Jerez de la Frontera or Rabat?

Neither city is a beach resort, but Jerez gives you better sand within an easy trip. The Costa de la Luz has long, open beaches of fine golden sand: Valdelagrana is a short ride away, La Caleta and Playa de la Victoria in Cádiz are half an hour by train, and La Barrosa and Sanlúcar are within an hour.

Rabat has a beach right in town, below the Kasbah walls. It is a rough, crowded local spot used more for football and surfing than for swimming. For calmer water you take a taxi south to Temara or Skhirat, where modest beachwear is the norm.

Jerez offers more depth, built on a single tradition: sherry, from fino to Pedro Ximénez, served in the bodegas and tabancos alongside kidneys and oxtail cooked in it, and fried fish from the nearby coast. Drinking is central to the whole experience.

Rabat offers Moroccan home cooking without the show of the bigger medinas: Friday couscous, harira, snail broth and msemen from evening stalls, and plain grilled Atlantic fish. Alcohol is kept discreet, and the international restaurants of Agdal and Hassan only widen the choice a little.

Rabat has the richer set of sights, covering almost two thousand years. You can see the Almohad gate and Andalusian garden of the Kasbah of the Udayas, the unfinished Hassan Tower beside the Mausoleum of Mohammed V, and the Roman and Marinid ruins of the Chellah with their nesting storks. The art deco Ville Nouvelle adds a French colonial layer.

Jerez has its own Almohad Alcázar, a Baroque cathedral and Gothic-Mudéjar parish churches, but its strengths are more specialised: the cathedral-like sherry bodegas and the dressage horses of the Royal Andalusian School of Equestrian Art. Both cities take two or three days to see.

Jerez goes out much later. Tapas bars and copa bars around Plaza del Arenal stay busy past midnight, and during the Feria del Caballo in May the casetas dance until dawn. It is still a provincial scene, though.

Rabat's evenings are spent in cafés and on walks along the Bou Regreg. Drinking mostly happens in hotel bars and a few lounges in Agdal, and there are hardly any clubs, so people after a big night out go to Casablanca.

Both cities have cork-oak forest nearby, Los Alcornocales near Jerez and the Maamora outside Rabat, but Jerez has far more beyond that. The limestone gorges and marked trails of the Sierra de Grazalema are a little over an hour away. Boats from Sanlúcar cross to Doñana's wetlands, and the coast towards Tarifa is one of Europe's main kitesurfing areas.

Around Rabat the landscape is mostly the estuary and low coastal cliffs, which are good for surfing, paddling and birdwatching at Sidi Boughaba. The Middle Atlas and the Rif are several hours away. On the other hand, Rabat is mild enough to be outdoors all summer, when Jerez is too hot for hiking.

Jerez is the stronger base. Seville is an hour away by train, Cádiz is half an hour, and the sherry towns of El Puerto and Sanlúcar are next door. With a car you can add Arcos, Vejer, Ronda and even Gibraltar.

Rabat works well because of its railway. Casablanca's Hassan II Mosque is an hour away and Tangier is an hour and a half by high-speed train, with Asilah and Meknes also on the network. Salé is a half day by tram. Fez and Volubilis need an overnight stay, though, so the choice of easy outings is smaller.

For families the two are much the same: each has a good zoo and few attractions built for children. What differs is the setting. Jerez has dancing-horse shows and wide, gently sloping beaches nearby, but town is very hot in midsummer. Rabat has an untroubled medina, a large modern zoo with open African enclosures and gardens to run around in, but its city beaches need close watching because of the waves.

Getting around is about equally easy, since both centres are flat and walkable. Jerez is compact enough that you rarely need a bus, but you will want a hire car for the white towns, the sierra and the better beaches. In Rabat the tram and the plentiful blue petit taxis cover the outer sights, and the railway reaches the main day trips, so you can manage without a car.

Rabat has more to shop for. The covered Rue des Consuls is lined with carpet dealers, brass, leather and embroidered textiles, Rabat's dense pile carpets are a craft of their own, and the haggling is gentler than in bigger souks. Salé, across the river, adds pottery.

In Jerez the things worth buying are specialist. You can take home sherry and brandy straight from the bodegas, saddlery and riding boots from long-standing craftsmen, and flamenco dresses or guitars. Beyond that, Calle Larga is mostly Spanish chain stores.

Rabat is a little cheaper day to day. Medina meals, café terraces, the tram and taxis cost very little, and many sights are free or nearly so. Hotels and the Agdal restaurants cost more than elsewhere in Morocco, and alcohol is the expensive item.

Jerez is good value for Western Europe, with cheap sherry and tapas in the tabancos. Room prices jump during the Feria, the flamenco festival and the motorcycle race weekends, so it is worth planning around those dates.

Jerez is far ahead for live performance, because flamenco is still a living local art there. You can hear it close up in the peñas of Santiago and San Miguel and in informal tabanco sessions, and the late-winter festival brings major dancers to the Teatro Villamarta.

Rabat's big draw is the Mawazine festival, with international pop stars and Gnawa musicians on open-air stages. At other times its national theatres run irregular programmes, mostly in Arabic and French, and you have to look for Andalusian and chaabi concerts.

Rabat has the real bathing culture. Neighbourhood hammams in the medina and in Salé offer steam and a black-soap scrub, and hotel spas provide the same ritual with more comfort. Add the calm boulevards and the kasbah garden, and the city is easy to relax in.

Jerez has a single Arab-style bathhouse and a few hotel spas. It is restful in a different way: long lunches, shaded patios and the quiet hours of the afternoon heat.