Lisbon or Barcelona?

Barcelona has what Lisbon lacks: sand inside the city itself. The run from Barceloneta to Mar Bella is a short walk or metro ride from the Born, and the Mediterranean is warm enough for an after-work swim through summer. The catch is the crowds and pickpockets in high season, which sends many people out to Sitges, Castelldefels or the Maresme.

Lisbon sits on an estuary, so every beach day starts with a train to Carcavelos and Cascais or a trip across the river to Costa da Caparica. The Atlantic is noticeably colder and often better for surfing than swimming, with the calm, clear Arrábida coves an hour's drive away. It works as a day out, not as the reason for a trip.

Barcelona has the wider range. Catalan cooking, from calçots with romesco to suquet, sits beside tapas bars, vermouth at midday and one of Europe's most serious tasting-menu scenes, with markets like Santa Caterina and Sant Antoni at the centre of daily eating.

Lisbon is simpler and more about the sea: grilled fish and bacalhau in family tascas, clams and prawns in beer halls, and warm custard tarts at every pastelaria. Its wine by the glass is a real strength and very cheap. In both cities the tourist strips, the Rambla and the Baixa, are where to avoid eating.

The two cities' heritage comes from different golden ages. Barcelona's signature is Modernisme, which you can see nowhere else: the Sagrada Família, Casa Batlló, La Pedrera and Park Güell, built beside a Gothic Quarter that keeps its Roman walls and the soaring Santa Maria del Mar. Add the Picasso Museum and the MNAC's Romanesque frescoes, and Barcelona holds a curious visitor for longer.

Lisbon's great age was the maritime one, remembered in the Manueline stonework of Belém, alongside the Baixa grid rebuilt after the 1755 earthquake and the medieval lanes of Alfama below the castle. It has fewer museums, but they are well chosen, especially the Gulbenkian and the National Tile Museum, and three or four days cover the essentials.

Barcelona's nights are bigger and more varied. Each district has its own tone, from cellar cocktail bars in the Born to outdoor drinking in Gràcia's squares, and electronic music runs deep, with serious club nights and summer open-air parties that keep weekends going until morning.

Lisbon's going out happens largely in the street, with crowds spilling through Bairro Alto's lanes and later into Cais do Sodré, then on to riverside warehouse clubs. Sunset drinks at the miradouros are a ritual of their own. It is cheaper and more relaxed, but a much smaller scene.

The two are close, but the landscapes differ. Barcelona looks inland to hills and rock: the Collserola trails and the Carretera de les Aigües at the city's edge, the pinnacles of Montserrat, the Montseny range and, at a stretch, the Pyrenees.

Lisbon looks to the Atlantic. Sintra's misty hills lead down to Cabo da Roca and the cliffs and dunes at Guincho, a kitesurfing spot, while Ericeira and Carcavelos draw surfers all year and Setúbal has boats out to the Sado dolphins. It has no real mountains, but much wilder coast than the Catalan seafront.

Both are excellent bases, and the choice is between Catalan and Portuguese history. From Barcelona, fast trains reach walled Girona in under forty minutes, Dalí's museum at Figueres and Roman Tarragona, with Montserrat, Sitges and the Penedès cava cellars closer still.

Lisbon's headline is Sintra, whose palaces fill a whole day, and beyond it lie Roman Évora among Alentejo vineyards and the three UNESCO monasteries of Alcobaça, Batalha and Tomar. Barcelona's trips lean on quick rail links, while several of Lisbon's work best with a car or a tour.

Barcelona is the easier city with children. The aquarium, the hands-on CosmoCaixa, the zoo and the funicular up to Tibidabo's old funfair cover several days, Gaudí's buildings tend to delight them, and PortAventura is an hour south.

Lisbon's Oceanário is a match for anything in Barcelona, with the science centre and cable car next door, and the yellow trams are a treat. The problem is the terrain: stairways, steep lanes and slick limestone make pushchairs hard work, so the old quarters suit a baby carrier better.

Barcelona's centre is flat, and you can walk from the Gothic Quarter through the Eixample grid to Gràcia in under an hour. The metro covers most of the city, so only Park Güell, Montjuïc and Tibidabo need a climb or a funicular.

Lisbon is compact but built on hills, and walking between Baixa, Alfama and Bairro Alto means steep climbs and slippery stone. The metro misses Belém and the old quarters, leaving the slow, crowded trams and funiculars to fill the gaps, though the trains to Sintra and Cascais and the river ferries are easy.

Barcelona offers more depth, with the Passeig de Gràcia's fashion houses among Modernista façades, Spanish high-street brands everywhere, and independent designers in the Born and vintage shops in the Raval. Espadrilles, conserves and cava make good things to take home.

Lisbon's appeal is its crafts rather than its range. Hand-painted azulejos, cork, Burel wool and decorated sardine tins are distinctive buys, best found in Chiado, Príncipe Real, the LX Factory and the Feira da Ladra, but international fashion is thin beyond the Avenida da Liberdade.

Lisbon is the cheaper of the two day to day. Coffee at the counter, tasca lunches, house wine and transport all cost little, and museum fees are modest.

In both cities rooms are the big expense, rising in summer and near the centre. Barcelona adds a tourist tax and steep tickets for the Gaudí buildings, so a sightseeing-heavy trip costs noticeably more there, though its weekday set lunches and market counters help.

Grand stages and festivals in one city, fado in small neighbourhood rooms in the other: that is the split, and Barcelona offers the wider evening out. The Liceu runs a full season of opera and ballet, any concert under the Palau de la Música's stained glass feels like an occasion, and in early summer Sónar and Primavera Sound draw music fans from across Europe. On ordinary nights there are jazz cellars and flamenco.

Lisbon's high point is hearing fado where it grew up, in Alfama, Mouraria and Bairro Alto, in anything from polished dining rooms to tiny places where neighbours take turns to sing. Beyond that, the Gulbenkian's concert season and the São Carlos opera make up a smaller formal scene. In both cities most theatre is in the local language.

Neither city is built for rest, and both centres are crowded and noisy late into the night. Barcelona at least has a few Arab-style bath houses in the old town, while Lisbon has no baths at all beyond hotel spas.

Calm in both comes from the local pace: a long lunch on a Gràcia square or under Montjuïc's trees, or an evening at a Lisbon viewpoint over the river. For a truly restful stay, Lisbon's easy answer is to sleep along the Cascais coast or in the Sintra hills, as Barcelona's is a nearby seaside town.