Cascais or Tangier?

In Cascais the beach is part of daily life. Small sandy coves sit right under the old centre, a promenade leads to Estoril, and the surf beach at Carcavelos is a few train stops away. Because the bay faces south, the water is usually calm. The drawback is the cold Atlantic, which is refreshing at best.

Tangier's sea is a few degrees warmer, but its city beach is better to look at than to swim from. The good sand at Achakar and Cap Spartel needs a taxi. Dress on the beach is more modest, and the scene is mainly local families in summer.

Both cities eat from the sea, and grilled sardines turn up on both sides of the Strait. Tangier has the more distinctive table, though: tagines, couscous on Fridays, bissara at breakfast, grill counters and bakeries in the medina, and long hours over mint tea on terraces facing Spain.

Cascais is the better place for a long fish lunch with wine, at the harbour or on the coast road to Guincho. Beyond that it relies on tourist menus, and keen eaters go to Lisbon. In Tangier, wine and beer are served only in a limited set of restaurants and hotels.

Tangier has a city's worth of history to explore. There is the kasbah with its sultan's palace museum, the medina between the Grand and Petit Socco, the American Legation and the Art Deco streets of the Ville Nouvelle, all shaped by its long role as a meeting point of Europe and Africa. That fills two or three days.

Cascais is pleasant rather than absorbing. The royal-era villas, the Citadel and the Paula Rego museum in its red towers make one easy day of walking, and for major monuments visitors go to Sintra or Lisbon.

Neither city is for a big night out, but the evenings feel different. Cascais has a few old-town streets of pubs, wine bars and cocktail terraces, plus the casino at Estoril, and Lisbon is close for anyone who wants more. Tangier's evenings belong to café terraces and walks along the seafront, and drinking is limited to a few international-era bars, hotel lounges and summer beach clubs.

Cascais has wilder country close at hand. A cycle path follows the coast past Boca do Inferno and the dunes to Guincho, where kitesurfers and surfers ride the wind and waves. Cabo da Roca's cliff walks lie just beyond, and the Sintra hills behind town have forest trails, often in sea mist.

Tangier's outdoors centres on the Cap Spartel headland and the wooded Perdicaris park, with fine birdwatching when storks and raptors cross the Strait in spring and autumn. Real mountain walking in the Rif is two hours or more away and needs an overnight stay.

Cascais makes day trips easier. Lisbon is a short train ride along the shore, Sintra's palaces are half an hour over the ridge, and Mafra, Ericeira and Óbidos are simple days out by car.

Tangier offers more contrast: the seaside ramparts of Asilah and Tetouan's medina within about an hour, Chefchaouen as a long day, Rabat by high-speed train, and the ferry to Tarifa, which puts Spain within reach. The distances are longer, though, and more of the trips depend on a driver.

Cascais is far easier with children. It has shallow coves, a flat promenade for pushchairs and bikes, and the peacocks and playground of Marechal Carmona park, all in a calm, safe small town. Its weak points are the cold water and having to go to Lisbon for a zoo or aquarium.

Tangier is welcoming to children but harder to manage, with a steep, stepped medina, persistent touts and little built for young visitors. Families usually rely on a hotel pool and short outings to Perdicaris or the caves, with the ferry to Spain as a day's adventure.

Cascais is simpler to get around. The centre, harbour and coves are a short walk apart, and the coastal train runs straight into Lisbon. Buses reach Sintra and Guincho, and a cycle path heads west. A car only helps for touring further afield.

Tangier's core is walkable, but the medina's stairways take some learning. Everything else means a petit taxi or a hired driver, because the city buses are of little use to a visitor. Its strengths are the train to Rabat and a ferry port right in the centre.

Tangier gives shoppers more to do. The medina lanes around the Petit Socco sell leather slippers, rugs, lanterns and the striped cloth of the Rif, with bargaining expected, and on Saturdays women from the hill farms bring produce and woven hats to the market by the Grand Socco. It is still less polished than Morocco's great souk cities.

Cascais is for a stroll through beachwear, surf brands, tiles, cork goods and tinned fish, and serious shopping means Lisbon.

The gap here is wide. Tangier is cheap: street food, tagines, mint tea, taxis and medina guesthouses all cost little. Only alcohol and sea-view hotels push the bill up.

Cascais is an upmarket resort with high room prices, especially in July and August, and promenade restaurants charge to match. Set lunches in the back streets and the cheap train into Lisbon help, but coming outside high summer saves the most.

Both are thin on the stage, and both have a long summer jazz tradition. Cascais offers Portuguese-language plays from the long-running Teatro Experimental in Estoril and cabaret at the casino, with Lisbon close for fado or opera. Tangier's strength is its musical heritage, with Andalusian, gnawa and Jajouka traditions heard at festivals, and the historic art-house cinema on the Grand Socco.

The two offer rest in different forms. Cascais relies on quiet mornings, walks along the promenade, and the hotel spas and thalassotherapy that grew out of Estoril's thermal springs, although crowds from Lisbon fill summer weekends.

In Tangier the public hammam is part of daily life: steam, black soap and a kessa scrub in simple neighbourhood bathhouses, or a gentler version in riads and hotels. Riad rooftops and terraces over the Strait make it easy to slow down.