Faro or Jerez de la Frontera?

Neither town has a beach on its doorstep, but Faro's beaches are better and easier to reach. The barrier islands of the Ria Formosa have kilometres of sand backed by dunes. You reach them by bus over the bridge to Praia de Faro or by ferry to Culatra and Ilha Deserta, and the water on this south-facing coast is calm.

From Jerez the beach is a day out by train or car: Valdelagrana and El Puerto, La Caleta in Cádiz, or the wide sands at Sanlúcar and La Barrosa. The sand is fine and golden and the summer water about as warm, but the Levante wind can make the sea rough on some days.

Both towns eat from the sea, but Jerez gives you more reason to come for the food. Sherry runs through everything there, from bodega tastings to fino from the barrel in the tabancos. It comes with Andalusian dishes such as berza jerezana and oxtail cooked in sherry, served in the tapas bars around Plaza del Arenal and Calle Larga.

Faro's strength is shellfish from the lagoon, grilled sardines and cataplana in simple grill houses. The food is honest but narrow in range, and the better seafood restaurants are a short train ride away in Olhão.

Jerez has a good deal more to see. Alongside its Almohad Alcázar, Baroque cathedral and Gothic-Mudéjar parish churches, it has things found nowhere else: the sherry bodegas stacked with barrels, the Royal Andalusian School of Equestrian Art and the old gypsy quarters where flamenco took shape.

Faro's sights fit into one relaxed day. You enter the walled Cidade Velha through the Arco da Vila, climb the cathedral tower for the view over the lagoon, see the Roman mosaic in the convent museum and visit the bone chapel of the Igreja do Carmo.

Neither is a party town, and both send serious night owls elsewhere, to Albufeira from Faro and to El Puerto de Santa María from Jerez. Evenings in Jerez are livelier, though. Andalusian dinners start late, the tapas bars and tabancos stay full past midnight, and during the Feria del Caballo in May the fairground dances until dawn for a week.

Nights in Faro centre on the bar terraces of Rua do Prior and the marina, which are busiest when the university is in term. Many visitors simply end the night after a long dinner.

The two are broadly level, and in both the country close to town is gentle rather than dramatic. Faro's asset is water. The Ria Formosa begins at the edge of the old town and you can explore it by boat, kayak or paddleboard, with flamingos and spoonbills feeding in the salt pans at Ludo.

Jerez is surrounded by white albariza vineyards, and its bigger landscapes are further out: the limestone gorges and trails of the Sierra de Grazalema, the cork forests of Los Alcornocales, Doñana across the Guadalquivir and the kitesurfing coast towards Tarifa. Hikers have more to aim for from Jerez, while birdwatchers and paddlers have more on Faro's doorstep.

Jerez is the stronger base. Seville is about an hour away by train and Cádiz half an hour, and Sanlúcar and El Puerto, the other corners of the sherry triangle, are close by. With a car you can reach Arcos, Vejer, Grazalema and Ronda.

Faro's day trips are pleasant but smaller in scale: Tavira's Roman bridge, Olhão's market halls, Loulé's castle, the ruins at Milreu and Silves. Seville can be done from Faro too, but at about two hours by road it is a long day rather than an easy one.

Faro is the easier choice with children. The sandy, gentle lagoon beaches and the boat rides to the islands become part of the daily routine, and its coastal summers are less punishing. It also has a small science centre and a quiet old town, and the bigger water parks and marine park are towards Albufeira.

Jerez has a good zoo and botanical garden and the dancing-horse show, but nothing built around children, and July and August in town are very hot.

In both towns the centre is compact and flat, the station and airport are close, and you will barely need transport. The difference is in the links further out. Direct trains from Jerez to Seville, El Puerto and Cádiz cover most day trips, while Faro relies on ferries to the islands and a slow coastal railway, and in both regions the hills and the remoter coast call for a hire car.

What you take home sets the two apart. From Faro it is cork goods, hand-painted ceramics, tinned fish, almonds and fig sweets, and salt flower from the lagoon salt pans, and Loulé's market, a short drive inland, adds more choice. From Jerez it is sherry and brandy bought at the bodegas, saddlery and leather riding boots made for the horse world, and flamenco dresses, shawls and guitars from the shops near the old quarters.

Beyond that, the two high streets are much alike. Rua de Santo António in Faro and Calle Larga in Jerez are pleasant streets of national chains, Faro has a large shopping centre on the edge of town for the mainstream brands, and you won't find a designer scene in either.

Both are moderately priced for Western Europe, and Jerez is a little easier on the budget. Cheap tapas in the tabancos, inexpensive bodega tours and a walkable centre keep daily costs down there, although rooms climb during the Feria, the flamenco festival and the motorcycle race weekends.

In Faro, everyday food and buses are cheap, but rooms in July and August are priced for the beach season, and touring the Algarve usually means paying for a hire car.

This is where Jerez pulls far ahead. Flamenco is a living local art there. You can hear it in the peñas of Santiago and San Miguel, in informal sessions in the tabancos and at the late-winter festival at the Teatro Villamarta, which also stages opera and zarzuela.

Faro has the ornate Teatro Lethes and the larger Teatro das Figuras, where the regional orchestra plays. Fado is not native to the Algarve and appears only at occasional restaurant evenings, and on many nights there is nothing on.

Jerez has an Arab-style bathhouse in the old town, with warm pools and massage, and that tips this in its favour, together with a few hotel spas. Faro has nothing like it in town. Its spas are in the resorts along the golf coast to the west, and the spring-water spa at Caldas de Monchique is more than an hour away by car.

Apart from that, both towns help you relax through their slow pace rather than through treatments. In Faro that means long lunches, sunset walks by the lagoon and quiet winter months. In Jerez it means shaded patios and still afternoons in the heat.