Jerez de la Frontera or Valencia?

Jerez is about 12km from the sea, so a beach day means a train or car out to Valdelagrana, Cádiz or the wide sands at Sanlúcar and La Barrosa. These are fine open Atlantic beaches, but the water is cooler and the Levante wind can make some days rough.

Valencia has its beaches inside the city. Las Arenas, Malvarrosa and Patacona are about twenty minutes from the centre, with calm, shallow, warmer water and a long promenade. If you want quieter sand, El Saler lies behind the dunes and pines of the Albufera park, so a swim fits easily around the rest of the day.

Each city is built around a single tradition. In Jerez it is sherry: bodega tastings, tabancos pouring fino from the barrel with chicharrones, and kidneys or oxtail cooked in the wine. It goes deep but it is narrow, and only a few kitchens try anything modern.

Valencia gives you more to eat your way through. Rice dishes from paella valenciana to arroz negro, eel stew in the Albufera villages, the great modernista Mercado Central, horchata in Alboraya and a serious creative scene in Ruzafa mean you can eat well for longer without repeating yourself.

Valencia has the bigger list of sights. The UNESCO-listed Lonja de la Seda, a cathedral that keeps a chalice venerated as the Holy Grail, the medieval gates and the ceramics museum fill the old town, while the City of Arts and Sciences and the Bellas Artes collection add modern architecture and serious painting.

Jerez's appeal is narrower but very much its own. You get the Almohad Alcázar, the Gothic-Mudéjar parish churches, cathedral-like bodegas full of stacked barrels and the equestrian school's dressage horses. Two or three days cover it.

Valencia has a proper night out. Ruzafa's cocktail and wine bars, the older bars and student crowd of El Carmen and cheaper student streets around Benimaclet give you choice all year, and in summer open-air clubs by the port run until dawn.

Jerez stays sociable but small, with tapas, copas and tabancos around Plaza del Arenal and Calle Larga until after midnight and only a few clubs. The one real exception is the Feria del Caballo in May, when the casetas go on all night for a week.

There is little between them overall, but the outdoors works differently in each. Valencia's nature starts at the edge of town: the Albufera lagoon and its rice fields are about 10km away for sunset boat trips, and the Turia gardens and flat coast make cycling easy every day.

Jerez's own surroundings are gentle chalky vineyards, but further out the scenery gets bigger. You have the limestone gorges and trails of the Sierra de Grazalema, the cork-oak forests of Los Alcornocales, Doñana's wetlands across the river from Sanlúcar and the kitesurfing coast towards Tarifa. It is wilder, though you will mostly need a car.

Jerez is the stronger base. Seville is about an hour by train, ancient Cádiz is half an hour away, and El Puerto and Sanlúcar complete the sherry triangle. By car you can reach Arcos, Vejer and Ronda, and even Gibraltar, so a week here can easily cover a good stretch of Andalusia.

Valencia's outings are good but lower-key: Roman Sagunto and castle-topped Xàtiva by local train, Cuenca's hanging houses by high-speed rail, and Peñíscola or Elche nearer two hours away.

Valencia is far easier with children. The Oceanogràfic, the science museum, the Hemisfèric dome and Bioparc can fill several days, the Turia gardens give car-free space for scooters and the giant Gulliver figure, and shallow beaches are close by.

Jerez welcomes children as warmly as anywhere in Andalusia, and the zoo and the dancing horses are real treats. Beyond those, the centre holds less for younger ones, the beaches need a trip out, and summer in town is very hot.

Both have flat, compact centres you can see on foot. Valencia adds much more on top. It is one of Spain's best cycling cities, with the Turia gardens as a car-free route, a bike-share scheme, and metro and tram lines out to the airport, port and beaches.

Jerez needs little transport in town, and its station has direct trains to Seville and Cádiz. The white towns, the sierra and many of the beaches, though, really call for a hired car.

Valencia gives you a real shopping district in the Ensanche, with chains, international labels and luxury boutiques around Calle Colón, independent and vintage shops in El Carmen and Ruzafa, and Manises ceramics to take home.

In Jerez, Calle Larga is pleasant but provincial. The things worth buying are specialist: sherry and brandy from the bodegas, hand-made saddlery and riding boots, and flamenco dresses and guitars near the old quarters.

Jerez is the cheaper stay. A night of tapas and sherry in the tabancos costs little, bodega tours are inexpensive, and since the sights are within walking distance you hardly spend on transport. Rooms get scarce and dear around the Feria, the winter flamenco festival and the motorcycle race weekends.

Valencia is still good value for a large city, especially with its set lunch menu and cheap bike hire. The beach rice restaurants, the City of Arts and Sciences tickets and the Fallas week in March push costs up more.

Jerez is the place for flamenco as a living local art. The peñas of Santiago and San Miguel hold evenings visitors can attend, tabancos have rough-edged sessions of the bulería, and the late-winter festival brings major dancers to the Teatro Villamarta. Beyond flamenco there is little else.

Valencia is stronger in classical performance. The Palau de les Arts has its own well-regarded orchestra for opera and ballet, and the Palau de la Música hosts the city orchestra. A small jazz circuit and the region's wind bands round it out.

Neither city has a real spa culture, and the choice is similar: a few Arab-style bathhouses and hotel spas. Valencia's medieval Baños del Almirante survive only as a monument.

The difference is in how you slow down. Jerez offers shaded patios, long lunches and a quiet afternoon siesta, while Valencia has seafront promenade walks and the shady Turia paths, with resort hotels along the coast for anyone wanting proper pampering.