Cordoba or Girona?

Neither city has a beach of its own, but the gap between them is wide. From Cordoba the sea means the Costa del Sol around Malaga, about 160km away. That is a long day by train and then bus, so in summer most swimming happens in pools or Sierra Morena reservoirs.

From Girona the Costa Brava is about 40 minutes away. It runs from the nearby sands of Sant Feliu de Guíxols and Tossa de Mar to the clear coves around Begur and L'Escala. It works best as days out from the city, and a car gets you past the limits of the bus timetables.

Both cities eat well, in quite different traditions. Cordoba is made for tapas rounds in tiled tabernas: salmorejo, flamenquin, fried aubergine with cane honey and chilled Montilla-Moriles wine, best in Santa Marina and San Agustin rather than beside the Mezquita.

Girona has Catalan cooking, mar i muntanya plates, Empordà wines and a vermouth before lunch. It also has something Cordoba lacks: tasting-menu kitchens with an international name. Neither city offers much beyond its own cuisine.

Cordoba has the greater monument. The Mezquita-Cathedral, with its striped arches and a cathedral set inside the mosque, is a sight of world rank. The Alcazar, the Roman bridge, the Viana patios and Medina Azahara add enough for two or three full days.

Girona's Barri Vell is a fine walled quarter, with the cathedral's vast Gothic nave, the Call and walls you can walk along. Its museums are small, though, and the essentials take a day or two. It makes a lovely walk, but there is far less to see.

Neither is a city for clubbing, though Cordoba has more going on after dark. On summer nights the terraces around the Corredera, Las Tendillas and the river fill up after ten, and during the May fair the casetas dance until dawn.

Girona's evenings are quieter: student bars in term time and a few late music bars at weekends. For a proper night out, people take the train to Barcelona.

Girona is far ahead here. Its quiet lanes, the climbs of Rocacorba and Els Àngels, and the greenways to Olot and the coast draw road cyclists from abroad. Within reach are the Garrotxa volcanic zone, the Costa Brava cliff paths, Cap de Creus and the Pyrenees.

Cordoba has the wooded Sierra Morena, Hornachuelos and the limestone Sierras Subbeticas, all pleasant in spring and autumn. In summer the heat passes 40°C and limits activity to dawn, and there are no high mountains or coast nearby.

Both are outstanding bases, and the difference lies in where the trips take you. From Cordoba, fast trains reach Seville, the Alhambra in Granada and Malaga, so the big days out are to great cities. With a car, Carmona, Ubeda and Baeza add more.

Girona's headline trip is Barcelona, under 40 minutes away, but most of its excursions are smaller and more rural. They include Dalí's museum at Figueres, Besalú, Pals, the ruins at Empúries, the Empordà wineries, and even Perpignan across the French border.

Girona edges ahead for families, mainly because the Costa Brava beaches give children days by the sea. In town there are the shade and play areas of the Devesa park and the walls to walk, though the stairs and cobbles are hard work with a pushchair.

Cordoba offers the Alcazar fountains, the horse show at the royal stables and a modest zoo. Beyond those, most sights are for adults, and summer heat is tough on small children.

Cordoba is the easier place to get about. Its sights sit close together in a compact, largely traffic-free centre, and the station, with fast trains to Seville, Madrid and Malaga, is within walking distance of the old town. Only Medina Azahara and the countryside need wheels.

Girona is walkable too, but the Barri Vell is steep and full of stairs. Outside the city the buses run infrequently, so many visitors hire a car for the coves, villages and wineries.

Cordoba sends you home with crafts: silver filigree jewellery, embossed and painted guadameci leather, ceramics and guitars. The best pieces come from the workshops, not the souvenir stalls in the Juderia lanes, and for everyday needs there are Spanish chains and a department store around Cruz Conde.

Girona's best buys are things to eat or to ride. You can get Empordà cheeses, sausages and olive oil at the Mercat del Lleó, independent fashion and bookshops along the Rambla, and kit from the many cycling shops. Neither city has much in the way of designer boutiques, and from Girona serious shoppers take the train to Barcelona.

Cordoba is the cheaper stay. Tapas with a glass of Montilla, generous lunch menus and good-value rooms keep costs down for most of the year, though the May festivals push prices up sharply.

Girona sits in the middle range. Weekday set lunches are good value, but old-town rooms are scarce and expensive in summer and in the cycling season. The hire car most visitors want adds to the bill.

Cordoba has the stronger live scene, thanks to flamenco. You can hear it in old-town tablaos and in the peñas where aficionados gather, at the guitar festival and on the Noche Blanca del Flamenco. The Gran Teatro adds the city orchestra.

Girona's highlight is Temporada Alta, an autumn festival of international theatre and dance. The rest of the year the Auditori and the Teatre Municipal stage touring shows, many plays are in Catalan, and the programme thins out between seasons.

In Cordoba you can bathe in the old town itself. A few Arab-style bath houses have warm and hot pools under horseshoe arches, with massages to follow, in the city whose caliphal baths survive as ruins near the Alcazar. Between visits, courtyards with fountains and orange trees, along with the summer midday shutdown, slow the day down.

Girona's own Arab Baths are a monument to look at, not to use. For real thermal water you go to Caldes de Malavella, about 20 minutes south, where the spring-water hotels have pools and treatments. In town, the quiet stone lanes in the morning and evening walks by the Onyar set the pace.