Luxor or Marrakech?

Neither city has a beach, and in both the swim that matters on a hot afternoon is in a pool. What differs is the nearest coast. From Luxor it is the warm Red Sea around Hurghada, about four hours away and worth adding as a separate leg, while Marrakech has the cool, windy Atlantic at Essaouira, which is closer but better for a stroll than a swim, and the Lalla Takerkoust reservoir for a lakeside afternoon.

Marrakech gives you more to look forward to at the table. Tagines, pastilla, tanjia slow-cooked in the embers of a hammam furnace and the grill stalls of Jemaa el-Fna at dusk make eating part of the trip, even if riad menus start to repeat after a few days.

Luxor's cooking is plainer Egyptian fare such as ful, taameya, koshari and grilled kofta. The most satisfying meals tend to be home cooking in West Bank guesthouses rather than hotel buffets or temple-view rooftops. In both cities, alcohol is limited to hotels and licensed places.

Both cities are rewarding for sightseeing, but Luxor works on a different scale. Karnak, Luxor Temple, the Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut's terraced temple and the painted Tombs of the Nobles fill several full days among the monuments of ancient Thebes, although the modern town has little from later periods.

Marrakech offers a living medieval city instead. The walled medina, the Koutoubia, the Ben Youssef Madrasa, the Bahia and El Badi palaces and the Jardin Majorelle can be seen in two or three days, and much of the pleasure lies in the streets themselves rather than in any single sight.

Neither is a destination for a night out, but Marrakech at least gives you an evening. You can have dinner around Jemaa el-Fna and a sunset cocktail on a rooftop terrace, and for those who want more there are lounge bars and a few large clubs in Hivernage and Gueliz. Luxor goes to bed early, and a day that began before dawn at the tombs usually ends in a hotel bar or with tea and shisha in a café on the corniche.

Marrakech has much more to offer outdoors because the High Atlas is within easy reach. From the city you can walk between Berber villages from Imlil, climb Jebel Toubkal, visit the waterfalls of the Ourika valley, ski at Oukaimeden in winter or take a camel ride in the Agafay desert.

Luxor offers a single, striking landscape: the green strip of the Nile set against bare desert cliffs. It is best seen from a felucca at sunset, by bicycle through the West Bank fields or from the path over the Theban hills to Deir el-Bahari. Both cities offer hot-air balloon flights at dawn.

Luxor is the better base for day trips, as long as you want more temples. Dendera's painted ceilings, the vivid reliefs at Esna and the near-complete temple at Edfu are all within two hours, and Abydos makes a long but rewarding day.

From Marrakech, the excursions worth taking go into the mountains and the desert, and the towns people most want to see lie further away. Essaouira is a long day at best and better with a night there, and Ait Benhaddou needs an overnight stay over the Tizi n'Tichka pass. That leaves the foothill souks and the mosque at Tinmel as the nearer choices.

Both cities are hard going with young children and work best for older ones with a particular interest. Luxor suits a child fascinated by mummies and pharaohs, with tombs to crawl into and the Mummification Museum, though the sites mean long walks over hot, shadeless ground. Marrakech suits a child who enjoys markets and the street performers of Jemaa el-Fna, but its crowded lanes, shared with motorbikes and carts, need close watching.

In either city a pool, shade and a calm place to stay matter more than any attraction, and the cooler months make everything easier.

Getting about is much the same in both: a mix of walking and taxis, with fares agreed before you set off and no metro or tram. What differs is the layout. In Luxor the East Bank sights are walkable and a ferry crosses the Nile, but the West Bank sites are spread over several kilometres and most visitors hire a driver for the day. The Marrakech medina is compact but a maze of unnamed alleys that you can only explore on foot, and petit taxis link it to Gueliz and the Majorelle garden.

Marrakech is a shopping destination, and Luxor is not. The souks north of Jemaa el-Fna are laid out by trade and full of carpets, lanterns, leather, babouches and argan oil, and the boutiques of Gueliz and the Sidi Ghanem showrooms sell design pieces for anyone who tires of bargaining.

In Luxor, shopping mostly means souvenir stock in the tourist souk and at stalls outside the sites. The alabaster workshops on the West Bank are the one place worth a special visit.

Both are cheap once you are there, but your money goes further in Luxor. Guesthouses, local food and river crossings cost very little, and even the grand riverside hotels are good value. The catch is the entry fees at every temple and tomb, which become the largest expense over several days.

Marrakech is still inexpensive for food, taxis and entry to the palaces, but its boutique riads, palace hotels and smart restaurants charge international prices, and alcohol is expensive. In both cities the first price quoted to visitors is set high, so agree every price before you pay.

Marrakech has more to watch, because its performances happen outdoors every evening: gnawa musicians, drummers and storytellers in Jemaa el-Fna keep alive a tradition listed by UNESCO. Luxor's one regular show is the sound-and-light walk through floodlit Karnak, besides the belly dance and tanoura whirling staged in hotels and on cruise boats. Neither city has a theatre or a concert season.

Marrakech is the clear choice for rest. Every quarter of the medina has a public hammam, spa hammams add argan oil massages and rhassoul clay wraps, and the courtyards and roof terraces of the riads shut out the noise of the lanes.

Luxor has no bathing tradition, and spa treatments are found only in the larger riverside hotels. Its calm comes instead from the rhythm of the day, with a long afternoon by the pool and sunset on the river, and from staying among the fields of the West Bank rather than on the traffic-filled East Bank.