Dubai or Jeddah?

Dubai is far easier for an ordinary beach day. Long public stretches at Jumeirah, Kite Beach and JBR sit on calm, shallow water, and the resorts on Palm Jumeirah are built around their own sand. In Jeddah, the corniche is for strolling and picnics rather than swimming, so most visitors pay to get in at the beach clubs in Obhur.

What Jeddah offers in return is the reef. Coral starts just off the jetties, and in winter the Red Sea is several degrees warmer than the Gulf. A swim there is also a snorkel, while Dubai's water is clear but has little to look at below the surface.

Dubai has the wider table. Its migrant neighbourhoods of Deira, Karama and Al Satwa serve Keralan, Afghan, Iranian and Filipino cooking for very little, while the hotels of DIFC and the Marina offer celebrity-chef dining. Wine and beer are available in licensed venues, and the Friday brunch is a fixture.

Jeddah has something Dubai mostly hides, which is a regional cuisine of its own. Hejazi dishes such as mandi, mutabbaq and saleeg are everyday food, and at the fish market you choose your catch and have it grilled. Al-Balad's sweets in Ramadan are a highlight, but the city is entirely dry.

Neither city takes long to see, and both reward two or three days, but they offer different things. Dubai's sights are about the modern skyline, with the Burj Khalifa's observation decks and the Museum of the Future. Its older layer is a short stretch of the Creek, made up of the wind-tower houses of Al Fahidi, Al Shindagha and the abra across to Deira.

Jeddah has fewer landmarks, but its historic quarter is larger and feels more lived in. Al-Balad is a UNESCO-listed grid of tall coral-stone houses with carved wooden balconies, and you can go inside Nassif House. The rest of the city is modern seafront, including the Al-Rahma mosque standing over the water.

This is where the two cities differ most. Dubai has a large, polished scene inside its hotels and licensed venues. There are big-name DJ clubs, rooftop bars, Palm Jumeirah beach clubs that run into the evening, and the boozy weekend brunch. It is expensive and dressy rather than casual.

Jeddah sells no alcohol and has no bars or clubs. Evenings still run late, but they are spent with families on the corniche, in dessert shops and shisha lounges in the northern districts, or on a drive along the sea.

Jeddah has the better outdoors, and most of it is underwater. Coral walls and wrecks lie close to shore north and south of the city, and the northern creek is the base for kitesurfing and sailing. Inland, the escarpment road to Taif climbs to cooler air, terraced slopes and baboons.

Dubai's natural setting is desert. Its outings are dune drives and camping in the red sand of Al Marmoom and Lahbab, flamingos at Ras Al Khor in winter, and kayaking and short hikes around Hatta in the Hajar mountains. In both cities, summer leaves only the dawn for being outside.

Dubai has the better choice of day trips. Abu Dhabi's Grand Mosque and the Louvre on Saadiyat Island are about ninety minutes away, Sharjah's museums and heritage quarter are right next door, and Al Ain's UNESCO oases make a third good outing.

Jeddah's options depend on your faith. Mecca is about an hour away for Muslim visitors but closed to everyone else, and Medina is a long day by train. That leaves Taif, two hours up into the mountains, with its rose farms and old souks, as the main shared outing.

Dubai is much better set up for children. Legoland and the theme parks near Jebel Ali, water parks on the Palm, the aquarium in the Dubai Mall and indoor snow at the Mall of the Emirates fill days in any season. Resort kids' clubs and a shallow sea make beach time easy.

Jeddah is just as welcoming, with children out late along the corniche, but there is less to do. Its playgrounds, aquarium and seafront amusement park are simpler, the reef-edge water suits confident swimmers more than toddlers, and you need a car with child seats.

Both cities are long, car-shaped strips along the coast, but Dubai gives visitors a real alternative. Its driverless metro runs from the airport through Downtown to the Marina and around the Creek, with a tram and the old abras filling in. Taxis cover the Palm and the theme parks.

Jeddah has no metro and no bus network that is useful to a visitor, so ride-hailing or a hire car is how you get around. Its high-speed trains go only to Mecca and Medina, and Al-Balad and the evening corniche are the only places that are pleasant on foot.

Dubai is a shopping destination in its own right. The Dubai Mall and the Mall of the Emirates hold whole wings of designer flagships, the watch and jewellery offer goes deep, and the Shopping Festival brings winter sales. In Deira, the Gold, spice and perfume souks keep the older trade going.

Jeddah has big malls of its own and abayas cut in current styles, but its best buys are in Al-Balad. Perfumes are blended to order there, and oud, prayer beads and dates are sold with bargaining expected. Neither city has much in the way of independent boutiques.

Dubai costs more on most things a visitor pays for. Winter rooms in Downtown, the Marina or a beach resort are dear, the observation decks and theme parks add up quickly, and drinks make a large bill. It can be done cheaply, though. Summer brings hotel rates down sharply, the canteens of Deira and Karama cost very little, and the metro and the abras get you across the city for less than any taxi ride.

Jeddah saves on the same things. Its hotels are mid-range in most months, and a plate of grilled fish or ful costs no more than a curry in Karama. Fuel is cheap, so the ride-hailing you need for every outing costs less than Dubai's taxis, and with no alcohol there is no bar bill at all. Jeddah loses some of that saving on swimming, because the Obhur beach clubs charge for entry while Dubai's public beaches are free. Its hotels also climb around Ramadan and the pilgrimage seasons.

Neither city has resident companies, but Dubai has a stage to plan around. The Dubai Opera brings touring ballet, opera, musicals and orchestras through the cooler months, an arena hosts big international tours, and hotel lounges have jazz most nights.

In Jeddah, live performance comes as seasonal programmes of Arab pop, touring acts and comedy. On an ordinary evening there is little to see, though heritage events in Al-Balad may bring oud music and the mizmar stick dance.

In both cities, wellness happens in the hotel spa, and neither has a bathing tradition of its own. Dubai does it on a bigger scale. The Palm and Jumeirah resorts give whole floors to hammam rituals and hydrotherapy, and desert retreats an hour inland offer real silence.

Jeddah's spas are smaller hotel hammam rooms and day spas, usually separated by gender. The most restful option is a few slow days at an Obhur seafront resort, by the pool and the sea after sunset.