Jerusalem or Petra?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Jerusalem can at least manage a beach day. Tel Aviv's long sandy shore is about an hour away door to door, and the salt-crusted Dead Sea, where you float rather than swim, is an hour's drive downhill. From Petra the only sea is the Red Sea at Aqaba, two hours south, with reefs close to shore. That makes it a separate stop on a Jordan tour rather than an outing, and swimming in Wadi Musa means a hotel pool.

Jerusalem is a far better place to eat. Mahane Yehuda, the Arab hummus counters and ka'ak carts of the Old City, Kurdish kubbeh and Iraqi sabich give it real range. Kosher menus and Shabbat closures in the west are the main things to plan around.

Petra has no food scene of its own, just hotel buffets and roadside restaurants serving mansaf, maqluba and zarb from the underground pit. Its best moments are simpler: sweet sage tea at a stall on the trail, or a Bedouin meal in the hills.

Both are worth a long journey, but Jerusalem gives more to see. Its Old City stacks the Western Wall, the Holy Sepulchre and the Dome of the Rock over excavations reaching back to the Bronze Age. Outside the walls, the Israel Museum with the Dead Sea Scrolls and Yad Vashem add two major institutions.

Petra is one site, though a vast and astonishing one: the Siq opening onto the Treasury, the Royal Tombs, the colonnaded street and the climb to the Monastery fill two or three days. Once you leave the park and its museum, Wadi Musa has nothing to see, while Jerusalem's history runs through the whole city.

Jerusalem's nights are modest, but they exist. Market stalls at Mahane Yehuda become bars, pubs fill the Nahalat Shiva lanes and the German Colony has its own strip, even if Friday is quiet and clubs are rare. In Petra the evening is a shisha on a terrace and bed before the next day's walking, and a beer at a hotel bar is about as far as it goes.

Petra is the stronger pick for the outdoors, because the landscape is the visit. The sandstone domes and wadis of the Sharah mountains carry trails through Wadi Muthlim and up Jebel Haroun, and the long-distance Jordan Trail passes through. Further out are Dana's juniper slopes with descents into Wadi Feynan, and Wadi Rum's red sand and granite peaks.

Jerusalem's walking is gentler and more of a side dish: pine forest and spring-fed terraces around Sataf and Ein Karem, the Wadi Qelt canyon toward Jericho, and Ein Gedi's oasis or a dawn climb of the Snake Path at Masada.

Jerusalem is one of the best bases in the region for days out. Bethlehem is just south, Masada pairs with Qumran by the Dead Sea, and Tel Aviv and old Jaffa are half an hour by train. Caesarea, Acre and the Baha'i gardens in Haifa are within about two hours, though West Bank sites can mean a checkpoint and often a guide.

From Petra the list is short: Shobak castle combined with Dana village, Kerak further up the King's Highway, and Aqaba to the south. Jerash, Madaba and the Dead Sea are too far and belong to a stay in Amman.

Jerusalem has more for children: the Biblical Zoo, the aquarium beside it, the hands-on Bloomfield Science Museum and the wade through Hezekiah's Tunnel, even if the Old City's steps defeat a stroller. Petra can thrill older, sturdy children who like scrambling into tombs. But long shadeless walks, the hard climb to the Monastery and nothing made for children in Wadi Musa rule it out for most families with toddlers.

Jerusalem's centre is walkable, if hilly. The light rail runs past the Old City walls to Yad Vashem, buses cover the rest and a fast train reaches Tel Aviv and the airport. The weekly gap is Shabbat, when it all stops.

At Petra you cover long distances on foot inside the park, Wadi Musa climbs steeply away from the gate, and there is no local transport to rely on. Wadi Rum, Dana and the castles all need a taxi, a hired driver or a rental car, which is why many visitors see southern Jordan as a road trip.

Jerusalem gives a shopper far more: bargaining in the Old City souq, hand-painted Armenian ceramics, silver and glass Judaica near Ben Yehuda Street, international brands at Mamilla and spices at Mahane Yehuda. Petra's offer is souvenirs, from Bedouin silver at trail stalls to bottles of coloured sand in town, and the women's cooperatives selling embroidery are where the purchases worth making are.

Petra is the lighter stay on the wallet once the entry fee is paid. Wadi Musa has guesthouses and well-priced mid-range hotels, and falafel and shawarma are cheap. Costs climb mainly with hotel buffets, imported drinks and the drivers needed to go further.

Jerusalem is expensive almost everywhere, with hotels, sit-down meals and alcohol well above most of the Mediterranean, especially around the Jewish festivals. Free holy sites, cheap hummus lunches and eating in the Arab neighbourhoods help, but they do not close the gap.

Jerusalem has a real, if small, programme: the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, the Jerusalem Theatre, the yearly Israel Festival and summer concerts in the Sultan's Pool below the walls, though most drama is in Hebrew. Petra's one show is Petra by Night, with candles lining the Siq and rababa music before the Treasury, memorable when the crowd keeps quiet. Otherwise there are only hotel dinner shows and songs around a fire at a Bedouin camp.

Jerusalem is the better choice for unwinding, largely thanks to its neighbour. The Dead Sea resorts with mineral mud and sulphur pools are about an hour away, and the city itself offers the Shabbat hush in the west and quiet gardens on the Mount of Olives. Petra is about effort rather than rest, and a steam and scrub at a Wadi Musa bathhouse is the usual reward for tired legs, with the Dead Sea a long drive north.