Cadiz or Madrid?

This is the biggest difference between the two. Cadiz is almost surrounded by the Atlantic. You can swim at La Caleta between its two castles or spread out on the long sand of Playa Victoria, and the empty strands of El Palmar, Conil and Bolonia are within an hour's drive. The levante wind is the main thing that can spoil a beach day.

Madrid sits on a high inland plateau, far beyond a day trip from any coast. In summer, people in Madrid cool off in open-air pools or at the reservoirs below the Sierra de Guadarrama. If sand matters on this trip, plan it around Cadiz.

In both cities you eat at the tapas counter, late and standing up, but Madrid has a far wider range. Cadiz keeps to the sea. You get paper cones of fried fish, shrimp fritters and almadraba tuna in La Viña, with cold manzanilla to drink. All of it is excellent, but there is little beyond it.

Madrid adds hearty Castilian dishes such as cocido and callos, the Sunday vermouth round in La Latina, and Galician seafood houses and Basque grills from across Spain. It also has a serious tier of tasting menus, which the city of Cadiz largely lacks. Both cities have market halls. The Mercado Central in Cadiz is built around its morning fish stalls, while San Miguel, Antón Martín and San Fernando in Madrid mix produce from the whole country with places to eat.

Madrid is the stronger city for culture, mainly because of its painting. The Prado, the Reina Sofía and the Thyssen stand within a short walk of each other, and together they hold Velázquez, Goya, El Greco and Guernica. Add the Royal Palace and Plaza Mayor, and an art lover can fill a week.

Cadiz offers something different: age rather than collections. It has Phoenician sarcophagi, a Roman theatre in the Barrio del Pópulo, merchants' watchtowers and the oratory where the 1812 constitution was signed. That deep past is exactly what Madrid lacks inside its own centre, but in Cadiz it fills two or three days, not a week.

Nights in Cadiz mean late tapas in La Viña and, in summer, terraces along the Playa Victoria promenade. Outside summer, the club scene is small and mostly students. The great exception is Carnival in February, when the whole city stays out in costume all night.

Madrid keeps that pace all year. Clubs open at two and close after dawn, and every district has its own scene: rock bars in Malasaña, the gay scene in Chueca, terraces in Lavapiés and big clubs around Gran Vía.

Cadiz has more variety close at hand. There are flamingos and spoonbills in the salt pans of the bay's natural park, cliff-top pine forest at La Breña, and kitesurfing and whale-watching boats at Tarifa. The limestone gorges of Grazalema and the Doñana wetlands are within reach too.

Madrid's outdoors is mostly the Sierra de Guadarrama, about an hour north. Its granite peaks, La Pedriza and the Peñalara lakes make for proper hiking, with modest skiing in winter. In the city you can run in the Retiro or cycle along Madrid Río.

Both cities are fine bases, but Madrid's trips are easier. Fast trains go in every direction, to Toledo and Segovia in about half an hour and to Salamanca and Cuenca in not much longer. El Escorial and Aranjuez are closer still.

From Cadiz, the train and ferry handle Jerez, El Puerto de Santa María and Seville well. The white towns of Vejer and Arcos, Baelo Claudia and Tarifa mean hiring a car.

In both cities children stay out late with their parents, and both have flat centres that are easy with small children. Cadiz is essentially a beach vacation, with lifeguarded sand at Playa Victoria and shady parks such as the Genovés. Rainy or windy days are harder to fill.

Madrid has more built for children. Casa de Campo has the zoo, the aquarium, a cable car and a funfair, and Faunia and a Warner Bros theme park are further out. The Retiro has rowing boats and puppet shows.

The old town of Cadiz is small enough to cross on foot, shore to shore, and buses run along the isthmus to the beach. Trains run to Jerez and Seville and a catamaran crosses the bay, but the coast and the villages need a car.

Madrid's large, air-conditioned metro, with a line to the airport, takes you anywhere in the city. The Atocha and Chamartín stations connect you straight to the high-speed network, so you never need a car.

Shopping in Cadiz is small and local. There are high-street chains and family-run shops along Calle Ancha and Columela, and the best things to take home are fans, ceramics and sherry. For anything more, people from Cadiz go to Seville.

Madrid is a real shopping city. The luxury houses are in the Salamanca district, the department stores around Sol and Gran Vía, and vintage and design shops in Malasaña and Conde Duque. On Sundays there is the El Rastro flea market.

Cadiz is a little cheaper day to day. Fried fish, market counters, sherry and the bay ferry all cost little. The catch is rooms in the small old town, which fill up and cost more in high summer and at Carnival. Staying near Playa Victoria, or coming in spring or autumn, keeps the cost down.

Madrid's hotels charge capital-city rates, but the midday menú del día and the free museum hours help a lot.

Madrid has the full range of the stage. There is opera at the Teatro Real, the national orchestra at the Auditorio Nacional, zarzuela, and musicals along Gran Vía. Its best tablaos stage serious flamenco every night, and there are jazz and indie venues besides.

Cadiz is smaller but has its own character. In the Santa María quarter, members' peñas keep alegrías alive for audiences who know the forms well. The Gran Teatro Falla hosts the witty Carnival choirs and a year-round programme of plays and concerts, but for opera and orchestras you need Seville.

Neither city has a bathing tradition of its own, and both offer Arab-style baths: in Madrid's old centre, and half an hour from Cadiz in Jerez. Cadiz has the edge for rest. The resort spas at Novo Sancti Petri use sea-water treatments, and the slow rhythm of siesta and sunset walks makes it easy to wind down.

Madrid is noisy and late by nature. Its quiet hours are found in the Retiro or the Botanical Garden.