to see. Its 18th-century centre is one of the most complete classical cityscapes in France, with the Place de la Bourse, the Grand Théâtre and Gothic landmarks such as Saint-Michel. Museums of regional history, European painting and contemporary art fill three or four days.

San Sebastian is a lovely setting rather than a sightseeing city. Its late 19th-century streets, the Parte Vieja, the San Telmo Museum and Chillida's Peine del Viento fit comfortably into two or three days.

Neither is a clubbing city, but Bordeaux has a little more to offer after midnight. There are wine bars and terraces around Saint-Pierre, cheap student bars on Place de la Victoire and a strip of clubs on the Quai de Paludate that runs until morning.

San Sebastian's best hours come earlier, moving between the pintxo bars of the Parte Vieja. After that the choice narrows to a few late bars and clubs. Summer and the August Semana Grande are the exceptions, when the city stays out much later.

Around Bordeaux the land is flat vineyards and pine forest, best seen by bike on the long greenways. The highlights are about an hour away: the Dune du Pilat, the birdlife of the Arcachon basin and the Lacanau surf. For serious hiking you have to travel to the distant Pyrenees.

San Sebastian has the better landscape. Green hills surround the bay, and the cliff path from Monte Ulia to Pasaia and on over Jaizkibel to Hondarribia is one of the best stretches of coast in northern Spain. Good walking country starts within an hour inland.

Both cities are excellent bases. The difference is in the theme. From Bordeaux, outings are mostly about wine: Saint-Émilion by train, the châteaux of Margaux and Pauillac, Sauternes and the brandy houses of Cognac. The estates are easiest with a car or a tour.

From San Sebastian the trips are more varied and cross a border. Bilbao and the Guggenheim, walled Hondarribia and Pamplona are all close. Biarritz and Bayonne, at the edge of a day from Bordeaux, are within an hour.

Bordeaux works well with a pushchair on its flat, tram-served streets. Small children love the Miroir d'eau and the Jardin Public. The best family days, the Dune du Pilat and Arcachon's beaches, need a train ride, and the city's rhythm of wine and long dinners can feel slow to older children.

San Sebastian is the easier family choice, mainly because calm, sheltered beaches sit in the middle of town. It also has the aquarium with its walk-through tunnel, the Eureka science museum and the funicular up to the Igueldo funfair. Rainy spells can rule out the beach for days at a time.

Both centres are flat and easy to walk, and you need a car in neither. Bordeaux's sights are spread along a few kilometres of the left bank, so the tram does real work, linking Chartrons, the Cité du Vin and the station.

San Sebastian is more compact. The old town, La Concha and Gros are minutes apart, and you can walk the whole bay in under an hour. Its Euskotren lines to Hendaye and towards Bilbao also make day trips simpler than Bordeaux's vineyard visits.

Bordeaux has more choice. The long pedestrian Rue Sainte-Catherine has the chains and a department store, luxury labels gather in the Triangle d'Or, and Rue Notre-Dame in Chartrons is lined with antique dealers. Wine cellars will ship bottles home.

San Sebastian's shopping is on a smaller scale: chains and independent boutiques in the Centro, espadrilles and berets in the Parte Vieja and surf shops in Gros. Its best souvenirs are edible, such as txakoli, Idiazabal cheese and tinned anchovies.

Neither city is cheap, but Bordeaux is easier on the wallet. Hotels are mid-to-high priced and set lunch menus are a good-value way to eat well. Most of the money goes on château tastings and good bottles.

In San Sebastian hotel rooms are scarce. In summer and festival weeks they climb to the levels of big European capitals, and the famous restaurants are a real splurge. Free beaches and walks and a careful pintxo crawl help, but visiting outside summer makes the biggest difference.

Bordeaux has the stronger stage for most of the year. The Grand Théâtre of 1780 is home to the city's opera and ballet companies, there is a national orchestra, and a hall on the right bank hosts jazz and world music. Things go quiet in high summer.

San Sebastian works the other way round. Jazzaldia in July and the Quincena Musical in August bring its best music in exactly the months when Bordeaux pauses. For the rest of the year the Kursaal and the Teatro Victoria Eugenia have a lighter programme.

Bordeaux has no bathing culture of its own. Its speciality is vinotherapy, treatments using grape seeds and vine extracts, at spa hotels among the vineyards outside town. For thermal waters you have to travel to Dax.

San Sebastian has a real seaside tradition from its days as a royal resort. The historic bathing pavilion on La Concha is a seawater thalassotherapy spa looking straight onto the bay, and the small, calm city suits slow days.