Eilat or Sharm el-Sheikh?

For beaches, Sharm comes out ahead. Eilat has only a few kilometres of shore, hemmed in by the port, the border and the mountains. Its sand is coarse and gravelly, and the central stretch gets crowded at weekends and in school breaks. What it does offer is North Beach in town and the reserve beaches at Coral Beach, which anyone can use, hotel guest or not.

Sharm has far more coastline and a proper sandy bay at Naama. From Sharks Bay and Ras Um Sid up to Nabq you can snorkel the reef straight off a jetty, and the water is slightly warmer in winter. The catch is that most of this shore is hotel-owned and partly man-made, so the hotel you book decides where you swim. Pack reef shoes too.

Neither resort is a reason to travel for food, and in both a lot of meals are hotel buffets. Eilat comes out a little ahead. Hummus counters, grilled skewers, Red Sea fish and the shawarma and falafel in the older neighbourhoods give you honest Israeli meals, and you can get a drink easily. In Sharm, all-inclusive eating sets the tone. The reward is the grilled fish, koshari and taameya in the Old Market, but outside the hotels and tourist bars alcohol is hard to find.

Both are modern resorts, and in both, history means a trip out of town. The difference is in what little there is. Eilat has essentially nothing in town, so for any history you head to the ancient copper workings at Timna or across the border. Sharm at least has the Al Sahaba Mosque, lit up at night, and the painted interior of the Heavenly Cathedral in the Old Market, both easy to see in an evening.

The two are broadly level, but the crowd is different. Eilat is a party town for young Israelis. On summer weekends and during school breaks, the promenade and the lagoon fill with pubs, beach parties and a few clubs that run past midnight, while midweek in the quiet months it goes flat.

Sharm's nightlife is built for foreign package visitors and centres on Naama Bay's bars, shisha lounges and large clubs. It is busiest in the European summer and over Christmas and Easter. In the Old Market people stay out late in cafés rather than bars, and many guests never leave the hotel lobby bar.

Sharm comes out ahead, because its underwater world is on a different scale. Eilat's reef is close and easy to reach, with dive centres along the coast road and the dolphin pod at Dolphin Reef. On land, though, Eilat has the edge, with marked trails through the Red Canyon, Timna's sandstone formations and the spring and autumn bird migration.

From Sharm, the sheer reef walls and huge shoals of Ras Mohammed are about 30km away, and the Tiran Strait and Nabq reefs are a short boat ride from town. The Thistlegorm wreck lies further off in the Strait of Gubal. It is a long boat trip of several hours, or a stop on a liveaboard. Sharm's desert is about jeeps, quad bikes and Bedouin camps rather than marked hiking trails.

Eilat has the better day out, because Petra is about two hours from the border crossing just north of town, and organised tours handle the formalities. Aqaba makes a shorter outing, and Timna adds copper mines and an Egyptian shrine.

From Sharm, the easy outing is laid-back Dahab, about an hour up the coast. The big one is St Catherine's Monastery below Mount Sinai, about three hours away, often combined with a night climb for the sunrise. Cairo, Luxor and Petra are sold as day tours, but they mean very long hours on the road.

Both resorts work well for a beach week with children, with calm warm water and big hotels that have kids' clubs and family pools. Eilat has more to do outside the hotel: the Coral World underwater observatory, the Dolphin Reef and an ice rink in one of the malls, all reached through a centre you can walk.

In Sharm the hotel is the attraction, with water slides and shallow lagoons for first snorkelling lessons. Children will need water shoes on the reef flats, and every outing means a taxi. In both resorts, midsummer heat keeps small children indoors through the middle of the day.

Eilat is much easier to get around. The lagoon hotels, North Beach, the promenade and the malls are all within a short walk of each other, and only the reef beaches a few kilometres south need a bus or taxi.

Sharm stretches about 30km from the Old Market to the Nabq hotels, and only Naama Bay is pleasant on foot. Getting around means shared minibuses on the main road, hotel shuttles or taxis with the fare agreed before you get in. Many visitors simply stay inside their resort.

Eilat gives a shopper more, mainly because the whole town is a VAT-free zone and Israelis come partly for that. The big malls by the lagoon and the waterfront are a practical way to fill a hot afternoon or pick up brand-name goods, though a visitor from abroad will find little there that they couldn't buy at home. Its one local product is jewellery set with Eilat stone.

Sharm's shopping is mostly souvenirs from the Old Market and Naama Bay, where you bargain over gifts such as perfume oils and cotton galabiyas, and its few modern shopping centres are small by comparison. Neither resort has luxury streets, independent boutiques or design shops.

This is where the two differ most. Eilat is expensive. Beach hotels charge high rates over the Jewish festivals and school vacations, and diving, tours and promenade dining cost more than at most European resorts. Midweek stays, self-catering and the VAT exemption soften the bill.

In Sharm, an all-inclusive hotel often costs less than a basic room on the Mediterranean, and Old Market food is cheap. Outside the hotel, costs creep up through negotiated taxi fares, Naama Bay restaurants, imported drinks and excursions, so you get the best value by staying in and going out little.

Neither has a theatre, concert hall or classical season. Eilat has slightly more to offer, thanks to its long-running jazz festival by the Red Sea and concerts by Israeli performers during the festivals and the summer season. In Sharm, performance means dinner shows with belly dancing and whirling tanoura dancers, plus large evening spectacles staged for package tourists.

Neither resort has a bathing tradition of its own, and in both you unwind at the hotel spa and by the pool. Sharm does it better. Most large resorts have an Oriental bath with hammam-style scrub-and-foam treatments, massage is fairly priced, and the whole stay is built around having nothing to rush for.

Eilat's spas offer Dead Sea mineral treatments and steam rooms, and the winter sun is reliable. During festivals and school breaks, though, the families and young crowds make the town much less restful than a quiet resort in Sharm.