Cordoba or Santiago de Compostela?

Cordoba lies far inland, and the nearest sea is the Costa del Sol beyond Malaga, a long day by fast train and city bus. In summer the realistic swim is a hotel pool or a reservoir in the Sierra Morena.

Santiago is no beach resort either, but at least it has good sand nearby. The sheltered white beaches of the Ría de Muros e Noia and the Ría de Arousa are an easy bus ride or drive away, making a pleasant outing on a warm July or August day, though the Atlantic water stays cold.

Cordoba's cooking is inland and meatier: salmorejo, flamenquin and rabo de toro in tabernas with tiled patios, washed down with chilled Montilla-Moriles. You eat best on tapas rounds in Santa Marina and San Agustin rather than around the Mezquita.

Santiago has the edge because of its seafood. Octopus, scallops and razor clams come fresh from the Mercado de Abastos, where some counters will cook what you buy, and you drink Albariño or Ribeiro in the taverns of Rúa do Franco. Both cities do one regional cuisine well and offer little international food.

Each city has a great cathedral at its heart and a compact old town that takes two or three days, but Cordoba's set is the richer one. The Mezquita-Cathedral, an Umayyad mosque with a Renaissance cathedral built inside it, is in a class of its own. The Juderia synagogue, the Roman bridge, the Alcazar gardens and the ruined palace city of Medina Azahara add Roman, Islamic, Jewish and Christian layers.

Santiago tells one story: the pilgrimage. Its Romanesque cathedral with the Pórtico da Gloria, the Praza do Obradoiro and the granite arcades and monasteries are superb. The Museo do Pobo Galego and the Cidade da Cultura add depth, but the range is narrower.

Neither is a clubbing city, and in both the night is built on late tapas and drinks. What differs is the season. Cordoba comes alive in summer, when the terraces around the Corredera and Las Tendillas fill after ten and seasonal open-air clubs open, and during the May fair people dance in the casetas until dawn. Outside those times it goes quiet.

Santiago works the other way round. In term the university fills the pub-like bars around Rúa da Raíña and Praza de Cervantes, Thursday is the big night and some bars hold folk sessions. In summer the streets belong to pilgrims, who go to bed early.

Cordoba's countryside is dry and gentle: cork and holm oak in the Sierra Morena, birds of prey in Hornachuelos, and limestone gorges in the Subbeticas about an hour south. You need a car, and summer heat limits you to dawn, so spring and autumn are the only real walking seasons.

Santiago has the more rewarding outdoors. Rain-fed green hills start at the edge of town along the Camino paths. Within an hour or two you reach the cliffs and lighthouses of the Costa da Morte, the ancient woodland of the Fragas do Eume, and rías made for kayaking and coastal walks. The price is frequent rain.

Cordoba is the better base by some way. Seville, Granada with the Alhambra and Malaga are each about an hour or so by high-speed train, so three of Spain's great cities become day trips. With a car you can add Ubeda and Baeza, Carmona, Priego de Cordoba and the bodegas of Montilla.

Santiago covers Galicia well. A Coruña and the Tower of Hercules are half an hour by train, Pontevedra, Vigo and Ourense are close, and walled Lugo makes a full day. These are pleasant towns and coast rather than headline cities, and the rías and Fisterra need a car or a tour.

Both are safe, small cities where children join the late evening life of the squares, and in both the main sights are made for adults. In Cordoba the problem is summer heat, eased by the Alcazar fountains, the horse show at the royal stables and the castle at Almodovar del Rio. In Santiago the problems are rain and cobbled slopes that are hard with a pushchair, and the fallbacks are the Alameda and Bonaval parks and A Coruña's aquarium.

Both are walking cities, with nearly every sight inside a compact centre and the railway station close by. Cordoba's lanes are narrow and cobbled, the sun decides when you walk, and Medina Azahara needs a tourist bus or taxi. Santiago's granite streets climb a little and turn slippery in the rain, but city buses reach the station and airport, and trains run along the Galician coast. In both, the countryside needs a car.

Neither is a place for a shopping trip. Both sell crafts rather than fashion, and their high streets are ordinary. Cordoba's specialities are silver filigree, embossed guadameci leather and guitars from local workshops. Santiago sells black jet, often set in silver, around the Azabachería, along with Sargadelos ceramics and food gifts such as tetilla cheese and tinned seafood. In both cities, skip the souvenir lanes and look for specialist shops.

The two cost about the same, and both are good value by Western European standards, with generous lunch menus and centres small enough that you rarely pay for transport. Cordoba's Mezquita charges admission, though some days have a free early-morning visit, while in Santiago the cathedral itself is free and tapas often come free with a drink. Each has one expensive season: May in Cordoba, for the patios and the fair, and July in Santiago, around the feast of Saint James.

Cordoba has the more compelling live art, because flamenco runs deep in the city. Small tablaos in the old town, aficionado peñas, the guitar festival and the free all-night Noche Blanca del Flamenco give you something truly local to seek out, and the Gran Teatro hosts the orchestra and touring shows.

Santiago's counterpart is Galician folk music: bagpipe sessions in old-town bars and student tunas singing in the streets, alongside the Real Filharmonía at the Auditorio de Galicia. Theatre is mostly in Galician and Spanish, and neither city offers real opera.

The real difference is where you go for a soak. In Cordoba you do it in the old town itself, in a few Arab-style bath houses with warm and hot pools under horseshoe arches, a reminder of the ruined Caliphal Baths near the Alcazar. Between visits, a shaded courtyard with fountains and orange trees does the rest.

Santiago has little beyond hotel spas, so a soak means a trip out. The old spa towns of Caldas de Reis and Cuntis are about half an hour away, and Ourense's riverside thermal pools, some of them free, are a short train ride. In town, resting means long lunches and evening walks under the arcades.