Cadiz or Girona?

Cadiz is a beach city. La Caleta sits between two castles in the old town, and the wide golden sand of Playa Victoria is a walk or short bus ride away. Further south, the long Costa de la Luz strands at Bolonia and Zahara are within an hour. The levante wind, which can blow sand across the beaches for days, is the main drawback.

Girona has no beach of its own. The Costa Brava begins about 40 minutes away, where the coves around Begur have clearer and slightly warmer water than the Atlantic. Getting there takes a car or a bus timetable, so in Girona the sea is a day out rather than the centre of the stay.

The two are close on food but cook quite differently. Cadiz is about fish: paper cones from the freidurías, almadraba bluefin tuna in the La Viña tapas bars and a glass of manzanilla, with few ambitious restaurants in the city. Girona has Catalan home cooking such as botifarra with beans, Empordà wines, cream-filled xuixos and a fine-dining reputation, so it is the better place for a long tasting menu. Cadiz is better for grazing on seafood from bar to bar.

Both reward two days of walking, but the cities feel very different. Cadiz is pale and maritime, with watchtowered merchant houses from its time running trade with the Americas, a gold-domed cathedral by the sea, Phoenician sarcophagi and a Roman theatre in the Barrio del Pópulo.

Girona is medieval stone climbing up from the Onyar. Here you walk the city walls and explore the Call, one of Europe's best-preserved Jewish quarters, and the cathedral with its enormous Gothic nave. Neither city has a major museum, so in both the streets are the main sight.

Cadiz has the livelier evenings. Tapas bars in La Viña and around Plaza de San Francisco stay busy late, and in summer the terraces along Playa Victoria stay open into the early hours. In February, Carnival turns the whole city into a street party that lasts all night.

Girona is quieter. Its nights are terrace dinners and student bars around Plaça de la Independència, and anyone after a proper night out takes the train to Barcelona.

Girona offers more ways to get active. Cyclists head out on quiet lanes to Rocacorba and Els Àngels, the old railway greenways run to Olot and the sea, and the Gavarres hills begin at the edge of town. Within an hour or two you reach volcanic beech woods, the cliff paths of Cap de Creus and the high Pyrenees.

Cadiz itself is flat, and its outdoors is mostly about water and wind. You can watch flamingos on the bay's salt pans, kitesurf at Tarifa or take a boat out to see whales in the Strait. For real mountain walking you have to drive about two hours to Grazalema.

Both are excellent bases, and Girona has a slight edge in variety. Barcelona is under 40 minutes away by fast train, Dalí sights run from Figueres to Portlligat, and you can visit the medieval villages of Besalú and Peratallada or cross into France at Perpignan.

From Cadiz, the trips centre on sherry and white towns. Jerez and its bodegas are half an hour away by train, a ferry crosses to El Puerto, and Seville is under two hours. By car you can reach Vejer, Arcos and the Roman ruins at Bolonia.

Cadiz is easier with children because the beach does most of the work. Playa Victoria has lifeguards and plenty of room, La Caleta is calm for small swimmers, and the flat old town has shady parks such as the Genovés.

Girona is safe and friendly but harder going. The Barri Vell's stairs and cobbles are a struggle with a pushchair, and the museums are aimed at adults. Walking the walls is the main thing children enjoy, which is why many families end up driving to the coast.

Cadiz is the easier city on foot. The old town is flat and mostly free of cars, buses run along the isthmus to the beach, and trains to Jerez and Seville leave from the old town itself.

Girona is also walkable, but the old quarter is steep and full of stairs. Its railway connections are fast, and in both places you need a car for the villages, coves and wineries.

Neither is a shopping destination, and serious shoppers go to Seville or Barcelona. The difference is in what you bring home. In Cadiz it is fans, ceramics, flamenco fashion and sherry from around Calle Ancha. In Girona it is Empordà cheese and olive oil from the Mercat del Lleó, independent shoe shops along the Rambla and, for riders, cycling kit.

Cadiz is a little kinder to the budget. Freidurías, market counters and cheap glasses of sherry let you eat well for little, and the local trains and bay ferry cost little. Rooms are the expensive part, especially in summer and during Carnival.

Girona's everyday costs are moderate. A weekday set lunch is the bargain, and accommodation goes up during the flower festival and the cycling season. Many visitors also need a hire car, which adds to the cost.

Cadiz has the stronger live tradition. As a home of flamenco, it has members' peñas in the Santa María quarter where you can hear alegrías sung for audiences who know the form. The Gran Teatro Falla stages the satirical chirigotas of Carnival.

Girona has a modest venue programme: touring concerts at the Auditori, Catalan drama at the Teatre Municipal and the international Temporada Alta festival every autumn. Outside that festival, its stages are fairly quiet.

Both are good places to slow down, but neither has a bathing culture of its own, so treatments mean a short trip. From Cadiz that means the sea-water resort spas at Novo Sancti Petri or the Arab-style baths in Jerez. Girona has a better option 20 minutes away: Caldes de Malavella, where hotels use natural thermal springs. Day to day, Cadiz unwinds with siestas and sunsets over La Caleta, while Girona has quiet morning lanes and evening walks by the river.