Lisbon or Ronda?

Neither place is built for a beach vacation, but Lisbon at least has sand within reach by train. The coastal line passes the surf beach at Carcavelos and calmer bays at Estoril and Cascais, and Costa da Caparica lies across the river. The water is cool Atlantic, often with too much swell for easy swimming.

From Ronda the nearest sea is the Costa del Sol, about 50km of hairpin road away. The Mediterranean there is warmer, but the trip takes a whole day and is impractical without a car, so most visitors swim in a pool.

Lisbon gives you far more to eat. Family tascas grill fish and cook bacalhau, seafood halls serve clams and crab, every corner has a pastelaria, and Alentejo and Douro wines come cheap by the glass. The markets at Ribeira and Campo de Ourique add plenty of variety.

Ronda's cooking is honest mountain food: oxtail stew, lamb, game, cured ham and autumn chestnuts, best in the Mercadillo's tapas bars. The range is narrow and fine dining is scarce, so a food lover will have covered it within a few days.

Lisbon's heritage spreads across several distinct districts: Belem's monastery and tower, the rebuilt Baixa grid, and the medieval lanes of Alfama below the castle. Add the Gulbenkian and the Tile Museum, and you need three or four days to see it properly.

Ronda's main sight is its setting. The Puente Nuevo crosses a gorge over 100m deep between the Moorish old town and the Mercadillo, and the old bullring, the Arab baths and the rock-cut stairway are close by. The sights are memorable but compact, and one or two days is enough.

The nightlife gap is wide. Lisbon goes out late, with crowds drinking in the lanes of Bairro Alto, bars in Cais do Sodre's old sailors' haunts, cocktails in Principe Real and warehouse clubs by the river that run until dawn.

In Ronda the evening is dinner. The Plaza del Socorro stays busy on summer nights and a few bars serve a drink afterwards, but there are almost no clubs, and outside the September fair the town is asleep by the early hours.

Both are equally strong for the outdoors, but the landscapes are different. Lisbon's is coast and forest: the misty Sintra hills, the cliffs at Cabo da Roca, kitesurfing at Guincho, surf at Ericeira and the Arrabida ridges, with dolphins in the Sado estuary. There are no real mountains.

Ronda is mountain country. It has the green limestone crags of Grazalema with griffon vultures, Spanish fir forests in the Sierra de las Nieves, climbing on the Tajo cliffs and the Caminito del Rey within an hour. It suits hikers rather than surfers.

Lisbon has the stronger and easier list. Sintra's palaces are about forty minutes away by train, and Cascais and Mafra are close. Further out are Evora, three UNESCO monasteries at Alcobaca, Batalha and Tomar, and walled Obidos.

Ronda's outings are charming but need a car: the white villages such as Setenil de las Bodegas and Zahara de la Sierra, Roman Acinipo and the painted Pileta cave. Seville and Málaga can be done in a day, but they are long ones.

Lisbon has proper attractions for children. The Oceanario, the science centre and the cable car are side by side at the Parque das Nacoes, and the trams and funiculars count as rides. Its hills and slippery pavements are hard with a pushchair.

Ronda is also steep and cobbled, and it offers little beyond the bridge, the gorge walk and nearby caves, which suit older children best. With no zoo or aquarium, families tend to base themselves at a country house with a pool.

Lisbon is easier to get around without a car. The metro, historic trams, funiculars, suburban trains and river ferries all run on one card, though the hills are tiring and the trams are slow and crowded.

Ronda is small enough to walk across in minutes, steep lanes into La Ciudad aside. The trouble starts beyond the town: buses and trains are slow and infrequent, so the villages and natural parks really need a hire car.

Lisbon is a real shopping destination. Chiado has old shops and glove makers, Principe Real has designers and antiques, and the LX Factory and Feira da Ladra are good for browsing. Azulejo tiles, cork and Burel wool are distinctive things to take home.

Ronda offers Carrera Espinel's ordinary high-street shops and souvenir ceramics and leather near the bridge. The best things to take home are edible: local wine, cured meats and convent sweets.

Ronda is the slightly cheaper of the two. Tapas and set lunches are good value, the town costs nothing to get around and rural houses are fairly priced. A hire car is the main extra cost, and gorge-view hotels charge more.

Lisbon's coffee, house wine and transport are cheap, but central rooms cost about as much as in other southern capitals. Restaurants and rooftop bars aimed at visitors in Baixa and Chiado also push the bill up.

Lisbon has its own music to hear every night. Fado is sung over dinner in Alfama and Mouraria, from polished rooms to tiny places where neighbours take turns singing. The Gulbenkian orchestra, the São Carlos opera house and the Centro Cultural de Belem add a formal programme.

Ronda has little beyond flamenco staged for visitors and a small municipal theatre. The exception is the September fair, when the Corrida Goyesca is held in eighteenth-century costume in the old bullring.

Neither has a bathing culture: Ronda's Arab baths are a monument rather than a place to bathe, and both rely on hotel spas. The difference is where you find calm. Lisbon's old quarters are noisy, so a restful stay means gardens by day and sleeping out on the Cascais coast or in the Sintra hills.

Ronda grows quiet once the day-trippers leave in the late afternoon. Farmhouses in the olive-covered hills, with pools and wide views, make doing nothing easy.