Chefchaouen or Granada?

Neither is a beach town, but Granada reaches the sea more easily and with more choice. The Costa Tropical lies about an hour south by bus or car, with calm coves at La Herradura that suit snorkelling. In summer the city's hotel and municipal pools also help.

From Chefchaouen the coast is a longer haul down a winding gorge road to the grey sand at Oued Laou, by grand taxi or hired car. Closer to town, the cold, shallow river pools at Akchour are more of a cool dip than a swim.

Granada eats far better. The tapas round brings a small plate with every drink, from Alpujarras ham and fried aubergine with cane honey to tortilla del Sacromonte. The Moroccan tea houses on Calderería Nueva add a Moorish note.

Chefchaouen's restaurants mostly serve the same tagines and couscous, and the real pleasures are the Rif goat cheese, bissara for breakfast and bread from the communal ovens. With so little alcohol and so little variety, a few days is enough.

The two places share a history. Chefchaouen was settled by refugees from Andalusia, and Granada was the last Moorish kingdom in Spain. The difference in what is left to see is large, though. In Chefchaouen the blue medina is the sight, with the kasbah and its small museum as the one formal visit, and most people have seen it in a day or two.

Granada has the Alhambra's Nasrid palaces and Generalife gardens, the Albaicín facing them across the valley, and a Renaissance city below with the cathedral, the Royal Chapel and the Carthusian monastery. That is several full days of first-rate sightseeing.

Chefchaouen has effectively no nightlife. Evenings mean dinner, tea in Outa el-Hammam square and a stroll before the medina goes quiet, and that stillness is part of its appeal. Granada's large student population keeps the bars of Calle Elvira and Pedro Antonio de Alarcón busy past midnight at weekends, with clubs running towards dawn. The city is quieter in high summer when the students leave.

Both sit at the foot of serious mountains, and Granada has the edge in range and ease. The Sierra Nevada offers skiing in winter and summer routes towards Mulhacén, and the Alpujarras have old mule paths between terraced villages.

Chefchaouen's Rif hills begin at the edge of the medina, and Talassemtane National Park, reached from Akchour, has the God's Bridge gorge walk, cedar forests and Barbary macaques. It is wilder country, but marked trails are scarce, so a local guide is often needed.

Granada is far better placed. Fast trains reach Córdoba's Mezquita and Málaga, and Antequera's dolmens, the Renaissance towns of Úbeda and Baeza and the Alpujarras villages all make easy days out.

From Chefchaouen there is really one strong outing, Tetouan's larger and quieter UNESCO medina, with Martil on the coast beyond it. Fes and Tangier are better treated as the next stop on a route than as a return trip in a day.

Granada does more for children. The Parque de las Ciencias, with its planetarium and butterfly house, can fill most of a day, and the Alhambra's fountains keep younger children interested. Families are welcome out late in the Spanish way.

Chefchaouen is calm and friendly, but it has nothing aimed at children beyond the river pools at Akchour. Persistent hashish offers in the lanes are awkward with children in tow. Both towns are hard going with a pushchair.

Both are walking towns on steep ground, but Granada makes the climbs easier. Small red minibuses run up to the Alhambra, the Albaicín and Sacromonte, the lower town is flat, and the railway station is linked by light rail.

Chefchaouen's medina is quick to cross but means stairs and slippery polished steps at every turn. There is no public transport beyond petit taxis to the gates and no railway, so arrival is by long-distance bus or road.

Neither town is a shopping destination, and they differ mainly in what they sell. Chefchaouen is all handmade textiles and leather, with Rif blankets and weavings, djellabas and slippers, often made on looms in the shopfronts and sold with gentle bargaining. Granada mixes crafts such as taracea inlay, Fajalauza ceramics and handmade guitars with the souvenirs of the Alcaicería, and has Spanish chains and a department store around Calle Recogidas for everyday shopping.

Chefchaouen is the cheaper of the two by some way. Guesthouses, meals and shared taxis all cost little, and the main attraction, the town itself, costs nothing. Even the riads and restaurants on the main square stay modest.

Granada is good value for Spain, helped by the free tapa with each drink. However, boutique stays in the Albaicín, terraces with palace views and flamenco shows aimed at visitors add up.

Granada has a real live scene and Chefchaouen barely has one. In Granada, flamenco and the close-quarters zambra fill Sacromonte's caves and the smaller peñas. The summer International Festival of Music and Dance puts concerts and ballet inside the Alhambra, and the city orchestra plays through the year.

In Chefchaouen, the Andalusian musical heritage surfaces only now and then, mostly around festivals. Otherwise the call to prayer over the rooftops is the soundtrack.

For rest, the two are evenly matched in different ways. Chefchaouen relaxes through its pace and cool mountain air, and its plain neighbourhood hammams give a real scrub alongside local people, though polished spa treatments are rare. Granada's hammams recreate the Moorish baths in a more refined way, with vaulted pools and massage, and the thermal waters of Lanjarón and Alhama de Granada are within an hour.