Eilat or Petra?

Eilat is built around its stretch of Red Sea coast. North Beach is the sociable town beach, and Coral Beach lets you step from a jetty straight onto a reef. The sand is coarse and the shore is short, but the water is calm, clear and warm in every month.

Petra is in the mountains with nowhere to swim. The nearest sea is at Aqaba, across the gulf from Eilat, which is a separate stop on a Jordan tour rather than a beach day.

Neither place is somewhere to travel for the food, but Eilat gives you more choice. You can eat Red Sea fish, grilled skewers and hummus counters in the older neighbourhoods, and resort restaurants along the promenade and marina.

Wadi Musa has fewer places to eat, though what it serves is more distinctly local: mansaf, maqluba and zarb cooked in a pit in the ground, plus sage tea at stalls inside the site. Alcohol is easy to find in Eilat but sits on the margins in Petra.

This is where Petra stands far above Eilat. The Nabataean city carved into rose-coloured sandstone needs two or three days to cover the High Place of Sacrifice, the Great Temple, the Byzantine mosaics and the long climb to the Monastery.

Eilat is a young town of hotel towers and malls with almost nothing historic. Its own nearby history is the ancient copper workings at Timna. Its most rewarding cultural day out is the trip across the border to Petra.

Eilat has a real night out, especially on summer weekends and school breaks. Bars, pubs and beach parties fill the promenade and the lagoon, and a few clubs stay open well past midnight, though midweek in the quiet months it thins out.

Petra has almost none. Wadi Musa is a conservative town where the evening means dinner, a shisha on a terrace and bed before an early start at the site.

Petra is the stronger choice for outdoor time, but Eilat has one thing it cannot match: a coral reef a short ride from town, with diving centres along the coast road, routine introductory and night dives, and the Dolphin Reef. Birders come for the spring and autumn migrations. The Red Canyon and Timna offer good desert walks, but there are fewer of them, and in summer they are possible only at dawn.

Petra itself is a hiking ground in the Sharah mountains. Trails run through Wadi Muthlim, up Jebel Haroun and along the back route from Little Petra to the Monastery, and the Jordan Trail passes through. Dana's ibex slopes and the red valleys and peaks of Wadi Rum add more days of walking, scrambling and camping in the desert.

Eilat has the better day trips, largely because Petra itself is one of them. It is reachable via the nearby crossing, and Aqaba's fort and souk make a shorter outing. On the Israeli side, Timna is close but the Negev empties out quickly.

From Petra, Wadi Rum and the castle at Shobak, combined with Dana, are the main outings. Kerak and the King's Highway fit better on the drive to or from Amman than as a return trip.

Eilat is set up for families. The sea is calm and free of surf, hotels have pools and kids' clubs, and Coral World's underwater observatory, glass-bottom boats and a mall ice rink keep children busy. Summer middays are too hot for small children.

Petra is an adventure for older, sturdy children who like scrambling into tombs, but strollers are little use off the main path and Wadi Musa has nothing designed for children.

Eilat's centre is compact. The lagoon hotels, North Beach, the promenade and the malls are all within a short walk, and taxis cover the few kilometres south to the reefs.

Petra is a place of long walks. The park can only be crossed on foot, apart from carts and animals on the main route, and Wadi Musa climbs steeply away from the gate. Dana, Wadi Rum and the castles need a driver or a hire car.

Eilat is a VAT-free zone, and its lagoon malls offer chain fashion, electronics and cosmetics. Eilat stone jewellery is the local speciality. Little of it will surprise a visitor from abroad, but it fills a hot afternoon.

Petra's shopping is souvenirs: Bedouin silver and bead jewellery along the trails, and bottles of coloured sand. The women's cooperative shops selling embroidery are the most worthwhile stops.

Petra is the cheaper stay, with one big exception: the site's entry fee for foreign visitors is famously steep, though a multi-day ticket or a pass bought before arrival softens it. After that, guesthouses, mid-range hotels and falafel counters cost little.

Eilat is expensive all round. Beach hotels charge high rates during festivals and summer weekends, and diving, tours and promenade dining all add up. Coming midweek, staying in self-catering apartments and eating at hummus counters keep the bills down.

Neither place is for a serious night of theatre or music. Eilat is slightly better served, with its long-running Red Sea jazz festival, festival-season concerts by Israeli performers and musicians in the promenade bars. Petra offers one memorable thing instead: Petra by Night, with Bedouin rababa and flute playing in front of the candlelit Treasury.

Eilat is the more restful stay. Hotel spas use Dead Sea minerals, resorts are built around pools and gardens, and long winter days in the sun are the main point, though festival crowds bring noise.

Petra is physically demanding by design. The Turkish-style bathhouses of Wadi Musa, with steam, a scrub and a massage, are there to restore tired legs after the trails rather than to make the stay a retreat.