Jerez de la Frontera or Tangier?

Neither city has a beach you would choose right in town, but Jerez has more good sand within easy reach. Valdelagrana and El Puerto are a short train ride away. La Caleta and Playa de la Victoria in Cádiz are about half an hour off, and the long golden beaches of Sanlúcar, Chipiona and La Barrosa are within an hour, though the Levante wind roughens some days.

Tangier's city beach curves below the modern town, but the swimming is better out west at Achakar and Cap Spartel, where there is surf and the water is cooler, or down near Asilah. Beach life there is a modest local affair in summer, with more modest dress than on the Spanish side.

Jerez offers depth in one tradition. Sherry is poured from the barrel in tabancos and at bodega tastings, kitchens cook oxtail and kidneys in it, and the tapas bars around Plaza del Arenal and the San Miguel quarter fill up late. Food and a glass of fino go together all over town.

Tangier's table is Moroccan home cooking: sardines grilled at the port, tagines, bissara and harira, and snack stalls around the Grand Socco. It is honest food but a narrower choice. Wine and beer are limited to certain restaurants and hotels, so the long café session over mint tea takes the place of the bar.

Both cities reward two or three days of wandering, but they differ in kind. Jerez has an Almohad Alcázar, a Baroque cathedral and Gothic-Mudéjar parish churches, plus two things found nowhere else: the great sherry bodegas and the dressage horses of the Royal Andalusian School.

Tangier's appeal is its atmosphere and its history where Europe meets Africa. There is the kasbah museum looking across to Spain, the whitewashed medina and the American Legation, and the Art Deco streets of the Ville Nouvelle carry traces of Paul Bowles and the Beat writers.

Jerez is the livelier of the two after dark, mostly because drinking is part of ordinary evening life. A round of tapas around Plaza del Arenal or Calle Larga leads easily into late sherry in a tabanco or a copa bar, and a handful of clubs and music bars are there for anyone who wants more. It is still a provincial town, but for one week in May the Feria del Caballo keeps the fairground casetas going until dawn. In summer, El Puerto de Santa María is close enough for a night by the sea.

Evenings in Tangier are sober by comparison. Social life happens over mint tea on café terraces and along the promenade, and if you want a drink you have to look for one of the old bars from the international era, a hotel lounge or, in summer, a beach club on the bay. There is no street drinking and no club district, so the city suits a quiet evening much better than a long night out.

Jerez has the bigger landscapes within reach. The gorges and marked trails of the Sierra de Grazalema are just over an hour away, and there are the cork-oak forests of Los Alcornocales, boats across the Guadalquivir to the edge of Doñana, and kitesurfing on the coast towards Tarifa. Riding through the chalky vineyards is a gentler option.

Tangier's outdoors is closer to town but smaller: the cliffs and pine paths of Cap Spartel, the wooded Perdicaris park, and storks and raptors crossing the Strait on migration. Proper mountain walking in the Rif needs an overnight stay.

Both are good bases, and Jerez is the stronger one. Seville is an hour away by train and Cádiz half an hour, the sherry towns of El Puerto and Sanlúcar are on the doorstep, and with a car you can reach Arcos, Vejer and Ronda.

Tangier's list is shorter but more varied. Asilah and Tetouan are within an hour, Chefchaouen makes a long day, Rabat is reachable by fast train, and ferries cross to Tarifa. In fact Tarifa can be reached from both cities, so a trip could easily combine the two.

Jerez is the easier city for families. Its zoo and botanical garden is one of the better ones in Spain, the horse show usually delights children, and the wide sandy beaches nearby fill summer days, though July and August in town are very hot.

Tangier is warm towards children and cooler in summer, but it has no zoo or theme park. The stairways in the medina defeat a pushchair, and the touts can wear parents down. A hotel pool and short outings to the Perdicaris park or the Caves of Hercules work best.

The centre of Jerez is flat and compact, and its sights, bodegas and tapas streets are a short walk apart. Trains from the central station run to Seville, Cádiz and the airport, and only the white towns and the hills really call for a hired car.

Tangier is walkable at its core, but the medina is steep and confusing at first, and there is no metro, no tram and no bus service of much use to visitors. Cheap petit taxis fill the gap. The ferry port in the city centre and the fast train south are the city's strongest connections.

Tangier has more to browse. The medina lanes from the Petit Socco up towards the kasbah sell leather slippers, rugs, lanterns, ceramics and the striped cloth of the Rif, and bargaining is expected. On Saturdays, farm women from the hills bring produce and woven hats to the Grand Socco.

Jerez has less choice, but what it has is very local: sherry and brandy from the bodegas, saddlery and leather riding boots, flamenco dresses and guitars. Calle Larga covers the everyday chains.

Jerez is reasonable for Western Europe, and its small size helps. The Alcázar, the bodegas and the tapas streets are a short walk apart, so you spend little on getting around. A bodega tour is cheap, and sherry costs little in the town that makes it, so an evening of tapas doesn't add up quickly. Watch the calendar, though: the horse fair, the flamenco festival and race weekends at the circuit all fill the town and push room rates up sharply.

Tangier is cheaper on almost every count, from a plate of tagine to a ticket for the kasbah museum or the American Legation. The gap shrinks the more European you want your stay to feel. A hotel with a sea view, a seafront terrace in high summer or a dinner with wine can bring costs much closer to Spanish levels. A riad room in spring or autumn is where Tangier offers the best value.

This is where the two cities differ most. Jerez is one of the birthplaces of flamenco, and you can hear it close up in the peñas of Santiago and San Miguel, in informal tabanco sessions and in tablaos. The late-winter festival fills the Teatro Villamarta with major dancers.

Tangier's musical story lies mostly in the past, in the Jajouka musicians and the international era. Today there is gnawa and Andalusian classical music at festivals, a long-running jazz festival and the historic art-house cinema on the Grand Socco, but little to see on an ordinary night.

Tangier has the bathing tradition that Jerez lacks. Neighbourhood hammams offer the full ritual of steam, black soap and a scrub with the kessa glove, riads and larger hotels run more comfortable versions, and riad rooftops make good places to while away an afternoon.

Jerez has one Arab-style bathhouse and a few hotel spas. It relaxes you in other ways, through long lunches, shaded patios and the quiet of the afternoon heat, best enjoyed in spring and autumn.