Fes or Marbella?

On beaches, Marbella wins easily. Fes is around three hours from either coast, so swimming means a hotel or riad pool, and in the summer heat it is worth choosing accommodation that has one.

Marbella has more than two dozen beaches along its shore, from La Venus and El Fuerte in town to the dunes at Cabopino. The sand is fine and greyish, chiringuitos grill fish along the shore, and the calm water stays warm enough to swim until early autumn.

Both cities eat well, in very different ways. Fes goes deep into one tradition: pastilla, tagines with quince or preserved lemon, and harira, often served as long dinners in riad dining rooms, with bissara and sfenj in the medina in the morning. It offers little beyond Moroccan cooking, and alcohol is hard to find.

Marbella offers range instead. You can eat sardine skewers on the beach, tapas in the Casco Antiguo, tasting menus along the Golden Mile and plenty of international cooking, with local wine from the Ronda hills. Its weak spot is the expensive, forgettable cooking along the seafront and near the port.

Fes is worth the journey for its sights alone. The UNESCO-listed Fes el-Bali, the Marinid madrasas, the Chouara tannery, the Nejjarine fountain and the Mellah add up to days of exploring. The city itself is the main sight, more than its modest museums.

Marbella's heritage is pleasant but small: the whitewashed Casco Antiguo around the Plaza de los Naranjos, a museum of Spanish prints and a Roman villa at Río Verde. For the great monuments of Andalusia you drive to Málaga, Ronda or Granada.

An evening in Fes means a rooftop dinner, then tea, then quiet. Apart from a few hotel bars in the Ville Nouvelle, alcohol is scarce and nothing stays open late. Marbella in summer is the opposite: champagne bars and clubs at Puerto Banús, and beach clubs whose parties carry on into the night along the Golden Mile until dawn, though from November to March most of this shuts down.

Marbella has the mountains on its doorstep. Sierra Blanca rises behind the town, the climb to La Concha gives views to Gibraltar and the Rif, and the Sierra de las Nieves is under an hour away. There is also the coastal path and time on the water, and the mild winters make walking possible all year.

Fes takes more effort. The cedar forests around Azrou, with their wild macaques, and the caves and ridges of Tazekka are rewarding, but you can only reach them by car or with a driver, and the summer heat leaves spring and autumn as the seasons to go.

Fes has one outstanding day out to the west: Meknes by train, then the Roman mosaics of Volubilis and the holy town of Moulay Idriss, often covered together with a driver. Ifrane and Sefrou to the south add contrast, but Chefchaouen and Rabat are too far for a day.

Marbella has more within reach. Ronda's gorge, the Alcazaba and Picasso Museum in Málaga, Gibraltar, and white villages such as Casares and Mijas are all close, and the Alhambra is possible on a long day. A car makes it much easier, since Marbella has no train.

Fes is hard going with small children, and the usual advice is about easing the strain. Stay in a riad or hotel with a pool, keep trips into the medina short, and hire a guide for the maze and the persistent touts. Older children are a different matter: those who like getting lost, watching coppersmiths at work and trying street snacks can find it a real adventure.

Marbella is far easier, and Spanish restaurants are happy to have children at the table late into the evening. The bigger outings are along the coast rather than in town, such as the marine park and the cable car around Benalmádena. They are simple by car but awkward by bus. With very young children, the heat of July and August is worth avoiding, and Puerto Banús after dark is for adults.

Neither is easy, for opposite reasons. Fes is compact but tangled: the medina is entirely on foot, porters carry luggage from the gates, and the lanes twist and dead-end. Outside the walls, petit taxis link the gates, the Ville Nouvelle and the station.

Marbella is simple to follow but spread out. The old town and central seafront are walkable, but hotels and beach clubs stretch along the motorway from San Pedro to Cabopino, so buses, taxis or a hire car do most of the work. Fes at least has a train to Meknes, while Marbella has no railway at all.

For anything handmade, Fes is the better place to shop. The medina is where the goods are made: tannery leather, copper from the Seffarine, blue Fassi pottery, zellige tiles and carved cedar, often with the workshop right behind the counter. Expect to bargain, and watch for guides steering you to shops that pay them.

Marbella is about big labels, with fashion and jewellery boutiques at Puerto Banús, a department store and malls. Beyond that there are a few old-town lanes selling linen, leather and ceramics, and little in the way of local craft.

Most of what you do in Fes costs little: street food, taxis, entry to the madrasas and modest riads. The money goes on grand riads, private drivers and alcohol. Marbella is expensive by Spanish standards, especially in July and August around Puerto Banús and the Golden Mile. Old-town tapas, buses and visits out of season bring the costs down, but a stay there still costs far more than one in Fes.

Neither city has much of a regular programme, and in both the main events come in festival season. In Fes the music comes from tradition: Andalusian classical and Sufi music, with the Festival of World Sacred Music held in palace gardens and at old gates, and music at riad dinners the rest of the year.

Marbella's summer offers big pop and rock acts in a quarry amphitheatre, DJs at the beach clubs and flamenco shows staged for visitors, plus a small municipal theatre. For serious flamenco or opera, people go to Málaga.

Fes has the stronger bathing tradition. Every medina quarter has a public hammam for steam and black-soap scrubs, riads run quieter ones of their own, and the hot springs of Moulay Yacoub are about half an hour away. After the noise of the lanes, a riad courtyard is where you rest.

Marbella's wellness is based in resorts, with spa hotels, retreats and detox clinics along the Golden Mile and a few Arab-style baths, but no public bathing culture. It is most restful from October to May, when the promenade and golf courses are calm.