Granada or Marbella?

Granada has no beach of its own. The Costa Tropical at Salobreña, Almuñécar and La Herradura is about an hour south over the mountains, with pebble and dark-sand coves that are good for snorkelling. Even so, it is a day out, and in the city swimming means a pool.

Marbella lives on its shore. It has more than two dozen beaches along about 27km, from La Venus and El Fuerte in town to the dunes at Cabopino, with fine grey sand, loungers and sardines grilled on the sand. Anyone who wants to swim every day should stay here.

The two are evenly matched for food but eat in different ways. Granada's strength is going from bar to bar for tapas, with a free plate for each drink, through Calle Navas, the Realejo and the lower Albaicín. Expect Alpujarras ham, aubergine with cane honey and mint tea in the Moroccan teterías of Calderería Nueva. It has little to offer at the top end.

Marbella is the reverse. Along the Golden Mile and around Puerto Banús it has the tasting-menu kitchens and international range that Granada lacks, as well as beach sardines and old-town tapas. The tourist restaurants in between, near the port, are weak and costly.

Here Granada is in another league. The Alhambra's Nasrid palaces and the Generalife gardens alone justify the trip. The Albaicín, the Royal Chapel with the tombs of Ferdinand and Isabella, the Carthusian monastery and the Sacromonte caves fill a few unhurried days.

Marbella has a pretty Casco Antiguo around the Plaza de los Naranjos, a print museum, Dalí bronzes on the Avenida del Mar and Roman mosaics at Río Verde, which together fill an afternoon. Visitors who want more culture end up driving to Ronda, Málaga or Granada itself.

Marbella has the edge for a big night out, at least in summer. Puerto Banús pairs yachts with champagne bars and clubs that run until dawn, and the beach clubs of the Golden Mile carry the party from day into night. It is a dressed-up, costly scene, and it shrinks from November to March.

Granada's nights are cheaper and driven by its students. Tapas bars lead on to Calle Elvira, with pubs and clubs around Pedro Antonio de Alarcón and terraces in the Realejo. The city is lively in term time and quieter in summer, just when Marbella is at its busiest.

Both have mountains close by, but Granada's are bigger. The Sierra Nevada brings skiing above Pradollano, about 45 minutes away, in winter and summer hikes towards Mulhacén, the highest peak in mainland Spain. The Alpujarras add terraced valleys and old mule paths.

In Marbella, the climb up Sierra Blanca to La Concha, with views to Gibraltar and the Rif mountains of Morocco, makes a fine half day, and the Sierra de las Nieves is close. Its advantage is the sea, with paddleboarding, sailing and dolphin-watching boats, and winters mild enough for walking all year.

From Granada, the best day trips go by train. Córdoba and its Mezquita are about an hour and a half away, Málaga is a little over an hour, and Antequera, with its dolmens and the karst of El Torcal, is closer still. By car or bus you can reach the Renaissance towns of Úbeda and Baeza, the cave quarter of Guadix and the white villages of the Alpujarras.

Marbella's day trips depend on a car, because there is no train and the buses are slow. With a car, Ronda on its gorge is an hour inland, Málaga is about 45 minutes along the coast, and Gibraltar and hilltop Casares lie to the west. Nerja and Frigiliana can be reached from either city, and from Marbella the Alhambra is a long but possible day.

Marbella is the easier family choice. Sheltered, lifeguarded beaches, a long flat promenade for buggies and scooters, and resorts built around pools make daily life simple. The zoo, water parks, marine park and cable car along the coast are an easy drive away.

Granada has the Parque de las Ciencias, worth most of a day, and the Alhambra's fountains keep children interested. The cobbled hills are hard work with a pushchair, though, and summer afternoons are very hot. Families do best there in spring or autumn, or in winter with a day in the snow.

Granada is far simpler to get around. The flat lower town is easy on foot, and small red minibuses climb to the Alhambra, the Albaicín and Sacromonte. A car is only worth having for the mountain villages.

Marbella stretches along the motorway from San Pedro to Cabopino, and only the old town and the seafront are really walkable. Buses run along the coast but there is no train, so most visitors hire a car or take taxis between their hotel, the port and the beach.

Marbella is the better place to shop, as long as you want big brands. Puerto Banús has a strip of international fashion and jewellery boutiques along the harbour, with a department store and malls nearby. The old town adds linen, leather and ceramics.

Granada is about crafts rather than fashion: taracea inlaid woodwork, Fajalauza pottery and guitars from local workshops. These sit alongside the souvenirs in the Alcaicería, and the Spanish chains on Calle Recogidas cover everything else.

Granada costs a good deal less. Free tapas, cheap buses and modest rooms in the lower town keep a stay inexpensive. The higher prices are limited to boutique stays in the Albaicín, terraces with Alhambra views and spring weekends.

Marbella is expensive by Spanish standards, especially in July and August, and its beach clubs and port restaurants push budgets hard. Old-town tapas bars, winter rates or a room in a neighbouring town bring costs closer to normal.

Granada has the stronger live arts, rooted in Lorca and Falla. There is zambra flamenco in the Sacromonte caves, rawer nights in the Albaicín peñas, the summer music and dance festival in the Alhambra's palaces and the Generalife theatre, and the city orchestra playing all year at the Auditorio Manuel de Falla.

Marbella's live music is mostly summer pop and rock in its quarry amphitheatre, DJs at beach clubs and flamenco staged for visitors. For serious music, you go to Málaga.

The two are close here, but they offer different kinds of rest. Granada revives Moorish bathing in hammams in the lower Albaicín, and the spa towns of Lanjarón and Alhama de Granada are within an hour. Siestas and tea houses keep the pace slow.

Marbella's version is the resort spa, with retreats, detox clinics and yoga across the Golden Mile and the hills, plus golf and walks along the promenade. It is restful from October to May but loses that calm in the crowded summer.