Girona or Marbella?

Girona has no beach of its own. The Costa Brava begins about 40 minutes away, and its pine-backed coves near Begur and L'Escala have some of the clearest water in Spain, but every swim is a day out planned around buses or a car.

In Marbella the sand starts at the edge of town and runs for about 27km, from La Venus and El Fuerte to the dunes at Cabopino. The sand is fine and greyish rather than the mix of sandy bays and rocky coves you find on the Costa Brava, and the shore is lined with sunbeds and chiringuitos, so Marbella is the place for a stay built around the beach.

The two eat about equally well, in different ways. Girona's cooking is tightly Catalan and local: mar i muntanya plates, botifarra with beans, cream-filled xuixos and Empordà wine, with serious tasting-menu kitchens next to old taverns. What it lacks is variety beyond the region.

Marbella offers more range. Sardines are grilled on skewers on the beach, there are tapas bars behind the Alameda, and there are international and high-end kitchens along the Golden Mile. Its weak point is the overpriced, forgettable menus near the port, so in both towns the better meals are a few streets away from where the visitors gather.

Girona is well ahead here. The Barri Vell climbs from the Onyar to a cathedral with one of the widest Gothic naves in the world, past a Romanesque cloister, the Arab Baths and one of Europe's best-preserved Jewish quarters, and you can walk the medieval walls above it all.

Marbella has charm but less substance: the whitewashed lanes around the Plaza de los Naranjos, a museum of Spanish prints, Dalí bronzes on the Avenida del Mar and a Roman villa with mosaics. For the great monuments of Andalusia you drive to Ronda, Málaga or Granada.

In summer Marbella is a real place to go out. Beach clubs with DJs carry on into evening parties, and the clubs at Puerto Banús fill with a moneyed international crowd until dawn. The style is glossy and expensive, and from November to March it mostly goes quiet.

Girona's evenings are slower: terraces, long dinners, student bars in term time and a handful of late music bars at weekends. For a proper night out, people from Girona take the train to Barcelona.

Both have mountains close by, but Girona offers more to do outdoors. Road cyclists come from around the world for its quiet lanes and the climbs of Rocacorba and Els Àngels, and old railway lines make flat greenways to Olot and the sea. Within reach are the volcanic beech forests of the Garrotxa, the cliff paths and coves of Cap de Creus and the high Pyrenees.

Marbella's outdoor life is about Sierra Blanca, rising straight behind town, with the hard climb to La Concha and views to Morocco, and the fir forests and gorges of the Sierra de las Nieves. Its mild winters make it the better choice for walking from December to February, though the coast itself is heavily built up.

Both are strong bases, but Girona has more variety and better trains. Barcelona is under 40 minutes away by high-speed train, the Dalí Theatre-Museum at Figueres is half an hour away, and medieval Besalú, Peratallada, the ruins at Empúries and even Perpignan across the border are all within easy reach.

Marbella opens up the south of Andalusia: Ronda over its gorge, Málaga's Alcazaba and Picasso Museum, Gibraltar and the white villages of Casares and Mijas. With no train and slow buses, though, almost all of it depends on a car, and Granada is a long day.

Marbella is the easier choice with children. It has sheltered, lifeguarded beaches, a flat promenade for buggies and scooters, and resorts built around pools. A zoo, an animal park, water parks and an aquarium are spread along the coast, though you need a car to reach most of them.

Girona is calm and safe, and children enjoy walking the city walls, but it has no attractions made for them, and the stairs and cobbles of the Barri Vell are hard going with a pushchair. Families there usually spend their days on Costa Brava beaches.

Girona is far simpler on foot. The old town, the river and the modern centre are about twenty minutes' walk apart, though steep in places, and the station on the edge of the centre has fast trains to Barcelona and Figueres.

Marbella stretches along a motorway from San Pedro to Cabopino. Only the old town and the central seafront are walkable, there is no train, and many visitors move between their hotel, the port and the beach by taxi. In both places the countryside is best reached by car.

Marbella wins for anyone who wants labels. Puerto Banús lines up international fashion and jewellery boutiques facing the yachts, with a department store and malls nearby, and the old town adds linen, leather and ceramics.

Girona's shopping is small and independent: fashion and book shops around the Rambla, Empordà cheese, oil and wine from the Mercat del Lleó, and a surprising number of cycling shops. Anyone looking for more than that goes to Barcelona.

Girona is the cheaper stay. Everyday eating and set lunches are fairly priced, and the centre is walkable, so the main costs are old-town rooms in summer and the cycling season and a car for the region.

Marbella is expensive by Spanish standards, especially in July and August and anywhere near the Golden Mile or Puerto Banús. Old-town tapas bars and off-season apartments bring costs down, and many visitors save by staying in a neighbouring town.

Neither is a destination for the stage, but Girona offers a little more. Its Auditori hosts touring orchestras and jazz, and the autumn Temporada Alta festival brings international theatre and dance, though many plays are in Catalan.

Marbella's live culture is a summer affair: big pop and rock acts in a quarry amphitheatre and flamenco staged for visitors. For opera or serious flamenco you go to Málaga, just as Girona sends classical fans to Barcelona.

Marbella has more for a restful stay built around treatments. Spa resorts, retreats and detox clinics sit along the Golden Mile and in the hills, and a few Arab-style bathhouses offer hot and cold pools. It is calmest from October to May, since high summer brings heat and parties.

Girona's calm comes from its pace, with quiet morning lanes and river walks, rather than from facilities. Its spas are mostly in hotels, but the thermal-spring town of Caldes de Malavella is about 20 minutes away.