Cordoba or Jerez de la Frontera?

From Cordoba, the nearest sea is the Costa del Sol near Malaga, about 160km away, so a swim means a long day of train and bus. In summer the realistic options are a hotel pool or a reservoir in the Sierra Morena.

Jerez is a different matter. The beaches at Valdelagrana and El Puerto de Santa María are a short ride away, Cádiz is about half an hour by train, and the wide golden sands of Sanlúcar, Chipiona and La Barrosa are all within an hour. The Atlantic water is cooler and the Levante wind can be strong on some days, but afternoons on the beach fit easily around a city stay.

Both cities eat late and well in old taverns and tapas bars, so the difference lies in what fills the plate and the glass. Cordoba's table is built on its own dishes: salmorejo, flamenquin and fried aubergine with cane honey, with chilled Montilla-Moriles to drink. The best way to try them is a tapas round in Santa Marina and San Agustin.

In Jerez the drink comes first. Fino, amontillado and oloroso are poured from the barrel in the tabancos, and the bodegas themselves offer tastings. Sherry also goes into the oxtail and kidneys, and the nearby coast brings more fried fish and prawns to the table.

Cordoba has far more heritage to see. The Mezquita-Cathedral, with its striped arches and a cathedral built into the middle, is a monument of European importance. Around it, the Juderia, the Alcazar gardens, the Palacio de Viana and the caliphal ruins of Medina Azahara fill two or three full days.

Jerez's list is shorter and more particular. The Almohad Alcázar and the Baroque cathedral are worth an afternoon. What sets the city apart is the cathedral-like sherry bodegas, the dressage horses of the Royal Andalusian School of Equestrian Art, and Santiago and San Miguel, the old quarters where flamenco took shape.

Neither city is a clubbing destination. In both, a night out means tapas and drinks that run past midnight, and both stay up until dawn during their May fairs.

The differences are small. Cordoba has students filling bars at weekends, plus open-air terrace bars and seasonal clubs in summer, but it goes quiet in the cooler months. Evenings in Jerez centre on the tabancos and copa bars around Plaza del Arenal, and in summer El Puerto de Santa María adds nights out on the coast.

Jerez has more variety outdoors. The gorges and marked trails of the Sierra de Grazalema are a little over an hour away, the edge of Doñana is a boat ride from Sanlúcar, and the salt marshes of the Bay of Cádiz are close by for birdwatching. Horse riding and the kitesurfing coast towards Tarifa add more than walking alone.

Cordoba's countryside is gentler and drier: the wooded Sierra Morena just north of the city, the birds of prey of Hornachuelos, and the Subbetica limestone an hour to the south. It is lovely in spring and autumn, but with no coast nearby and fiercer summer heat, it offers less.

Both are fine bases, but Cordoba has the edge for the famous names. Seville, Granada with the Alhambra, and Malaga are all within about an hour and a half by fast train, and with a car you can add Ubeda, Baeza and Antequera.

Jerez's day trips lean towards the coast and the countryside. Seville and Cádiz are easy by train, and the sherry towns of El Puerto and Sanlúcar are close. With a car, the white towns from Arcos to Ronda open up.

Jerez is the easier choice with children, mainly because of the beaches. They are wide and sandy with gentle slopes, which gives summer days a shape that inland Cordoba cannot offer. Its zoo and botanical garden is one of the better ones in Spain, and the dancing horses usually win children over.

Cordoba has a safe, mostly car-free centre, plus the Alcazar fountains, the horse show at the royal stables and the castle at Almodovar del Rio. Beyond those, most of the sights are made for adults, and the summer heat is harder on small children.

Cordoba is a little easier without a car. Almost everything it is known for, from the Mezquita and the Juderia to the Alcazar and the patio quarters, lies within the compact historic centre, and the station for the fast trains is a walk or short taxi ride away. The narrow cobbled lanes are pleasant on foot but hard work with a suitcase, and Medina Azahara needs a tourist bus or a taxi.

Jerez has a flat centre, with the bodegas, the Alcázar and the tapas streets close together, and the airport is a few minutes away by train. The catch comes once you leave town. The beaches, the white towns and the Grazalema hills are much easier to reach with a hired car than on the slow, infrequent buses.

Neither city is worth a trip for shopping, and in both the things to buy are local crafts rather than fashion. In Cordoba that means silver filigree, embossed guadameci and cordobán leather, and ceramics and guitars from local workshops, with Spanish chains and a department store around Cruz Conde. In Jerez it means sherry and brandy straight from the bodegas, saddles and riding boots made for the horse world, and flamenco dresses and shawls, with Calle Larga for everyday shopping.

Both cost about the same and are cheap by Western European standards, with inexpensive tapas and walkable centres that save on transport. The difference is when prices jump. In Cordoba it is May, with the patio festival, the crosses and the fair, and rooms near the Mezquita cost more all year. In Jerez the peaks are spread out: the Feria del Caballo, the winter flamenco festival and the motorcycle race weekends.

Jerez is the stronger flamenco city. Flamenco still belongs to its old quarters, with peña evenings in Santiago and San Miguel and close-up singing in some tabancos. The late-winter festival brings major dancers to the Teatro Villamarta, which also stages opera and zarzuela.

Cordoba has a serious flamenco history of its own, with tablaos, peñas, a guitar festival and the free all-night Noche Blanca del Flamenco in summer. Beyond that, the Gran Teatro and the city orchestra offer a respectable programme, but not a reason to travel.

The two are evenly matched here. Each has an Arab-style bath house in the old town and a few hotel spas, and neither suits a spa vacation. Cordoba has the deeper link to bathing, with the ruins of the Caliphal Baths and quiet courtyards of fountains and orange trees. In Jerez, relaxing means long lunches, shaded patios and evening strolls, and it is at its gentlest in spring and autumn.