Girona or Jerez de la Frontera?

Neither city has a beach of its own, so from both the coast is a day out. What you find there is different. From Girona you reach the Mediterranean, where long sandy bays alternate with small pine-backed coves around Begur, and the water is some of the clearest on the Spanish coast. The famous coves fill early in high summer, and without a car the infrequent buses limit how far along the coast you get.

Jerez looks out on the Atlantic, with long, open beaches of fine golden sand at El Puerto, Cádiz and Sanlúcar. They are wide and exposed rather than sheltered, and the Levante wind can make some days rough. Getting there is easier, since the train reaches Cádiz in about half an hour.

Both cities eat equally well, but in different ways. Girona has the broader table. Catalan home cooking such as mar i muntanya dishes and botifarra with beans sits alongside serious tasting-menu restaurants, xuixos from the pastry shops and Empordà wines and cava.

Jerez goes deep into one tradition, sherry. You drink fino or oloroso from the barrel in the tabancos, eat kidneys and oxtail cooked in it, and add fried fish from the nearby coast. Neither city offers much street food or international cooking.

Girona has the more complete historic centre. Its walled Barri Vell climbs to a cathedral with one of the widest Gothic naves in the world, and the Call is one of the best-preserved Jewish quarters in Europe. You can walk the city walls for views over the rooftops to the Pyrenees, and a day or two of unhurried walking covers the essentials.

Jerez has fewer monuments. The main one is the Almohad Alcázar, with its mosque turned chapel, Arab baths and gardens, and the Baroque cathedral stands just below it. Two sights are unique to the city: the great sherry bodegas, huge barrel-filled warehouses that you can tour as heritage, and the dressage horses of the Royal Andalusian School of Equestrian Art. With bodega tours and shows to fit in, Jerez fills two or three days.

Jerez stays out later. Dinner starts late, the tapas streets around Plaza del Arenal and Calle Larga stay busy past midnight, and the tabancos and copa bars make a sociable, if provincial, night out. In May, the casetas at the Feria del Caballo stay open until dawn for a whole week.

Girona's evenings are mostly about terrace dinners and student bars in term time. People after clubs take the train to Barcelona.

Girona is in a different class for active travel. Cyclists come from around the world for the climbs of Rocacorba and Els Àngels and for the old railway lines turned into greenways. Within about an hour you reach the beech woods of the Garrotxa, the coastal path above the coves and Cap de Creus, and further on the Pyrenees offer hiking and skiing.

Around Jerez the chalky vineyards are pleasant but gentle, and the gorges of Grazalema take more than an hour to reach. What it offers in return has a southern character. Boats from Sanlúcar cross to the edge of Doñana, one of Europe's great bird wetlands, the windy coast towards Tarifa draws kitesurfers, and in this horse country riding is easy to arrange.

Both are excellent bases, and Girona has a little more within easy reach. Barcelona is under 40 minutes by high-speed train, and Dalí's Figueres, Púbol and Cadaqués, medieval Besalú, the ruins at Empúries and even Perpignan in France are all close.

From Jerez, the big trips are Seville, about an hour by train, and old Cádiz, even closer. By car, the white towns lead from Arcos to Ronda. In both cities a hire car makes the villages far easier to reach.

Jerez gives children slightly more to do. Its zoo and botanical garden is one of the better ones in Spain, the dancing-horse show is usually a hit, and the gently sloping Atlantic sands suit small swimmers. The catch is the town's fierce heat in July and August.

Girona is calm and safe, and walking the walls feels like an adventure. Still, its museums are aimed at adults, and the stairs of the Barri Vell are hard work with a pushchair.

Both centres are easy to walk, but the ground is different. Girona's old town is steep, with plenty of stairs, while Jerez is flat. Girona has the more useful train link, a fast one to Barcelona, and bikes are an easy option for local trips. Jerez has direct trains to Seville and Cádiz, and its airport is minutes away by rail. In both cities the buses to the hill villages and coast are infrequent, so many visitors rent a car.

Neither city is a real shopping destination, and what is worth buying differs. Girona has independent fashion shops, bookshops and delicatessens around the Rambla, Empordà cheeses and oil from the Mercat del Lleó, and plenty of cycling kit. Jerez's best buys come from its own traditions: sherry and brandy from the bodegas, handmade saddlery and riding boots, and flamenco dresses and guitars.

Jerez is the cheaper stay. Tapas and sherry in the tabancos cost little, bodega tours are inexpensive, and central hotels are moderately priced.

Girona costs about the Western European average. Its small stock of old-town rooms gets expensive in summer and in the cycling season, and many visitors add the cost of a hire car. Both cities get dearer during big events: the spring flower festival in Girona, and in Jerez the Feria, the flamenco festival and the motorcycle race weekends.

Jerez is one of the places where flamenco was born, and it is still lived there. You can hear it in the members' peñas of the old gypsy quarters, at close range in the tabancos and in more polished tablao shows. The late-winter festival brings major dancers to the Teatro Villamarta.

Girona has a respectable programme for a small city. Its highlight is Temporada Alta, an autumn festival of theatre and dance. At other times of year there is not much on, and many plays are in Catalan.

Both cities are slow, easy places, with long lunches and evening strolls, and neither has much spa culture. The difference is where you go to bathe. In Jerez there is an Arab-style bathhouse in the old town with warm pools and massage. Girona's Arab Baths are only a monument, but the thermal-spring town of Caldes de Malavella is about 20 minutes away.