Cordoba or Lisbon?

Beaches are not part of a Cordoba stay at all. The Costa del Sol is a long day out by fast train, and in summer people swim in pools or drive to reservoirs in the Sierra Morena.

Lisbon has no beach in the city either, but the commuter train along the Tagus reaches Carcavelos, Estoril and Cascais, and Costa da Caparica and the sheltered Arrabida coves lie south of the river. The Atlantic stays cool and some beaches are better for surfing than swimming, but a beach afternoon fits easily into a city trip.

Cordoba's cooking is narrow but very much its own: salmorejo, flamenquin, oxtail and honeyed fried aubergine, eaten in old tabernas with tiled patios, with Montilla-Moriles wine. The best rounds are in Santa Marina and San Agustin rather than around the Mezquita, and there is little beyond local food.

Lisbon offers more to explore. Grilled fish, bacalhau, clams and crab are at the centre, there are custard tarts at every pastelaria, and wine from the Douro, the Alentejo and the Minho is poured cheaply everywhere. The Ribeira and Campo de Ourique markets and the residential tascas give you a wider choice of meals over a longer stay.

The two are well matched, but in different ways. Cordoba centres on one extraordinary building, the mosque-cathedral with its striped arches, surrounded by the Juderia, the Alcazar gardens and the patio quarters, with the caliphal ruins of Medina Azahara just outside. It all fits into two or three unhurried days.

Lisbon's heritage is spread across separate districts: Manueline Belem, the rebuilt grid of the Baixa and medieval Alfama below the castle. It is stronger on museums, with the Gulbenkian, the National Tile Museum and the Ancient Art Museum, so it rewards a longer stay of three or four days.

Lisbon is far livelier after dark. Bairro Alto's lanes fill with people drinking outside the bars, Cais do Sodre carries on later, Principe Real has cocktail bars and the gay scene, and the warehouse clubs by the river run until morning.

In Cordoba a night out means late tapas on the terraces around the Corredera and Las Tendillas. The city only stays up really late in summer and during the May fair, and anyone looking for clubs will find very few.

Lisbon has the more varied outdoors, and most of it is shaped by the ocean. There are the misty Sintra hills, the cliffs at Cabo da Roca, kitesurfing at Guincho and surfing at Ericeira, and the Arrabida ridges, where you can hike, kayak or take a boat to see dolphins from Setubal.

Cordoba has gentler country inland: the holm oak and cork forests of the Sierra Morena, birds of prey at Hornachuelos and the karst gorges of the Subbeticas. Most of it needs a car, and the summer heat confines walking to the early morning.

Both are excellent bases, but for different outings. From Cordoba the prize is the other great cities of Andalusia, with Seville, Granada's Alhambra and Malaga all reachable by high-speed train while you keep the same hotel. With a car you can add Renaissance Ubeda and Baeza, Carmona or the Almodovar castle.

Lisbon's outings are palaces and smaller towns rather than other cities. Sintra fills a day on its own, and Evora, Obidos and the monasteries of Alcobaca, Batalha and Tomar make a fine run of heritage stops to the east and north.

Lisbon gives children more to do. There is the Oceanario and the science centre beside it, the cable car, the zoo, rides on the trams and the Santa Justa lift, and easy train trips to the beaches. The catch is the steep, slippery streets, which make a carrier more practical than a pushchair.

Cordoba's small, mostly car-free centre is easy to wander with children, and the Alcazar fountains, the horse show and the Almodovar castle go down well. Most of the remaining sights are aimed at adults, though, and summer is too hot for small children.

In both cities you can get around most of the centre on foot, but the effort is different. Cordoba's sights sit close together in a flat old town of narrow cobbled lanes, the station is within walking distance, and the basic buses are rarely needed, apart from the trip to Medina Azahara.

Lisbon makes you climb its hills and stairways, but it gives you more help: a clear metro, trams, funiculars, ferries across the Tagus and trains to Sintra and Cascais, all on one card. Watch your pockets on the crowded tram 28.

What Cordoba sells best is the work of its craftsmen: silver filigree, embossed guadameci leather, ceramics and guitars, best bought from the workshops rather than the souvenir stalls. Beyond those, the streets around Cruz Conde offer Spanish chains and little else.

Lisbon goes much further, and each district has its own kind of shopping. There are luxury fashion houses on Avenida da Liberdade, old bookshops and glove makers in Chiado, and local designers in Principe Real. Azulejo tiles, cork, Burel wool and tinned sardines are worth carrying home, and the Feira da Ladra and the LX Factory are good for browsing.

Cordoba is easier on the wallet, mainly because rooms are good value for most of the year and you walk everywhere. The exceptions are the streets beside the Mezquita and May, when the festivals push prices up sharply.

Lisbon's daily costs are low too, from a bica at the counter to transport fares, but central rooms cost about what they do in other southern European capitals. Restaurants and rooftop bars in Baixa and Chiado also charge more.

Lisbon has more live performance to choose from. Fado is sung every night in the Alfama, Mouraria and Bairro Alto houses, and there is a formal programme too, with the Sao Carlos opera house, the Gulbenkian orchestra and the Centro Cultural de Belem.

In Cordoba, flamenco is the thing to hear, whether in the old-town tablaos or in the more informal peñas. Beyond that, the Gran Teatro and the summer concerts make a respectable but modest programme.

Neither city is a spa destination, and in both, relaxing mostly comes down to pace. Cordoba has the closer link to bathing, with Arab-style bath houses where you can soak in warm pools under horseshoe arches, quiet courtyards with orange trees, and the summer midday shutdown that makes everyone rest.

Lisbon offers riverside viewpoints, the Gulbenkian and Estrela gardens and hotel spas instead. Its old quarters are noisy, so for real rest people tend to stay on the Cascais coast or in the Sintra hills.