Casablanca or Fes?

Casablanca has a coastline and Fes does not. Ain Diab's Corniche has a long stretch of sand and beach clubs with pools. Dar Bouazza, Bouznika and Mohammedia offer better beaches within an hour. Strong Atlantic swell means you need to take care in the water, but you can have a beach afternoon on any summer trip.

Fes is about three hours from either coast, so the sea is out of reach on a normal stay. In the hot inland summer, a hotel pool or a riad's rooftop plunge pool is your only way to swim.

The two cities eat equally well but differently. Casablanca's strength is the sea: you can pick fish at the Marché Central and have it grilled next door, or eat sardines in simple harbour places. It also has more variety, with French-style brasseries and pâtisseries in Maarif and Gauthier, and alcohol is easier to find.

Fes is known for its old, refined home cooking. Pastilla with almonds and cinnamon and tagines with quince and preserved lemon are at their best in long riad dinners. Bissara counters and sfenj stalls supply the medina mornings, though there is little else on offer beyond Moroccan food.

Fes is the stronger choice for culture by a wide margin. Fes el-Bali is a car-free medieval city that still works as one, with Marinid madrasas covered in cedar and zellige, the Quaraouiyine at its centre, the Chouara tannery and the Mellah. It is the place itself, more than its small museums, that fills several days.

Casablanca has one world-class building in the Hassan II Mosque, and unlike most Moroccan mosques it is open to non-Muslims on guided tours. After that, the city's interest lies in the protectorate's Art Deco and neo-Moorish downtown, the 1930s Habous quarter and a couple of small museums.

Casablanca is the clear choice for going out, though by Moroccan custom it stays behind closed doors. At weekends a well-dressed crowd fills the Ain Diab lounges and clubs, where house and Arabic pop play late. Downtown has hotel bars and old bars from the protectorate era, and you take taxis between them.

In Fes the medina empties when the shops close. An evening means dinner on a rooftop, with a hotel bar in the Ville Nouvelle the only option after that.

Fes has the landscape. The cedar forests around Azrou, where Barbary macaques live wild, the lake-dotted plateaux of the Middle Atlas and the caves and ridges of Tazekka National Park are all within a drive. You need a car or a driver, and spring and autumn suit them best.

Casablanca's outdoor life follows the flat shoreline. You can run on the Corniche towards El Hank lighthouse or take a surf lesson at Ain Diab or Dar Bouazza. The eucalyptus of Bouskoura forest offers shade for walking and biking, but there are no hills.

Fes has the slightly better day out. You can see imperial Meknes, the Roman mosaics of Volubilis and the holy town of Moulay Idriss in one long day with a driver. Ifrane's Alpine-style roofs and the cave houses of Bhalil add variety.

From Casablanca the train reaches Rabat in about an hour, with the Kasbah des Oudayas and the Chellah, and El Jadida's Portuguese cistern lies down the coast. These trips are easier to do without a car, but they are less memorable than the Volubilis circuit.

Casablanca is the easier city with children. A mall on the Corniche with an aquarium and indoor rides, the zoo and amusement park at Ain Diab, and calm beach-club pools give it things built for families. Traffic and broken pavements still make it tiring.

Fes offers almost nothing aimed at children. Its steep lanes are shared with donkeys and handcarts, and summer afternoons are very hot. Older children who like watching craftsmen at work can love it in short outings.

Both cities take some effort to get around, in different ways. Casablanca is spread out, so you combine the clean tram lines with shared red petits taxis. You can walk the downtown blocks, but crossing the big roundabouts on foot takes nerve.

Fes asks you to walk. The medina has no cars, porters carry your bags from the gates, and the twisting, climbing lanes defeat most maps, so a guide helps on the first day. Taxis connect the gates with the station. Casablanca has better rail links for onward travel.

For anything handmade, Fes is the place to shop. Leather from the tanneries, copper from Seffarine square, blue-and-white Fassi pottery and carved cedar are sold in lanes where the workshop is often behind the counter. Bargaining is expected, and it pays to shop without a commission-seeking guide.

Casablanca is where to go for modern shopping: international brands at the Corniche mall, local designers in Maarif and the Derb Ghallef flea market. Sellers in the Habous craft shops push less, but carpets and traditional crafts are thin on the ground.

Both are cheap to eat and get around in, but Fes keeps the whole trip cheaper. Modest riads in its medina offer character at low cost, and entry to the madrasas costs little. The money goes on grand riads, private guides and day-trip drivers.

Casablanca's pressure point is accommodation. Many hotels are aimed at business travellers, guesthouses are fewer, and drinks or dinner on the Corniche quickly add up.

Neither city has much on during an ordinary week, but Casablanca has more to choose from. A large modern theatre on Place Mohammed V hosts concerts and dance, the cultural institutes run film and music, and a long-running jazz festival and an urban music festival come round each year. It is also the home of Moroccan chaabi and rap.

Music in Fes is older and more spiritual. It has the Andalusian classical tradition and Sufi devotion, heard at their best during the Festival of World Sacred Music in palace gardens. The rest of the year there are occasional concerts and music at riad dinners.

Fes is the better place to slow down. The medina is loud by day, but riad courtyards with fountains and quiet roof terraces make calm bases. The hot springs at Moulay Yacoub, used for centuries, are half an hour away.

Casablanca's hammams and spas offer the same black-soap scrub. Its seafront thalassotherapy centres add seawater treatments that Fes cannot match. Outside them, though, the traffic and noise make it hard to relax.