Chefchaouen or Jerez de la Frontera?

Neither town has a beach of its own, but Jerez is much better placed for one. From Chefchaouen, the sea means more than an hour on a winding gorge road down to the long grey-sand beach and modest village at Oued Laou, a day out by grand taxi or hire car. Closer to town there are only the river pools at Akchour, cold and shallow, good for a dip rather than a swim.

From Jerez, a short train ride reaches the beaches of El Puerto de Santa María and Valdelagrana, and Cádiz, with La Caleta and Playa de la Victoria, is about half an hour away. The wide golden sands at Sanlúcar, Chipiona and La Barrosa are within the hour by car. By late summer the water is about as warm here as on Chefchaouen's Mediterranean coast, but these are open Atlantic beaches, and some days turn rough when the Levante blows.

Chefchaouen's restaurants mostly repeat the same tagines, couscous and kefta. The best of the town is in simple local things: Rif goat cheese wrapped in palm leaf, bissara soup at breakfast and bread from the communal ovens. With little alcohol, a few days covers it.

Jerez gives you a whole drinking and eating culture built around sherry. You can taste fino and oloroso in the bodegas, drink straight from the barrel in plain tabancos, and eat oxtail and kidneys cooked in sherry or fish fried from the nearby coast. It is one tradition rather than a wide range, but it has far more depth.

In Chefchaouen the whole town is the attraction. The blue lanes founded by Andalusian refugees are lovely to wander with a camera, but the red-walled kasbah and its small museum are the only formal visit, and most people have seen everything in a day or two.

Jerez has more to fill the days. There is the Almohad Alcázar with its Arab baths, the Baroque cathedral and the Gothic-Mudéjar parish churches, and the old Santiago and San Miguel quarters where flamenco took shape. The cathedral-like sherry bodegas and the Royal Andalusian School of Equestrian Art have no equivalent anywhere else.

Chefchaouen has effectively no nightlife. Evenings end with mint tea in Outa el-Hammam square and a stroll before the medina goes quiet. Jerez keeps the late Andalusian hours, with tapas bars, tabancos and copa bars around Plaza del Arenal busy past midnight, a few clubs, and a week of dancing until dawn at the Feria del Caballo in May.

The two are broadly level for outdoor appeal, but they work in very different ways. In Chefchaouen the walking starts at the edge of the medina, from Ras el-Maa up into the Rif. Talassemtane National Park, with its gorge, waterfalls, God's Bridge and Barbary macaques, is only forty minutes away, though trails are poorly marked and a local guide helps.

Jerez's own countryside is gentle chalky vineyard, so the bigger landscapes need a car. These are the well-marked trails of the Sierra de Grazalema, the cork forests of Los Alcornocales, birdwatching on the edge of Doñana, and kitesurfing on the coast towards Tarifa. It offers more variety, while Chefchaouen is wilder and closer to hand.

Chefchaouen has one good day out, while Jerez has a week's worth. From the Rif town, the outing to make is Tetouan, whose UNESCO-listed medina is larger and quieter than Chefchaouen's. Martil and Ouezzane are lesser trips, and Tangier and Fes are too far to manage there and back in a day.

From Jerez, Seville is about an hour by train and Cádiz about half that. The rest of the sherry triangle at El Puerto and Sanlúcar is close by. With a car you can reach the white towns, from Arcos de la Frontera on its cliff to Vejer and Ronda.

Chefchaouen is calm and friendly to children, but its steep, stepped lanes rule out pushchairs. Little in town is aimed at young visitors, and adults are regularly offered hashish in the lanes, so it suits a short stop with older children who can walk.

Jerez is easier with children. The zoo and botanical garden and the dancing-horse show give them something of their own, late family dinners on terraces are normal, and the gently sloping beaches nearby make summer much easier.

Both centres are best on foot, but in Chefchaouen almost every walk means steep, polished stairs that are tiring with bags. Beyond the medina you rely on petit taxis and shared grand taxis, and there is no railway.

Jerez is flat and compact. A station near the centre has direct trains to Seville and Cádiz and a short ride to the airport, although the white towns and Grazalema really need a hired car.

Neither is a shopping destination, and each is worth it for its own crafts. Chefchaouen has thick Rif blankets, striped weavings, djellabas and blue pigment, sometimes woven in the shopfront, and the bargaining is gentle. In Jerez the things to buy are sherry and brandy from the bodegas, saddlery and leather riding boots from old craftsmen, and flamenco dresses and guitars, along with the Spanish chains on Calle Larga.

Chefchaouen is clearly the cheaper of the two. Riads, meals and taxis to the valleys all cost very little, and even the smarter places on the main square stay modest. Jerez is reasonable for Western Europe, especially for tapas, sherry and bodega tours, but rooms cost much more during the Feria, the flamenco festival and motorcycle race weekends.

Chefchaouen has no stage and no regular music. Apart from occasional Andalusian music at festivals, the call to prayer over the rooftops is most of what you will hear.

Jerez is one of the birthplaces of flamenco, with its own rhythm in the bulería. You can hear it close up in the peñas of Santiago and San Miguel or in informal tabanco sessions, and the late-winter festival brings major dancers to the Teatro Villamarta.

Chefchaouen is the more restful place. Its roof terraces, cool mountain air and the sound of water at Ras el-Maa make doing nothing easy, and the neighbourhood hammams give a cheap, authentic scrub. Jerez has a slow rhythm of long lunches and shaded patios, but only one Arab-style bathhouse and a few hotel spas. Neither town offers much polished spa pampering.