Eilat or Hurghada?

Both give you warm, clear Red Sea water almost all year, but the shoreline is very different. Eilat has only a few kilometres of coast, squeezed between the port and the border. The sand is coarse and the beaches crowded at weekends, yet at Coral Beach you can step off a jetty straight onto a living reef.

Hurghada has around 40km of coast, though almost all of it belongs to the resorts, so your beach is whatever your hotel has. The softest sand is on the Giftun islands and in the southern bays towards Makadi, and the north wind can make the afternoon sea choppy.

Neither is a place to travel for the food, and in both the hotel buffet does much of the work. Eilat's best meals are Israeli staples, hummus counters, grilled skewers and falafel in the older neighbourhoods, and alcohol is easy to find at the promenade restaurants.

Hurghada's local cooking lives in El Dahar, with koshary, ful and taameya, and at the fishing harbour, where you pick your fish from the ice. Outside the hotels and tourist venues, drinking is harder.

Both are young resort towns with little history of their own, though Hurghada has slightly more to see. It has the Hurghada Museum with its pharaonic pieces, the El Mina mosque and the Coptic cathedral, and El Dahar's market streets show ordinary Egyptian life. Eilat is mostly hotel towers and malls, and its history lies out in the desert at the Timna copper workings.

Both offer mainstream resort nights rather than a local scene, but the crowds differ. Eilat fills with young Israelis on summer weekends and school breaks, with bars around the lagoon and beach parties late into the night, then goes quiet midweek in the cooler months.

Hurghada's going-out strip is Sheraton Road and the marina, with shisha lounges, big beach clubs and foam parties in high season. Many visitors never leave the hotel disco, and the town behind the strip is quiet after dark.

Both are excellent for reefs, but the land around them is very different. Eilat pairs its easily reached reef and Dolphin Reef with real hiking in the Eilat Mountains, in the Red Canyon and at Timna. It also sits on a major bird migration route.

Hurghada looks out to sea. Boat trips to the Giftun reefs bring turtles and sometimes dugongs, famous wrecks lie within reach, and the steady wind draws kitesurfers to El Gouna and Soma Bay. Inland, the desert means quad bikes and stargazing rather than trails.

Eilat has the stronger day out. Petra is about two hours beyond the nearby Jordanian crossing, and Aqaba makes an easy shorter trip. It is a long day, but it fits into one.

From Hurghada, the great outing is Luxor, with Karnak and the Valley of the Kings, but the road takes about four hours each way, so an overnight stay often makes more sense. Closer by, there is little beyond a stroll around El Gouna's marina.

Both work well for families who stay close to the water, and both are too hot for small children at midday in summer. Eilat's stand-out is Coral World, where children see the reef through glass below the waterline. It also has an ice rink, and the compact centre is easy to manage with a pushchair.

Hurghada's resorts do more inside the gates, with water slides and full water parks. Outside them, broken pavements, traffic and pushy sellers make the town harder going with children.

Eilat is far easier. The lagoon hotels, North Beach, the promenade and the malls are all a short walk apart, and a quick taxi ride takes you to the reef beaches to the south.

Hurghada spreads along one coast road for tens of kilometres, with few pavements and crossings that can be stressful. You rely on shared minibuses, taxis where the fare has to be agreed first, and hotel shuttles.

Eilat has the better shopping, mainly because it is a VAT-free zone. Big malls near the lagoon sell chain fashion, electronics and sportswear, and Eilat stone jewellery is a genuine local speciality. Hurghada's shopping is souvenir bargaining in El Dahar and along Sheraton Road, for spices, alabaster and galabeyas, with sellers who can be insistent.

Here the two are far apart. Hurghada is among the cheapest warm-sea beach vacations anywhere. All-inclusive deals cover most of the bill, and diving courses, boat trips, local food and minibuses all cost little.

In Eilat, hotels, meals, drinks and diving cost more than at typical European resorts, especially during festivals and school breaks. Midweek stays, self-catering apartments and hummus counters help bring costs down.

Neither has a theatre or a concert season, but Eilat has a little more for music lovers. Its long-running Red Sea jazz festival and occasional summer concerts by Israeli stars beat anything Hurghada offers. Hurghada's performances are tourist shows: belly dancing, and tanoura dancers spinning at folklore evenings and desert-camp dinners.

Both are about rest in the sun, with hotel spas instead of any local bathing tradition. Eilat's spas lean on Dead Sea mineral treatments, and its reliable winter warmth is its main appeal, though festival crowds can make it noisy.

Hurghada's resort hammams and Red Sea salt rituals cost little, but quality varies from hotel to hotel. The calm stops at the resort gate, because the town outside is noisy.