Bordeaux or Zaragoza?

This is the biggest gap between the two. From Bordeaux, an hour west by car or train brings you to long Atlantic sand beaches backed by dunes and pines. The surf at Lacanau and along the Médoc is strong, so stay between the lifeguards' flags, and the Arcachon basin offers calmer, warmer water for children.

Zaragoza sits on the Ebro plain more than 200km from the Mediterranean, and nobody swims in the river. Summer cooling-off means municipal open-air pools, so if beach time matters, it has to be a separate part of the trip.

Bordeaux has the deeper table, and its wine sets it apart. You can taste Médoc, Graves, Saint-Émilion and Sauternes in a week, then eat entrecôte grilled over vine cuttings or Arcachon oysters at the counters of the Capucins market. Serious bistros in Saint-Pierre and Chartrons raise the level further.

Zaragoza eats in a more casual, sociable way. In El Tubo you move from bar to bar, each with its own speciality, and the menu runs to hearty Aragonese ternasco lamb and borage with clams, washed down with cheap Cariñena reds. Fine dining is scarce. Neither city offers much beyond its own regional cooking.

The two are evenly matched but quite different. In Bordeaux the main sight is the cityscape itself: a single, coherent sweep of 18th-century limestone along the Garonne, from the Place de la Bourse to the Grand Théâtre, with a few Gothic landmarks and solid rather than famous museums.

Zaragoza is about layers of history rather than one era. Roman forum and theatre remains lie under and within the old town, the eleventh-century Aljafería palace is the highlight, and the Pilar basilica and La Seo show Goya and Mudéjar craft. Outside that core the city is largely modern, while Bordeaux's beauty extends across whole districts.

There is not much between them, but the evenings feel different. Bordeaux goes out over wine: terraces in Saint-Pierre, an older crowd at the Bassins à flot, students at Place de la Victoire. Dancing is concentrated in the warehouse clubs of the Quai de Paludate.

Zaragoza starts later and spreads more evenly. Tapas in El Tubo lead into bars around Plaza San Felipe and Santa Marta, and students fill the Casco from Thursday onwards. During the October Fiestas del Pilar the streets stay full until dawn.

Bordeaux's outdoors is flat and coastal, and you enjoy it by bike or on the water. The greenways through Entre-Deux-Mers make easy cycling. On the coast, surfers head for the Médoc shore, kayakers and birdwatchers for the Arcachon tidal flats, and nearly everyone climbs the Dune du Pilat. There is no hill walking nearby.

Zaragoza's surroundings are bare steppe, but with a car you reach real mountains. There are beech forests and summit trails on the Moncayo, climbing on the red towers of the Mallos de Riglos, the badlands of the Bardenas Reales and the Pyrenees valleys. Hikers will prefer Zaragoza, ideally outside the summer heat.

From Bordeaux the outings revolve around wine and the sea: Saint-Émilion by train, the châteaux of Margaux and Pauillac, the Sauternes villages and Arcachon's oyster ports, with Cognac and Biarritz at the far edge of a day.

Zaragoza's trump card is the high-speed line, which puts Madrid and Barcelona within about an hour and a half, something few cities of its size can offer. Closer by are the castle at Loarre, the ruins of Belchite, Goya's birthplace and Albarracín. Most of these Aragonese outings need a hired car, just as the Bordeaux vineyards do.

Bordeaux's best days with children are spent out of town, climbing the Dune du Pilat or paddling in the calm Arcachon basin. In the city there is the Miroir d'eau to splash in and the puppet theatre in the Jardin Public, but a place built around wine and long meals can drag for older children.

Zaragoza keeps more of the fun inside the city. There is the river aquarium and the open space of the Parque del Agua, and Spanish children stay out with their parents in the evening. In October the Fiestas del Pilar bring parades of giants. July and August are tiring in the heat, and there is no beach to escape to.

Bordeaux is the slightly easier city to get about in. Its centre is flat and largely pedestrianised, several tram lines link the Cité du Vin, the right bank and the station, and the riverside paths are good for cycling. Trains reach Saint-Émilion and Arcachon without a car.

Zaragoza's main sights sit within a compact, flat area from the Pilar to the Aljafería. Beyond that, a single tram line, buses and bike-share cover the rest. Rural Aragon is much harder to reach without a car.

Bordeaux offers the more rewarding shopping. The long Rue Sainte-Catherine handles the high street, the Triangle d'Or has the luxury labels, and Rue Notre-Dame in Chartrons has antiques and independent boutiques. The wine cellars, which stock rare vintages and ship abroad, are a reason to bring an empty suitcase.

Zaragoza's shopping is everyday Spanish, with chains and a department store on Paseo de la Independencia and a large mall on the edge of town. The pleasures are local and edible: candied frutas de Aragón, pastry shops on Calle Alfonso I and Muel ceramics.

Zaragoza is clearly the cheaper of the two. Hotels near the Pilar are good value for most of the year, tapas and set lunches are generous, and a glass of local red costs little. The main exception is the October fiestas, when rooms fill up.

Bordeaux charges what a well-off French city charges. Central rooms are mid-to-high priced and rise in summer, and much of a vacation budget goes on château tastings and wine at dinner. Set lunches and the free pleasure of walking the old centre help.

Bordeaux has the stronger stage, centred on the gilded Grand Théâtre of 1780, home to the city's opera and ballet, with the national orchestra playing in a modern hall nearby. Jazz and world music fill a right-bank venue, but the programme pauses in high summer.

Zaragoza relies on the Auditorio for touring orchestras and jazz and on the Teatro Principal for plays and dance. Its distinctive offering is the jota, Aragon's leaping folk dance, best seen during the Fiestas del Pilar.

Neither city is a wellness destination, and each has a local twist instead. Bordeaux offers vinotherapy, grape-based treatments at spa hotels among the vineyards, with real thermal waters at Dax about an hour and a half away.

Zaragoza has Arab-style bathhouses, and the historic spa town of Alhama de Aragón is a little over an hour away. Its easy provincial pace is relaxing, though the summer heat and the cierzo wind take some of the calm out of it.