Cordoba or Tangier?

This is Tangier's category. It has a long sandy beach on its own bay with a promenade behind it, and the better Atlantic beaches at Achakar and Cap Spartel are a short taxi ride west. In late summer the water there is warm enough for a proper swim, though dress on the sand is more modest than in Spain.

Cordoba has no beach at all. Its summer relief is a hotel pool or a reservoir in the Sierra Morena, and a swim in the sea means a train to Malaga and a long day.

The two eat about equally well, but in quite different ways. Cordoba is a city of taberna tapas rounds, with salmorejo, flamenquin, oxtail and fried aubergine with cane honey, and chilled Montilla-Moriles wine to go with them in Santa Marina or around the Corredera.

Tangier's table is Moroccan home cooking with fish from the port: sardines off the grill, tagines, harira and bissara for breakfast. Life centres on cafés and mint tea over the Strait. Alcohol is limited to certain restaurants and hotels, so travellers who want wine with dinner will find Cordoba easier.

Cordoba is well ahead here. The Mezquita-Cathedral, a forest of red-and-white arches with a Renaissance cathedral set in its middle, is reason enough to come. The Juderia, the Roman bridge, the Alcazar gardens, the patios of the Palacio de Viana and the caliphal ruins of Medina Azahara fill two or three full days.

Tangier offers atmosphere more than landmarks. The kasbah museum, the American Legation, St Andrew's church and the Art Deco Ville Nouvelle reward a slow wander, especially for readers of Paul Bowles and the Beats, but nothing there stops you in your tracks the way the Mezquita does.

Neither city is for clubbing, but Cordoba gives you more evening. Terraces around the Corredera, Las Tendillas and the river fill after ten in the warm months, students keep weekend bars going, and during the May fair the casetas dance until dawn.

In Tangier the evening is a walk on the seafront and a long tea. Drinking is limited to a few old international-era bars, hotel lounges and summer beach clubs, and the medina goes quiet after dark.

Tangier has the more rewarding outdoors close to town. The Cap Spartel headland has cliffs, a lighthouse and pine paths where two seas meet, and the Perdicaris woods look across the Strait. Storks and raptors pass on migration, and there are dolphin trips on the water.

Cordoba's countryside needs a car and the right season. The Sierra Morena's cork and holm oak woods, the birds of prey in Hornachuelos and the karst of the Subbeticas are good walking in spring and autumn, but summer heat rules out almost everything after dawn.

Both make excellent bases, and Cordoba is the stronger one. High-speed trains reach Seville, Granada and Malaga in an hour or so each, which puts Andalusia's great cities within reach without changing hotel. With a car you can add Ubeda, Baeza, Carmona and the Montilla bodegas.

Tangier offers a different mix: whitewashed Asilah, Tetouan's UNESCO medina, Chefchaouen as a long day and Rabat by fast train. The ferry to Tarifa means you can even add Spain to the trip.

Cordoba's small, mostly traffic-free centre lets children roam the lanes and squares safely, and the Alcazar fountains, the horse show at the royal stables and the castle at Almodovar del Rio make easy outings. The catch is the summer heat, so spring and autumn suit families far better.

Tangier is the cooler place in July and August, with a city beach, the seafront promenade, Perdicaris park and the Caves of Hercules. The steep, stepped medina is hard work with a pushchair, though, and persistent touts can wear parents down, so many families settle for a hotel pool and short outings.

Cordoba is much easier to get around. The Mezquita, Juderia, Alcazar, bridge and patio quarters all lie within a short flat walk, and the station is close to the old town. Cobbles are the main nuisance.

In Tangier you can walk the core, but the medina is steep and confusing at first, and anything further out means bargaining for petit taxis or hiring a driver. The useful exception is the central ferry port, which makes the crossing to Spain simple.

Cordoba sells fine crafts from its workshops: silver filigree, embossed and painted cordobán leather, ceramics and handmade guitars, best bought from the makers rather than the stalls in the Juderia. For everyday shopping, Spanish chains line the streets around Cruz Conde.

Tangier's medina works as a souk, with slippers, rugs, lanterns and striped Rif cloth, and bargaining is part of every purchase. The Saturday market by the Grand Socco, where farm women from the hills sell produce and woven hats, is worth seeing in itself.

Tangier is noticeably cheaper. Street food, grilled fish, café tea and taxis cost very little, and medina riads are good value outside the summer peak. Alcohol and sea-view hotels are where the bill goes up.

Cordoba is fair value by Spanish standards, with cheap tabernas and a centre you can walk. Rooms near the Mezquita and everything in May cost noticeably more.

Cordoba has the stronger stage, built on flamenco. There are tablaos in the old town and rawer nights in the peñas, plus a guitar festival and the Noche Blanca del Flamenco. The Gran Teatro also hosts the city orchestra and theatre.

Tangier's music is mostly in its past and at its festivals: Andalusian classical music, gnawa and the annual jazz festival. On an ordinary night there is little beyond hotel entertainment and the old cinema on the Grand Socco.

Tangier has the living bathing tradition. Neighbourhood hammams in the medina offer the full steam, black soap and kessa scrub, and riads and hotels offer gentler versions, followed by an hour of tea on a terrace over the Strait.

Cordoba's baths survive mostly as ruins near the Alcazar, along with a few Arab-style bath houses built for visitors. Its calm comes instead from quiet courtyards with fountains and the enforced rest of a summer afternoon.