Coimbra or Porto?

Neither city is a beach destination, and in both the Atlantic stays cold and often rough. The difference is in how you get to the sand. Porto has its beaches on the doorstep: Foz do Douro, the broad strand at Matosinhos half an hour away by metro, and the smaller Gaia beaches with boardwalks.

From Coimbra the coast takes an hour's train ride to the wide sands of Figueira da Foz and Buarcos. In return, Coimbra has the praias fluviais in the hills, grassy river beaches where the water is calmer and warmer than anything Porto's sea offers.

Porto is the better place to eat. It has its own dishes in the francesinha and tripas à moda do Porto, whole streets of pavement grills for sardines and octopus in Matosinhos, and port cellar tastings in Gaia. The Douro reds and the vinho verde make everyday drinking a pleasure.

Coimbra eats well but within a narrower range. There are cheap set lunches in tascas around the Baixa and the university, convent pastries like pastéis de Tentúgal, and goat chanfana. Its best dish, the crackling suckling pig of Bairrada, means a drive north to Mealhada rather than a stroll from your hotel.

The two are well matched, but they offer different kinds of sightseeing. Coimbra's heritage is concentrated on one hill: the UNESCO-listed old university with the gilded Biblioteca Joanina, the Romanesque Sé Velha, the museum over a Roman cryptoportico and, below, the tombs of Portugal's first kings at Santa Cruz. You can see it all in one or two days.

Porto's appeal lies more in the townscape as a whole: the tiled houses stacked above Ribeira, the azulejo hall at São Bento and the gilded interior of São Francisco. It adds a modern layer that Coimbra lacks, in Serralves and Casa da Música, and it needs two or three days.

Porto is the better city for going out. On weekends the bars around Rua da Galeria de Paris and Cândido dos Reis pour into the street until late, and a few clubs keep going until dawn. For something calmer there are wine bars in Ribeira and terraces in Gaia.

Coimbra's nights depend on the student calendar. Praça da República and the upper town come alive during term, and the city peaks during the Queima das Fitas in May. In July and August an evening usually ends with dinner and a drink by the river.

Coimbra's outdoors is green and wooded, while Porto's is granite and sea. From Coimbra you reach the walled monastic forest of Buçaco in half an hour, the slate villages and chestnut woods of the Serra da Lousã, and the wooded Mondego valley, where you can kayak down from Penacova. The Serra da Estrela is close enough for real mountain hiking.

Porto's landscape starts in the city itself: the deep Douro gorge beneath the bridges, a flat path along the rocky shore out to Matosinhos for walking or cycling, and the Parque da Cidade running down to the sea. Its wilder country, the terraced Douro valley and Peneda-Gerês, mostly needs a car.

Both make excellent bases, and they cover different halves of the country. From Porto you look north, with Guimarães and Braga each about an hour away by train and the Douro vineyards on a scenic line upriver.

From Coimbra you look to central Portugal: the Roman mosaics of Conímbriga just south, and the monasteries of Batalha, Alcobaça and Tomar by car or coach. Aveiro is easy from either city, and each is an hour from the other by fast train.

Families will find the two much alike. Both are easygoing about children and safe, and both are hard work with a pushchair on the steep cobbles. Coimbra has two attractions made for children, the miniature houses of Portugal dos Pequenitos and the Exploratório science centre, plus the Choupal woods and riverside parks. With young children, a couple of days covers the city.

Porto offers a wider spread of easy outings: the aquarium at Foz, river cruises, the Gaia cable car, the peacocks in the Crystal Palace gardens and zoos just outside the city. That is enough to keep a longer family stay varied.

Porto is somewhat easier to get around. Its light-rail metro runs from the airport into the centre and out to Matosinhos and Gaia, heritage trams follow the river to Foz, and the Guindais funicular saves a climb.

Coimbra is smaller and mostly walkable, but beyond your feet it relies on buses, a public lift and a funicular to deal with the Quebra-Costas and the climb to the university. In both cities you will feel the hills in your legs.

Porto gives you much more to browse. Rua de Santa Catarina is a proper high street, and the gallery district around Rua das Flores and Rua de Miguel Bombarda has independent shops selling ceramics, cork, linens and design pieces. Tinned fish from the Bolhão and port from the Gaia lodges make good things to take home.

Coimbra's shopping is mostly the everyday shops along Rua Ferreira Borges and Rua Visconde da Luz. Its best buys are hand-painted Coimbra faience and convent sweets.

Both cities are cheap by Western European standards. The difference is where the money goes. In Coimbra, students set the level for meals, coffee and drinks, rooms stay fairly priced even near the old town except in May and graduation season, and the university visit is the one real outlay.

In Porto, everyday eating and drinking cost little too, but central rooms in summer are the big expense. Staying outside the old centre or coming in winter makes a real difference.

Porto has the bigger stage. Casa da Música is home to a symphony orchestra and programmes jazz and electronic music alongside classical. The Teatro Nacional São João, the Rivoli and the Coliseu add drama, dance and touring shows, and the festival of São João fills the streets with music in June.

Coimbra's draw is narrower but entirely its own. Its fado is sung by caped students to the Coimbra guitar, more lyrical than anything heard in Porto's Ribeira fado houses. Beyond that it offers a university theatre and the arts centre in the Convent of São Francisco.

Coimbra is the better choice for unwinding, mainly because spa country starts half an hour north. In Luso, below the Buçaco forest, there is a thermal spa and a public mineral-water fountain, and Curia has a thermal park and a lake, close enough for an easy afternoon.

Porto has no such spas close by. Vizela and Caldas do Gerês take a day out, so relaxing there means hotel spas, terrace wine above the Douro and the gardens of Serralves.