Girona or Toledo?

Neither has a beach in town, but Girona has the Costa Brava about 40 minutes away, from the sandy bays at Platja d'Aro and Tossa de Mar to the clear coves around Begur and L'Escala. It makes a good day at the sea alongside a city stay, easiest with a car.

Toledo sits hours from any coast on the Castilian plateau, and the Tagus in its rocky gorge is not a river for swimming. A hotel or municipal pool is the only way to cool off.

Girona is the better place to eat. Catalan cooking such as botifarra with white beans and mar i muntanya dishes sits alongside an international fine-dining reputation, the Mercat del Lleó brings in Empordà produce, and the local wine and cava are close at hand.

Toledo cooks the heartier food of La Mancha: partridge, wild boar, carcamusas and Manchego, with convent marzipan as its sweet. It is satisfying for a few meals, but the range is narrow, and the taverns near Zocodover beat the set menus by the cathedral.

Toledo is the richer sightseeing city. Its whole old town is a monument where Roman, Islamic, Jewish and Christian Spain overlap: a cathedral with El Greco and Goya in the sacristy, the mosque of Cristo de la Luz, two synagogues, San Juan de los Reyes and the Alcázar, enough for two full days.

Girona's Barri Vell is smaller and more about atmosphere: the walk along the walls, the wide Gothic nave of the cathedral, the Arab Baths and the Call, one of Europe's best-preserved Jewish quarters. Its museums are modest, and a day or two of unhurried walking covers it.

Neither is a night-out city, and each sends serious clubbers off by train, to Barcelona from Girona and to Madrid from Toledo. Girona has a little more life, with students in the bars around Plaça de la Independència in term time, a few music bars and small clubs open late at weekends, and summer drinking outdoors.

Toledo's evenings are a round of tapas near Zocodover, and the old town falls quiet once the day-trippers have left.

Girona is far the stronger base outdoors. Road cyclists come from around the world for the climbs of Rocacorba and Els Àngels, greenways on old railway lines run to Olot and the coast, and within an hour or so lie the Garrotxa volcanic zone, the Costa Brava cliff paths, Cap de Creus and, a little further, the Pyrenees.

Toledo's best outing is the path around the Tagus gorge below the walls, with views back from the cigarrales. Beyond that stretches the flat plain of La Mancha, with the low Montes de Toledo and Cabañeros national park for walking and birdwatching, but no mountains.

Both are fine bases with a great city on the fast train, Barcelona under 40 minutes from Girona and Madrid about half an hour from Toledo. Girona's list is denser and closer: Dalí in Figueres, Púbol and Cadaqués, Besalú, Pals and Peratallada, Empúries on the shore and even Perpignan across the French border.

Toledo trades sea and mountains for Castile: the windmills of Consuegra, the palace at Aranjuez, El Escorial and Almagro, with longer days to Segovia, Ávila or Cuenca. Around either city, a car opens up most of the list.

For children the two come out much the same: safe and welcoming, but steep and cobbled, with museums and churches aimed at adults. The difference is where the fun lies. Girona families walk the city walls, use the shade of the Devesa park and spend their days on Costa Brava beaches.

Toledo has a theme park of historical shows on its outskirts, and the Alcázar and armour shops catch young imaginations. Its summer afternoons are very hot, though, so a short stay with a long midday break works best.

Both centres are explored on foot, each crossable in about twenty minutes, and both are hilly. Toledo eases the climb with public escalators from the car parks below the walls, though its station sits across the river at the foot of the hill.

Girona's station is at the edge of the centre, and bikes suit local trips. Beyond town both need a car for the countryside, and in Girona the buses to the coast run infrequently.

Neither is a shopping destination, and fashion shoppers in both head to the big city. What you carry home differs. Girona has independent fashion, shoe and book shops around the Rambla, Empordà cheese, oil and wine from the Mercat del Lleó, and plenty of cycling kit.

Toledo sells crafts with deep roots: gold-inlaid damascene work, steel blades, Talavera ceramics and convent marzipan. Much near the cathedral is souvenir stock, so look for workshops that make their own.

Toledo is a little easier on the budget, mostly at the table, where many bars serve a tapa with each drink and rooms in the newer town below the hill are moderate. Separate entry at each monument adds up, though, and staying overnight spreads that cost.

Girona sits around the Western European middle. Its weekday set lunches are good value, but old-town rooms are few and get expensive in summer, during the spring flower festival and in the cycling season, and a hire car for the region adds more.

Girona has more on stage. The Auditori brings touring orchestras, jazz and pop, the Teatre Municipal stages drama and dance, much of it in Catalan, and the autumn Temporada Alta festival draws international theatre. In summer there are also concerts in castle gardens along the coast.

Toledo has the Teatro de Rojas with a regional programme and occasional church music, and its great moment is the Corpus Christi procession through streets hung with tapestries. On most evenings, serious performance means a trip to Madrid.

Girona offers more for a restful stay. Besides its slow pace, Caldes de Malavella, a thermal-spring town about 20 minutes south, has spring-water hotels with pools and treatments.

Toledo has only hotel spas and a few Arab-style bath houses, and its calm comes in the early mornings and evenings once the tour groups have gone. It suits a quiet night or two rather than a stay built around rest.