Cadiz or Cordoba?

On the beach the two cities could hardly be further apart. Cadiz is a beach city. You can swim at La Caleta between its two castles or walk kilometres of fine sand at Playa Victoria, and the dunes of Bolonia and the long strands of El Palmar and Zahara are within an hour. The main drawback is the levante wind, which can blow sand across the beaches for days.

Cordoba lies inland in the Guadalquivir valley, so swimming there means a hotel or municipal pool or a reservoir in the Sierra Morena. The Costa del Sol can be reached by train for the day, but that is a long trip just for a swim.

In both cities people eat late, go from bar to bar for tapas and drink a chilled sherry-style wine from nearby, but the dishes are different. Cadiz has the edge for seafood lovers, with fried fish in paper cones, shrimp tortillitas and almadraba bluefin tuna, served with manzanilla or fino.

Cordoba's cooking comes from the land instead. In old tabernas with tiled patios you eat salmorejo, flamenquin, oxtail and crisp aubergine with cane honey, and drink Montilla-Moriles. Neither city has much fine dining or international food.

Cordoba is far ahead for sightseeing. The Mezquita-Cathedral, with its forest of striped arches and a cathedral built into its centre, is one of the great buildings of Europe. The Juderia, the Alcazar gardens, the patios of San Basilio and the caliphal ruins of Medina Azahara add two or three days of first-rate sights.

Cadiz has less to see: Phoenician sarcophagi in the Museo de Cádiz, the half-hidden Roman theatre, the gold-domed cathedral and the camera obscura in the Torre Tavira. Much of its appeal is the old trading port itself, with its tall pale houses and rooftop watchtowers.

Neither city is a clubbing destination. In both, a night out means late tapas and drinks, moving from square to square. The difference is where and when. In summer Cadiz moves its evenings to the terraces along Playa Victoria, and its February Carnival turns the whole city into a street party that runs all night.

Cordoba's evenings centre on the Corredera, Las Tendillas and the riverside. Its big event is the May fair, when people dance in the casetas until dawn. Outside summer and these festivals, both cities are quiet at night.

Cadiz has more variety outdoors. The salt pans and marshes of the Bahía de Cádiz are full of flamingos and spoonbills, and the pine forest of La Breña runs along cliffs above the sea. Tarifa has kitesurfing and boat trips into the Strait to see dolphins and whales, and the Sierra de Grazalema offers real mountain walking within two hours.

Cordoba's countryside is gentler: holm oak hills in the Sierra Morena, birds of prey at Hornachuelos and the gorges of the Sierras Subbeticas. In summer the heat limits walking to the early morning, and you need a car for almost all of it.

Both are good bases, but Cordoba's place on the high-speed line gives it the edge. Seville, Granada with the Alhambra, and Malaga are all easy return trips by train. With a car you can add Ubeda, Baeza and the dolmens of Antequera.

From Cadiz the trips are more local but still rich. There are the sherry towns of Jerez, El Puerto and Sanlúcar, the white hill towns of Vejer and Arcos, and the Roman ruins of Baelo Claudia beside the beach at Bolonia. Seville is a longer ride, just under two hours by train.

Cadiz has the edge with children, because the sea gives each summer day an easy shape. La Caleta, the small cove between two castles, is calm enough for young swimmers. When the children have had enough sand, there are the Alameda and Genovés parks, the camera obscura in the Torre Tavira and the ferry across the bay. Summer highs stay around 28°C, which is warm enough for the beach without making an afternoon in the old town hard going.

Cordoba has a few good draws for children: the fountains of the Alcazar gardens, the horse show at the royal stables, a modest zoo and the castle at Almodovar del Rio. What it lacks is a sea to fall back on once the monuments stop holding their interest. In July and August the heat goes far beyond anything Cadiz reaches, so a summer stay with children means hotel pools and long hours indoors, and spring or autumn suit a family visit much better.

Both cities have old towns that are easy to walk and mostly free of cars, and both have good rail links, so getting around feels much the same. Cadiz is flat and stretches along an isthmus, with buses out to Playa Victoria and a catamaran across the bay. Cordoba's centre is more compact but cobbled and narrow, with nearly every sight a few minutes' walk from the next.

Both fall short beyond the city. From Cadiz, the Costa de la Luz and the white villages need a car or a tour. From Cordoba, Medina Azahara needs a bus or taxi, and the hill towns need a car.

In Cadiz the pleasure is browsing the Mercado Central and the flower stalls beside it, then taking home a hand-painted fan, ceramics, flamenco fashion or a bottle of sherry. Calle Ancha and Columela add Spanish chains and older family-run shops.

Cordoba's shopping rests on crafts still made in the city: silver filigree jewellery, embossed guadameci leather and guitars from local workshops. These are best bought from the workshops themselves, not the souvenir stalls in the Juderia. The streets around Las Tendillas have a big department store, but for designer labels both cities send you to Seville.

The two cost about the same, with Cordoba slightly cheaper. In both, eating out is the bargain: freidurías and market counters in Cadiz, and in Cordoba generous lunch menus or a glass of Montilla with a tapa.

Rooms are where they differ. Cadiz has few hotels in the old town, and they fill up in July, August and Carnival week, so staying near Playa Victoria saves money. Cordoba's rooms are good value for most of the year, except in May, when the festivals push prices up.

Flamenco has deep roots in both cities, and both have peñas where people who know the music go to hear it. Cadiz is the home of alegrías, with peñas in the old Santa María quarter. Its Gran Teatro Falla stages the satirical Carnival choirs and an autumn festival of Ibero-American theatre.

Cordoba has its guitar festival and the Noche Blanca del Flamenco, a summer night of free performances in squares across the city until dawn. Its Gran Teatro is home to the city orchestra. Opera is thin in both.

For treatments, Cadiz sends you out of town, to the resort spas with sea-water treatments at Novo Sancti Petri or the Arab-style baths in Jerez, half an hour away. What the city itself offers is a slow day: a walk on the sea walls, a long lunch, a siesta and sunset over La Caleta.

Cordoba has Arab-style bath houses in the old town itself, with warm and hot pools under horseshoe arches and massage, not far from the ruined Caliphal Baths that recall the city's past. Beyond them, the quietest pleasure is a courtyard with a fountain and orange trees on a long afternoon in the shade.