Coimbra or Ronda?

Neither town is a beach base, but Coimbra makes it easier. Figueira da Foz is a train ride away, with a huge sandy beach. The water there is cold, rough Atlantic, and on hot days the river beaches in the hills give you calmer, warmer water closer to town.

Ronda's coast is warmer Mediterranean, but it lies over a winding mountain road and the beaches are heavily built up. Without a car you can't really get there, so most visitors cool off in a pool instead.

Coimbra eats better and more cheaply. Leitão and Bairrada sparkling wine are just up the road, chanfana comes from the eastern hills, and the Baixa has family tascas and convent pastry shops with plenty of choice. The range is still narrow beyond Portuguese cooking.

Ronda's mountain food is good but there is less of it: oxtail, game, hams and autumn chestnuts, with local wine tastings nearby. The best of it is in the Mercadillo tapas bars rather than on the terraces above the gorge.

Coimbra has the more famous single sight in the Biblioteca Joanina. Around it is a layered set of buildings from Roman to Gothic, from the Sé Velha and the cryptoportico to the royal tombs at Santa Cruz.

What you remember from Ronda is the setting more than the buildings: the Puente Nuevo over El Tajo, the old bullring and the Arab baths. Both towns take one or two full days.

Coimbra has a real night out, at least during term. Students keep the upper town and Praça da República busy late, a few small clubs stay open, and the Queima das Fitas in May takes over the whole city.

Ronda gives you a good evening rather than a night. Plaza del Socorro stays lively over late dinners in summer, but the town is asleep in the small hours except during the September fair.

Ronda wins outdoors. The gorge starts at the edge of town and draws climbers, the Sierra de Grazalema has vultures and the Garganta Verde ravine, and the Spanish fir forests of Sierra de las Nieves offer serious hiking.

Coimbra's countryside is softer and greener. You can walk in the Choupal woods, paddle the Mondego from Penacova and wander the monastic forest of Buçaco. For real mountains you need the long drive to the Serra da Estrela.

Coimbra edges ahead because it sits on a main railway line. Porto and Aveiro are each about an hour away by train, Conímbriga's mosaics are just south of town, and the monasteries of Batalha, Alcobaça and Tomar make strong days out.

Ronda's outings are more scenic. White villages such as Setenil and Zahara are close, and Seville and Málaga are within reach. Most of these really need a hire car.

Coimbra is the easier town with children. Portugal dos Pequenitos and the Exploratório give younger ones something made for them, and the riverside parks give them space.

Ronda has nothing like that. Older children enjoy the bridge, the rock stairway at the Casa del Rey Moro and the caves nearby. Both towns are steep and cobbled, which makes a pushchair hard work.

You'll walk almost everywhere in both towns, but the walking feels different. In Coimbra it is one long climb from the Baixa to the university, helped by a public lift and a funicular. Ronda is flatter on the plateau and only drops steeply towards La Ciudad and the gorge.

The bigger difference is leaving town. Coimbra's trains run often to Lisbon and Porto. Ronda's trains and buses are slow and infrequent, so its villages and parks are best seen by car.

Shopping is modest in both, but Coimbra's Baixa streets have more to browse, from old specialist shops to the produce at Mercado D. Pedro V and hand-painted faience. In Ronda the main things to buy are on Carrera Espinel and the souvenir lanes by the bridge, and the best things to take home are wine, ham and olive oil.

Both are cheap compared with the big cities nearby. In Coimbra the student crowd keeps meals, coffee and drinks cheap, and the university ticket is the biggest single cost. Ronda's tapas bars and country houses are fair value, but the hire car you'll want and the hotels over the gorge push costs up. Both get dearer around their festivals.

Coimbra has far more to go to. Its own fado, sung by men in academic capes to the Coimbra guitar, is on most evenings, and a university theatre and an arts centre bring in theatre, film and dance.

Ronda offers flamenco for visitors in small venues and an occasional show at the municipal theatre. The Corrida Goyesca at the September fair is the one big event.

Coimbra has a real spa tradition nearby. Luso and Curia, about half an hour away, have thermal baths, a park and Belle Époque hotels.

Ronda's Arab baths are a monument rather than somewhere to bathe. Its version of rest is a farmhouse in the hills with a pool and olive groves, and that suits a few lazy days very well.