Cairo or Dubai?

This is the widest gap between the two cities. Cairo has no beach at all. The Nile is not for swimming, and the Red Sea at Ain Sokhna, about 130km east, is lined with resorts and works as a weekend trip rather than an afternoon out. In town, a swim means a pool.

Dubai's whole coast is pale sand on calm, shallow water, from Jumeirah and Kite Beach to the JBR strip and the private resort beaches of Palm Jumeirah. The shore is engineered rather than wild, and the sand is too hot by mid-morning in summer, but for a beach vacation the choice is easy.

Cairo eats Egyptian, and cheaply: ful and taameya for breakfast, koshari for lunch, then feteer and grilled kofta, with the ahwa as the social centre of the day. The food is honest and filling, but the range is narrow and there is little fine dining.

Dubai has far more choice because it eats like the people who live there. There are Keralan, Pakistani, Afghan, Iranian and Filipino canteens in Deira and Karama, and celebrity-chef dining rooms and the Friday brunch at the top end. The odd thing is that Emirati cooking is the part you have to hunt for, while in Cairo the local food is everywhere.

Cairo has some of the most famous heritage on earth. There are the pyramids and the Sphinx at Giza, Tutankhamun's treasures at the Grand Egyptian Museum, the royal mummies at Fustat, and the minarets and madrasas of Islamic Cairo along Al-Muizz Street, with Saladin's Citadel above them. A week barely does it justice.

Dubai's sights are mostly modern spectacle, such as the Burj Khalifa and the Museum of the Future. The wind-tower houses of Al Fahidi and the souks across the Creek give a smaller look at the old Gulf trading port. That makes a good two or three days rather than a cultural journey.

If a night out means drinking and dancing, Dubai has the bigger scene. It has DJ clubs, rooftop bars above Sheikh Zayed Road, beach clubs on the Palm and the long weekend brunch. All of it is inside hotels and licensed venues, and it is polished and very expensive.

Cairo stays up just as late, but on tea and shisha. The ahwas are packed, families stroll the Qasr el-Nil bridge, and Ramadan nights are the liveliest of the year. Its bar scene, mostly in Zamalek and on boats moored on the Nile, is small.

Neither city is an outdoor destination. Both sit in the desert, and summer heat rules out most activity, so the difference is in the kind of outdoors on offer. Cairo's is the river and the past: a felucca on the Nile, the lawns of Al-Azhar Park and canyon hikes in Wadi Degla. Further out are the lakes of the Fayoum and the whale fossils of Wadi Al-Hitan.

Dubai's outdoors is the sea and the sand. You can kitesurf at Kite Beach, paddleboard along the Marina, or take a dune drive an hour inland, and the Hajar mountains around Hatta add kayaking and bike trails.

Cairo has the stronger list, and much of it is more ancient Egypt. Saqqara's Step Pyramid, the often empty Bent and Red Pyramids at Dahshur and the ruins of Memphis are all close by. Further out are the Wadi Natrun monasteries, Alexandria and the Fayoum, though you usually need a driver or a tour.

From Dubai there are three good outings: Abu Dhabi for the Grand Mosque and the Louvre, Sharjah for its museums and heritage quarter, and the oases of Al Ain. After those, it is mostly desert and road.

Dubai is much easier with children. It has Legoland and the other theme parks, water parks, the aquarium in the Dubai Mall, indoor snow, a calm shallow sea and resort kids' clubs. The city is very safe, and children are welcome in restaurants late into the evening.

Cairo gives children the pyramids, a camel ride and Tutankhamun's gold, and a warm welcome everywhere. Little else is built for them, though, and the traffic, broken pavements and touts make the days tiring. It works best with older children, in the cool season, with a private driver.

Neither city is easy to get around, but Dubai is a little smoother. Its driverless metro runs from the airport through Downtown to the Marina and the old Creek, a tram and abras fill some gaps, and taxis are plentiful. The catch is that the city is 50km long, built for cars and too hot to walk for much of the year.

Cairo's metro is cheap but doesn't reach the pyramids, so most visitors use ride-hailing or a driver and sit in some of the heaviest traffic anywhere. Walking only really works in short stretches, in Zamalek, downtown or along Al-Muizz Street.

Dubai is built for shopping. The Dubai Mall and the Mall of the Emirates carry almost every luxury and high-street brand, and the choice of watches and jewellery is especially deep. The Gold, spice and textile souks keep the older trade going, but nearly everything happens indoors.

Cairo's strength is craft rather than brands. Khan el-Khalili has traded since the fourteenth century, and nearby the appliqué of the Street of the Tentmakers and the coppersmiths' alley are made where they are sold. Haggling is expected, and so is patience.

Cairo is one of the cheapest major cities a visitor can choose. Street food, transport and comfortable mid-range hotels cost very little. Only site entry for foreigners, alcohol and luxury Nile-view hotels push the bill up.

Dubai is expensive for most of what a visitor buys, from resorts and observation decks to hotel meals and some of the dearest drinks anywhere. Deira's canteens, the metro and lower summer hotel rates help, but the same number of days costs far more than in Cairo.

Cairo has more home-grown performance. The Opera House on Gezira Island has a resident symphony orchestra and ballet company. The tanoura, the whirling Sufi dance with live music in the Wikala of al-Ghouri, is a sight few cities can match, and zar music and Arabic song add to it.

Dubai imports most of its programme: touring opera, ballet and musicals at the dhow-shaped Dubai Opera, and big pop tours at the arena. The shows are reliable, but there is little local performance to come across by chance.

Dubai is the better place to rest, though mainly in one way. The resort spas on Palm Jumeirah and the Jumeirah coast offer hammam rituals, hydrotherapy and long massage menus, and desert retreats an hour inland add real silence.

Cairo rarely lets you switch off. The noise and dust hardly stop, and the old hammams have mostly fallen out of use. Calm comes from a hotel spa or a historic courtyard, which is why many visitors end with a few days on the Red Sea.