Cordoba or Madrid?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Cordoba at least makes the sea possible for a day. The fast train reaches Malaga in about an hour, and the city beaches are a walk or short bus ride from the station, though it is a long day for a swim.

From Madrid the coast is simply too far for a day out. In both cities summer swimming means municipal pools or the reservoirs, in the Sierra Morena for Cordoba and below the Guadarrama for Madrid.

Madrid eats on a bigger scale. Alongside its own Castilian dishes, cocido, callos and calamari sandwiches near Plaza Mayor, the capital gathers Galician seafood, Basque grills and serious tasting menus, and the tapas crawl through La Latina, Santa Ana and Lavapiés keeps going late, ending with churros in the small hours.

Cordoba's table is narrower but very local: salmorejo, flamenquin, rabo de toro and fried aubergine with cane honey, eaten in tiled-patio tabernas in Santa Marina or San Agustin with chilled Montilla-Moriles wine. It is a fine place to eat, but you will find little fine dining or international food.

Both are first-rate for culture, but in very different ways. Cordoba's draw is a single astonishing building, the Umayyad mosque with a cathedral set inside it, surrounded by the medieval Juderia, the Roman bridge and the Alcazar gardens, all within a short walk of one another. History here is old and Islamic, and it continues just west of the city at the caliphal ruins of Medina Azahara, a bus or taxi ride out.

Madrid offers painting instead. The Prado, Reina Sofía and Thyssen along one boulevard hold Velázquez, Goya and Guernica, and the city around them is the grand Habsburg and Bourbon capital of Plaza Mayor and the Royal Palace, with little medieval fabric. Pick Cordoba for architecture and atmosphere, Madrid for galleries.

Madrid is one of Europe's great late-night cities, and Cordoba is not trying to compete. In the capital each district has its own scene, rock bars in Malasaña, the gay scene in Chueca, terraces in La Latina, big clubs near Gran Vía, and the night runs past dawn every weekend of the year.

Cordoba's evenings are about late tapas on the squares of the Corredera and Las Tendillas. It livens up in summer and during the May fair, when the casetas dance until morning, but at other times the club scene is small and the streets near the Mezquita go quiet early.

Madrid has the stronger outdoors, thanks to the Sierra de Guadarrama an hour north, with granite peaks above 2,400m, the boulders of La Pedriza, glacial lakes and modest winter skiing. In town, Casa de Campo and Madrid Río suit runners and cyclists.

Cordoba's countryside is gentler: the wooded holm-oak hills of the Sierra Morena, birds of prey in Hornachuelos and the limestone gorges of the Subbeticas. It needs a car, and the fiercer summer heat limits walking to dawn far more than on Madrid's plateau.

Both are superb bases, and the difference is which part of Spain you want to see. From Cordoba, high-speed trains put Seville, Granada's Alhambra and Malaga within about an hour or ninety minutes, so the whole of Andalusia opens up, with Ubeda, Baeza and the Montilla bodegas by car.

Madrid looks out over Castile instead. Toledo and Segovia are about half an hour away, with Ávila's walls, Salamanca, Cuenca and El Escorial not much further. Madrid can reach Cordoba on a long day, but Cordoba is the better base for the south.

Children are welcome in both, but Madrid gives them far more to do. The Retiro's boats and puppet shows, the zoo, aquarium, cable car and funfair at Casa de Campo, and theme and animal parks further out fill several days, and the metro and flat streets suit pushchairs.

Cordoba's small, traffic-free centre lets children roam, and the Alcazar fountains, the horse show and Almodovar castle please them, but beyond those the sights are for adults and the summer heat is harder on small children.

Madrid is the easier city to get around because it has a full system: a large, air-conditioned metro with a line to the airport, plus buses and commuter trains, so you never need a car. Its centre from the Royal Palace to the Prado is also walkable.

Cordoba relies on your feet. The Mezquita, Juderia, Alcazar and patio quarters are a short walk apart, but the cobbled lanes are tough with wheeled cases, the buses are basic, and Medina Azahara and the countryside need a taxi, tourist bus or car.

Madrid is a real shopping city, with luxury houses on Calle Serrano in Salamanca, flagships and department stores around Sol and Gran Vía, independent and vintage shops in Malasaña and Chueca, and El Rastro on Sunday mornings.

Cordoba is for a few crafts rather than a shopping trip: silver filigree, embossed cordobán leather, ceramics and guitars from workshops, with ordinary chains around Cruz Conde. Designer boutiques are scarce.

Cordoba is the cheaper stay. Rooms are good value for most of the year, tapas and Montilla cost little, and you rarely pay for transport, though May's festivals push prices up sharply and fill the best hotels.

Madrid is middling for a capital: hotels cost what a big city charges, while the menú del día, an inexpensive metro and free museum hours keep the daily spend reasonable.

Madrid has the much broader stage. The Teatro Real for opera, the Auditorio Nacional for orchestras, zarzuela, Gran Vía musicals, jazz clubs and the Malasaña rock circuit give you a choice every night, and its best tablaos put on serious flamenco.

Cordoba is mainly about flamenco, and it has deep roots: small tablaos, aficionados' peñas, the guitar festival and the free all-night Noche Blanca in summer. Beyond that, the Gran Teatro offers a modest programme.

Neither is a spa destination, and both offer the same kind of retreat: Arab-style bathhouses in the old centre and hotel spas. Cordoba adds the ruined Caliphal Baths near the Alcazar as a reminder of a once-great bathing city.

The difference is the pace. Cordoba's courtyards with fountains and orange trees and its quiet old quarters make slowing down easy, while Madrid is late and noisy, and calm means an afternoon in the Retiro or the Botanical Garden.