Granada or Toledo?

Neither city is a beach destination, but only Granada can realistically add the sea. The Costa Tropical lies about an hour south over the mountains, with pebble and dark-sand coves at Salobreña, Almuñécar and La Herradura that make a good day out or even a coastal base.

Toledo sits on the plateau of La Mancha, several hours from any coast, and the Tagus in its gorge is not for swimming. In both cities a summer swim otherwise means a hotel or municipal pool.

Granada eats better and more generously. Its tapas tradition makes every drink a small meal, and the range runs from Alpujarras ham and fried aubergine with cane honey to the Moroccan tea houses of Calderería Nueva, a Moorish thread Toledo does not have.

Toledo's kitchen is the hearty game cooking of La Mancha: partridge, venison, carcamusas and Manchego, with convent marzipan as the sweet. It is good for a few regional meals, but the streets near the cathedral lean towards set menus for day visitors, and the better taverns take some seeking out.

Here the two are evenly matched, and the choice comes down to what kind of history you want. Granada's pull is one great Moorish ensemble, the Alhambra palaces and Generalife gardens, set against the whitewashed Albaicín and the Renaissance city of the cathedral and Royal Chapel below.

Toledo is more layered and more about art. Roman, Visigothic, Islamic, Jewish and Christian Spain sit together on one hill, with synagogues and a small mosque near a Gothic cathedral hung with El Greco and Goya, and El Greco's own paintings in Santo Tomé and the Hospital de Tavera.

Granada has a proper night out and Toledo largely does not. In Granada the tapas round runs on to the bars of Calle Elvira and the student clubs around Pedro Antonio de Alarcón, with weekends going on towards dawn, though summer is quieter once term ends.

Toledo's evenings stop at a late dinner and a few tapas bars near Zocodover. The calm after the day-trippers leave is part of its charm, and anyone wanting clubs takes the train to Madrid.

Granada is far ahead for landscape. The snowy Sierra Nevada is about 45 minutes away, with skiing in winter and high walks in summer, and the Alpujarras give chestnut woods and terraced valleys on the southern side.

Toledo's best outdoor hour is the path round the Tagus gorge below the walls and the views back from the cigarrales. Beyond that lie the low Montes de Toledo and the Cabañeros park for deer and birds of prey, but there are no mountains to speak of.

Both make strong bases, but they open different maps. Toledo's trump card is Madrid half an hour away by fast train, with the Prado and the royal palace, plus Aranjuez, El Escorial and the windmills of Consuegra, and Segovia or Cuenca for long days.

Granada looks towards Andalusia instead: Córdoba's Mezquita by fast train, Málaga, the dolmens of Antequera and the Renaissance towns of Úbeda and Baeza, with the white Alpujarras villages and the coast close by. Choose Toledo for great museums, Granada for mountains and Moorish cities.

Granada is somewhat easier with children, mainly because it has the Parque de las Ciencias, a hands-on science museum with a planetarium and butterfly house that fills most of a day, and the Alhambra's fountains and gardens keep young visitors interested. A snow day in the mountains is a bonus in winter.

Toledo has its swords, armour and castle-like Alcázar, and a history-show theme park on the outskirts, but most sights are churches and paintings. Both old towns are steep and cobbled, hard with a pushchair and very hot on summer afternoons.

Both are walking cities with steep, cobbled hills, and neither needs a car in the centre. Granada eases the climb with small red minibuses up to the Alhambra, the Albaicín and Sacromonte, and its flat lower town is easy going.

Toledo's whole old town fits into a twenty-minute crossing, with public escalators lifting you from the car parks below the walls. Its station sits across the river, a bus ride or steep walk from the centre.

Granada offers a bit more, with the Alcaicería for browsing, taracea inlaid woodwork, Fajalauza ceramics and handmade guitars, plus Spanish chains and a department store around Calle Recogidas for everyday needs.

Toledo's shopping is narrower and built on its metal crafts: gold-inlaid damascene work and Toledo blades, alongside marzipan and Talavera ceramics. Souvenir stock crowds the cathedral streets in both, and for fashion Toledo sends you to Madrid.

The two are broadly level on cost, with Granada a shade easier. Both keep the free tapa with a drink, which makes eating out cheap, and in both the prices climb wherever there is a view: Albaicín boutique stays and Alhambra-facing terraces in Granada, Tagus-view hotels inside Toledo's walls.

The extra cost in Toledo is entry to the sights, since the cathedral, synagogues and El Greco sites each charge separately. In Granada it is flamenco shows aimed at visitors.

Granada has far more to watch in the evening. Flamenco is the living art, from zambra in the Sacromonte caves to rawer nights in Albaicín peñas, and the summer International Festival of Music and Dance puts concerts and ballet inside the Alhambra and the Generalife's open-air theatre.

Toledo has the Teatro de Rojas with a regional programme, occasional church music and the Corpus Christi processions. On an ordinary night there is little on, and serious concerts mean Madrid.

Granada is the better place to slow down. Its hammams in the lower Albaicín revive the Moorish bathing ritual, and the spa towns of Lanjarón and Alhama de Granada, with springs used since Roman times, are within an hour.

Toledo has no bathing tradition of its own beyond ruins, a few Arab-style baths and hotel spas. Its restful side is the stillness of early mornings and evenings over the Tagus, good for a slow night or two rather than a restorative stay.