Chefchaouen or Fes?

Neither town is a place for swimming, but Chefchaouen at least has a beach within a day's reach. Oued Laou, with a long grey-sand shore on the Mediterranean, is a winding drive of about an hour and a quarter through a gorge. The cold, shallow river pools at Akchour are closer for a dip on a hot day.

From Fes the coast is about three hours away in either direction, so swimming means a hotel pool or a small plunge pool in a riad courtyard. If you go in summer, choose where you stay with that in mind.

Fes is the better place to eat. It is known across Morocco for its refined, Andalusian-influenced cooking, such as pastilla with almonds and cinnamon and tagines with quince and preserved lemon. Long multi-course dinners in riad dining rooms are part of a stay there, and the medina adds sfenj doughnuts, snail broth and grilled skewers.

In Chefchaouen the restaurants around Outa el-Hammam mostly serve the same tagines and couscous. The food worth seeking out is local: Rif goat cheese wrapped in palm leaf, and bread from the communal ovens. Alcohol is scarce in both, though Fes has a few licensed places in the Ville Nouvelle.

Fes has much more to see. Fes el-Bali has the Bou Inania and Al-Attarine madrasas with carved cedar and zellige tilework, the Quaraouiyine at its centre, the Chouara tannery seen from the terraces and the Seffarine metalworkers' square. Beyond the walls are the Royal Palace gates, the Mellah and the Marinid tombs, so serious sightseeing can fill several days.

Chefchaouen's appeal is the look of the place: blue-washed stairways and doorways laid out by Andalusian refugees in the fifteenth century. The red-walled kasbah and its small museum are the only formal visit, so the town works better for wandering with a camera than for a list of monuments.

Neither town is for going out, but Fes has a little more. The Ville Nouvelle has a few hotel bars and licensed lounges for a drink after a riad dinner, though there are no clubs. In Chefchaouen the evening is mint tea in the square and a walk through the lit lanes, and only a couple of hotel bars serve alcohol at all.

Chefchaouen is the stronger choice for the outdoors because the mountains start at the edge of the medina. A path climbs past the Spanish Mosque towards the twin peaks above town. Akchour is the way into Talassemtane National Park, with its river gorge, waterfalls, God's Bridge and multi-day treks through Rif villages. Trails are poorly marked, so a local guide helps.

Fes has good country too, with the cedar forests around Azrou, plateau lakes and Tazekka's caves and cork oaks. You can see Barbary macaques there as well as in the Rif. The difference is that it all lies an hour or more away by car, whereas Chefchaouen lets you walk out of your guesthouse door.

Fes is far better placed for day trips. Meknes is a short train ride away, and a long day with a driver can add the Roman mosaics of Volubilis and the holy town of Moulay Idriss. Alpine-style Ifrane and the cave houses of Bhalil are quieter options to the south.

From Chefchaouen there is really one good outing. Tetouan's larger, little-visited UNESCO medina is about an hour and a quarter away, and the coast at Martil is just beyond it. Each town is around three hours from the other, so it makes more sense to stay in both than to visit one from the other.

With children, Chefchaouen is the easier of the two, if only by a little. There is hardly any traffic inside its walls, locals make a fuss of young visitors, and older children often like the river pools at Akchour best of all. The lanes are stepped throughout, so leave the pushchair at home, and expect adults to be offered hashish in the medina.

Fes asks more of parents. Its lanes are shared with loaded donkeys and handcarts, the touts are persistent and the tannery smell is strong. A riad with a pool, short outings and a guide make it workable, and curious older children often love watching the craftsmen at work.

Chefchaouen is easier to get around simply because it is small. You can cross the medina in about fifteen minutes, but nearly every route involves steep stairs and polished steps. There is no railway, so you arrive by bus or road, and grand taxis cover the nearby valleys.

In Fes the problem is finding your way through a twisting, car-free maze that maps only partly solve, which is why many first-time visitors hire a guide. Outside the walls, petit taxis link the gates to the Ville Nouvelle, and the city has the railway that Chefchaouen lacks.

Fes is a real craft city, where things are made behind the counter. There is leather from the tanneries, copper and brass hammered in the Seffarine, blue-and-white Fassi pottery, zellige and carved cedar. Wander without a guide, since many guides steer visitors to shops that pay them commission.

Chefchaouen has a smaller, gentler selection: thick Rif blankets and weavings, djellabas, baskets and bottles of the blue pigment used on the walls, sometimes with a loom at work in the shop. Haggling is relaxed, but after a few streets the same goods come round again.

Both towns are very cheap, and the difference is in where the money goes. In Chefchaouen the main sight is the town itself and costs nothing to walk. Guesthouses are simple, and shared taxis to the valleys are inexpensive.

In Fes the madrasas and museums charge small entrance fees. A typical visit also tempts you into extras: grander restored riads, long riad dinners, a private guide for the medina and a driver for Volubilis.

Fes has a real musical tradition. Andalusian classical and Sufi devotional music are rooted there, and the annual Festival of World Sacred Music fills palace gardens and old gates with concerts. Outside festival time you can still find Sufi evenings and music at riad dinners. Chefchaouen shares the Andalusian heritage but rarely performs it, and the call to prayer over the rooftops is most of what visitors hear.

Fes takes bathing seriously. Every quarter has a working public hammam, many riads run calm massage and hammam rooms, and the centuries-old hot springs of Moulay Yacoub are about half an hour away. Rest there means getting away from the busy medina, into a fountain courtyard or onto a shaded terrace.

In Chefchaouen the calm is all around you: cool mountain air, roof terraces and the sound of water at Ras el-Maa. Its neighbourhood hammams give a simple scrub, but only a handful of riads offer massages or a private hammam.