Cadiz or Chefchaouen?

These two are hardly comparable for swimming. Cadiz is surrounded by water. You can swim at La Caleta, the sheltered cove between two castles in the old town, or at Playa Victoria, kilometres of fine sand along the newer city. Beyond that, the Costa de la Luz stretches south to El Palmar, Zahara and Bolonia. The levante wind is the only real drawback.

Chefchaouen is a mountain town with no beach of its own. The grey sand at Oued Laou, down a gorge road, is a day out by grand taxi. The river pools at Akchour are cold and shallow, more a dip than a swim.

Cadiz eats far better. Its strength is seafood: paper cones of fried fish, shrimp fritters, marinated dogfish and bluefin tuna from the trap fisheries. All of it comes with fino or manzanilla from the sherry towns nearby, and the Mercado Central adds food counters later in the day.

Chefchaouen's restaurants repeat the same tagines, couscous and kefta from one lane to the next. The best eating is simple and local: Rif goat cheese in palm leaf, bissara for breakfast and bread from the communal ovens. Wine with dinner is mostly out of reach.

Cadiz has more history to explore. Phoenician sarcophagi fill the Museo de Cádiz, a Roman theatre lies in the Barrio del Pópulo, and the gold-domed cathedral faces the sea. The Oratorio where the 1812 constitution was signed and the camera obscura in the Torre Tavira are both worth a visit. Together they fill two or three days.

In Chefchaouen the blue lanes are the main attraction, and they reward slow wandering with a camera. The kasbah and its small museum are the only formal sight. After that come the Ras el-Maa spring and the sunset view from the Spanish Mosque, and most people have seen it all within a day or two.

Neither is a party town, but Cadiz at least has evenings out. Tapas bars in La Viña and around Plaza de San Francisco stay busy late, the Playa Victoria promenade keeps going into the early hours in summer, and Carnival in February turns the whole city into a street party.

In Chefchaouen, an evening means dinner, mint tea in Outa el-Hammam square and a walk through the lit lanes. Apart from a couple of hotel bars there is nowhere to drink.

Both are strong for the outdoors, but the landscapes are very different. In Cadiz, nature means flat water and coast: flamingos and spoonbills in the salt pans of the bay, the cliff-top pines of La Breña, kitesurfing and whale-watching from Tarifa. Real mountains are two hours away in Grazalema.

Chefchaouen is mountain country from the doorstep, with paths climbing from Ras el-Maa into the Rif. Talassemtane National Park, near Akchour, has its gorge, waterfalls, God's Bridge and Barbary macaques. Trails are poorly marked, so a local guide helps.

Cadiz is the far better base. There are sherry bodegas in Jerez, El Puerto and Sanlúcar, Seville is under two hours by train, and by car you reach white hilltop towns such as Vejer and Arcos and the Roman ruins of Baelo Claudia.

From Chefchaouen there is really one good outing: Tetouan's large, little-visited medina. Tangier and Fes are each about three hours away, too far to go and come back in a day, so they work better as the next stop on a route.

Cadiz is much easier with children. Playa Victoria has lifeguards and room to spread out, La Caleta is calm for little ones, and the flat old town and shady parks like the Genovés make pushchairs simple.

Chefchaouen is friendly towards children but tiring for them. The lanes are steep and stepped, there is little to keep young children busy, and adults get persistent offers of hashish. It suits older children who can walk, ideally on a short stop.

Cadiz is the easier place to get around, and the easier place to leave. Trains run straight out of the old town to Jerez and Seville, a catamaran crosses the bay to El Puerto and Rota, and city buses run the length of the isthmus to Playa Victoria. The old town itself is flat and mostly closed to cars. Only the Costa de la Luz beaches, the white towns and Tarifa really need a hire car.

Chefchaouen's medina takes about fifteen minutes to cross on foot, but nearly every route climbs stairs and polished steps, which is hard going with luggage or for anyone unsteady on their feet. Within town there is no public transport to speak of, and there is no railway. Petit taxis run to the medina gates, and Tetouan is an easy bus ride away, but Akchour means a shared grand taxi or a hired driver.

Neither is a place to shop seriously, but what each offers is different. Cadiz has Spanish chains and family shops on Calle Ancha, and the best things to take home are fans, ceramics, flamenco dresses and sherry. Anything grander means a trip to Seville.

Chefchaouen's lanes sell crafts made in the region: Rif blankets and weavings from looms in the shopfronts, djellabas, leather slippers and the blue pigment itself. Bargaining here is gentler than in the big souks.

Chefchaouen is clearly the cheaper stay, mainly because rooms in its guesthouses and riads cost so little. Meals and shared taxis are cheap too, and walking the town costs nothing.

Cadiz is good value at the table, with tapas, freidurías and sherry costing less than in most of Western Europe. Old-town hotels are scarce, though, and fill up in July, August and Carnival week. Staying near Playa Victoria or coming outside summer keeps costs down.

Cadiz has a real stage life, and Chefchaouen has almost none. Cadiz is one of the homes of flamenco: the peñas of the Santa María quarter put on alegrías for audiences who know the forms. The Gran Teatro Falla hosts the Carnival chirigota contest, an autumn festival of Ibero-American theatre and plays all year.

Chefchaouen has no theatre or concert hall. Andalusian music turns up at the odd festival, and on most evenings the call to prayer is all you hear.

The two are broadly level, and both offer an unhurried pace more than treatments. In Cadiz, relaxing means sea walls, long lunches and the siesta. For a spa you drive to Novo Sancti Petri or go to the Arab baths in Jerez.

Chefchaouen has a slight edge. Its neighbourhood hammams give a real scrub for very little, and roof terraces with cool mountain air make it easy to stay longer than planned. Polished spa treatments are rare.