Girona or Zaragoza?

Neither city has a beach of its own, but the gap between them is wide. From Girona the Costa Brava is under an hour away, with sandy bays at Sant Feliu de Guíxols and Tossa and clear pine-backed coves around Begur, so a sea day fits easily into a city stay.

Zaragoza has nothing like this. The coast is more than 200km off and nobody swims in the Ebro, so summer cooling-off means municipal open-air pools. If the sea matters to you, only Girona offers it.

The two eat about equally well, in quite different styles. Girona offers Catalan home cooking, mar i muntanya dishes and serious tasting-menu kitchens, with Empordà wine and a weekend vermouth. It is the better choice for one memorable sit-down dinner.

Zaragoza is about grazing. You move along El Tubo from counter to counter for croquetas, mushroom skewers and anchovies, then sit down to hearty ternasco lamb or borage with clams, with generous Cariñena and Somontano reds. Neither city has much international cooking.

The two are well matched on sights, but they offer different things. Girona is one compact medieval scene: the walled Barri Vell, the cathedral's vast Gothic nave, the alleys of the Call and the walk along the walls, all seen in a day or two on foot.

Zaragoza covers more history on a bigger scale. There is Roman Caesaraugusta below ground, the Islamic Aljafería palace, the Mudéjar brickwork of La Seo, and Goya on the ceilings of the Pilar and in his own museum. It needs two or three days, and beyond the old core the city is mostly modern.

Zaragoza is the better city for going out. Evenings begin with tapas in El Tubo and carry on in the bars around Plaza San Felipe and Plaza Santa Marta, with a few clubs open into the early morning. During the Fiestas del Pilar the streets stay full until dawn.

Girona's evenings are mostly terraces and a long dinner, with students livening the old-quarter bars in term time. For a real night out, people there take the train to Barcelona.

Girona is much the better base for the outdoors. Road cyclists ride straight out to the climbs of Rocacorba and Els Àngels, and greenways on old railway lines run to Olot and the coast. Within about an hour you reach the cinder cones and beech woods of the Garrotxa or the cliff paths of Cap de Creus.

Zaragoza sits on a dry steppe swept by the cierzo wind, so its green space in town is mostly the Ebro path and its big parks. The striking landscapes, such as the Moncayo, the Mallos de Riglos and the Bardenas Reales badlands, all need a car.

Both are good bases, but Girona has more close at hand. Barcelona is under 40 minutes by fast train, Figueres and the Dalí Theatre-Museum are half an hour away, and Besalú, Pals, Peratallada and Empúries are all short drives. France is close enough for a day in Perpignan or Collioure.

Zaragoza puts Madrid as well as Barcelona within about an hour and a half by train, which is unusual. Its Aragonese outings are more spread out, though: Loarre castle, ruined Belchite and Tarazona are comfortable trips, while Albarracín and Teruel need an early start.

Girona is calm and safe, but it gives children less to do than Zaragoza does. Apart from the walk along the walls, which most children treat as a castle adventure, almost nothing in town is aimed at them. The steep, stepped lanes of the Barri Vell are hard going with a pushchair, so a family stay here really works through the beach days on the Costa Brava.\n\nZaragoza is the easier place to keep children busy without leaving town.

The centre is flat, the rivers aquarium on the Expo site and the open lawns of the Parque del Agua sit side by side, and Parque Grande has its own small amusement park. In October the Fiestas del Pilar bring funfairs and parades of giants. Both cities are tiring for small children in the July and August heat, but only Girona can escape it with a day by the sea.

Girona is small enough to cross on foot in about twenty minutes, although the Barri Vell is steep and full of stairs. Fast trains reach Barcelona and Figueres, but buses to the coast and the villages run infrequently, so many visitors hire a car for part of their stay.

Zaragoza asks less of both your legs and your planning. Its main sights lie on flat ground between the Pilar riverfront, the old Casco and the Aljafería, and a tram line, dense buses and bike-share stations cover the rest. If you are staying in town you can manage without a car and need one only for rural Aragon.

Zaragoza offers more choice. The main Spanish chains and a classic department store line Paseo de la Independencia, older shops and pastry makers sit along Calle Alfonso I, and there is a very large mall on the southern edge.

Girona's shopping is smaller and more independent: fashion, books and delicatessens around the Rambla, and plenty of cycling shops. In both cities the market is the best place for edible souvenirs, the Mercat del Lleó in Girona and the Mercado Central in Zaragoza.

Zaragoza is the cheaper stay. Central hotels are good value for most of the year, tapas and set lunches are generous, and the tram and the free Pilar keep daily costs low. Only the October fiestas push room prices up.

Girona sits around the Western European middle. Rooms in the small old town get expensive in summer, during the spring flower festival and in the cycling season, and a hire car for the region adds to the bill.

Zaragoza has the steadier programme. Its large Auditorio runs a full season of touring orchestras, chamber music and jazz, the Teatro Principal stages plays and dance, and the jota, Aragon's leaping folk dance, gives the city a tradition of its own.

Girona comes into its own in particular seasons. Temporada Alta brings international theatre and dance in autumn, and summer brings concerts in coastal castle gardens. Outside those times the programme is thin, and many plays are in Catalan.

The two are much alike: both offer a slow provincial pace of long lunches and river walks rather than a bathing culture. Girona has the easier spa outing, since the thermal-spring hotels of Caldes de Malavella are about 20 minutes away and its quiet stone lanes suit unhurried mornings.

In Zaragoza the thermal waters of Alhama de Aragón are more than an hour away, so in town relaxing means hotel spas, an Arab-style bathhouse or a shady afternoon in Parque Grande. The summer heat and the cierzo can make it tiring.