Fes or Ronda?

Neither is a beach destination, but Ronda gets you nearer the sea. The Costa del Sol beaches around San Pedro de Alcántara and Estepona are about 50km away down a mountain road full of hairpin bends. They are long, sandy and built up, and the trip takes a whole day.

From Fes, both coasts are about three hours away, so for most visitors swimming means a hotel pool or a riad plunge pool.

Fes is the stronger place to eat. Its Andalusian-influenced city cooking gives you pastilla with almonds and cinnamon, tagines with preserved lemon and quince, and long multi-course dinners in riad dining rooms. The medina adds bissara at breakfast and sfenj doughnuts. The catch is narrow range and scarce alcohol.

Ronda's cooking is plainer mountain food: oxtail stew, lamb and game, cured hams, and chestnuts and mushrooms in autumn. It is best eaten in the Mercadillo's tapas bars. It does have one clear advantage, local wine from the vineyards around town, with tastings at wineries.

Fes has far more to see. The medina of Fes el-Bali is a working medieval city that can fill several days. Highlights include the carved cedar and zellige of the Bou Inania and Al-Attarine madrasas, the Chouara tannery seen from the terraces, the Mellah, and the Marinid tombs at sunset.

Ronda's heritage is smaller and centres on its dramatic setting. The Puente Nuevo crosses the Tajo gorge, the Real Maestranza is one of Spain's oldest bullrings, and the Arab baths are unusually well preserved. One or two unhurried days cover it.

Both go quiet early, but the evenings feel different. In Fes the medina empties once the shops close, alcohol is hard to find, and a night out means a rooftop dinner and mint tea, perhaps followed by a hotel bar in the Ville Nouvelle. Ronda keeps a Spanish rhythm: the Plaza del Socorro stays busy late on summer evenings, tapas and a glass of wine come easily, and the September fair livens the town up.

Ronda is much better for getting outdoors. The limestone Sierra de Grazalema, with the Garganta Verde ravine and griffon vultures overhead, lies to the west, and the Spanish fir forests of the Sierra de las Nieves lie to the east. You can walk down into the gorge straight from town, and climbers use its cliffs.

Fes has good countryside too, but it takes more effort to reach. The Middle Atlas cedar forests around Azrou, home to wild Barbary macaques, and the caves of Tazekka National Park both need a car or a driver, and the summer heat on the plain makes outings hard work.

Ronda has the wider choice of outings. Setenil de las Bodegas, built under overhanging rock, is twenty minutes away, and Zahara de la Sierra and Grazalema are within the hour. Nearer still are the Roman site of Acinipo and the cave paintings of the Cueva de la Pileta. For a long day, Seville or Málaga are within reach.

From Fes, one excellent day covers imperial Meknes, the Roman mosaics of Volubilis and the holy town of Moulay Idriss. After that the list thins out to Ifrane and Sefrou.

Neither is easy with young children, though Ronda is a little less demanding. It is safe and relaxed, children are welcome in squares and tapas bars late into the evening, and the gorge walk and nearby caves appeal to older children. Steep cobbles still make pushchairs hard work.

Fes asks more of a family. The medina is a narrow maze shared with donkeys and handcarts, the touts are persistent, and summer afternoons are fierce. Older children who enjoy watching craftsmen at work can love it. In either place, a base with a pool helps.

Ronda is simpler to get around. The old town, the bridge, the bullring and the Mercadillo are a few minutes' walk apart, and trains and buses are fine for arriving, though the villages call for a car.

In Fes you also walk, but through a car-free maze of twisting, climbing lanes where getting lost is normal and many visitors hire a guide for the first day. Red petit taxis link the medina gates with the Ville Nouvelle and the station.

This is where Fes pulls furthest ahead. Much of Morocco's handwork is made in its medina, from tannery leather and babouche slippers to hammered copper, blue-and-white pottery and carved cedar, often with the workshop right behind the counter. Bargaining is expected.

Ronda has a pedestrian street of ordinary shops and some souvenir ceramics near the bridge. The best things to take home are wine, olive oil and convent sweets.

Fes goes further on a modest budget. Street food, taxis, madrasa entry and characterful small riads all cost little, and the money mostly goes on grand riads, private guides and drivers. Alcohol is the one costly exception.

Ronda is cheap compared with the nearby coast, with good-value tapas and set lunches. Still, gorge-view hotels, busy seasons and a hire car push costs above Fes.

Fes has more musical depth. Andalusian classical music and Sufi devotional music are living traditions there, and the Festival of World Sacred Music brings concerts to palace gardens. At other times you will find occasional performances and music at riad dinners.

Ronda's offer is mostly flamenco staged for visitors in small venues. Its standout event is the Corrida Goyesca, held in costume during the September fair.

Fes is the better place to unwind. Every medina quarter has a public hammam for steam, black soap and a scrub, many riads have gentler hammams of their own, and the hot springs of Moulay Yacoub and Sidi Harazem are close by.

Ronda's Arab baths are a monument rather than somewhere to bathe. Rest there comes from quiet: the town after the coach parties leave, or a farmhouse in the hills with a pool and olive groves.