Madrid or Toledo?

Neither city has a beach, and the coast is several hours from both. In summer the difference is in how you cool off. Madrid has big municipal open-air pools, and the reservoirs below the Sierra de Guadarrama are a drive away. In Toledo the Tagus runs through a rocky gorge that nobody swims in, so it comes down to a hotel pool or a municipal one.

Madrid is the place to eat. As the capital it draws in the whole country, so Galician seafood and Basque grills sit beside cocido, callos and calamari sandwiches. A serious tier of tasting menus sits on top, and market halls such as San Miguel and Antón Martín fill the gaps between meals.

Toledo has a few good things to try: partridge stewed in wine and vinegar, game from the Montes de Toledo, carcamusas and convent marzipan. The choice is narrow, though, and the lanes by the cathedral are given over to set menus for day-trippers. Count on a few good regional meals there rather than a food trip.

Both are first-rate, but Madrid has the greater depth. Along the Paseo del Prado, the Prado, the Reina Sofía and the Thyssen hold Velázquez, Goya, Bosch and Guernica within a short walk of each other, enough for days. Around them stand the Royal Palace and Habsburg Plaza Mayor. The city's weak point is medieval history, of which it has little.

Toledo has exactly what Madrid lacks. Its whole walled old town is one layered monument, with the mosque of Cristo de la Luz, the synagogues of Santa María la Blanca and El Tránsito, the cathedral and El Greco's paintings in Santo Tomé. The town is smaller, though, and its main sights fit into two full days.

These two could hardly be further apart after dark. In Madrid the bars fill after midnight and the clubs around Gran Vía and Sol run past dawn. Each district has its own scene: rock in Malasaña, the gay scene in Chueca, terraces in La Latina.

Toledo's night is a late dinner and a round of tapas bars around Zocodover. After that the old town falls quiet, which many visitors like. There is no club scene, and the usual advice for a proper night out is the half-hour train back to Madrid.

Madrid has the real outdoors within reach. About an hour north, the Sierra de Guadarrama rises above 2,400m, with the granite boulders of La Pedriza, glacial lakes below Peñalara and modest winter skiing. In the city itself, the Retiro, Casa de Campo and Madrid Río are good for running and cycling.

Toledo's best outdoor moment is on its doorstep: the footpath around the Tagus gorge and the views back from the cigarrales on the far bank. Beyond that lie the flat La Mancha plain, the low wooded Montes de Toledo and Cabañeros national park about two hours away. There are no mountains.

Madrid sits at the hub of the high-speed network, which gives it the edge. Toledo and Segovia are each about half an hour away by fast train, and Salamanca and Cuenca are within an hour or two. El Escorial, Aranjuez and Alcalá de Henares are closer still, all without a car.

Toledo's best day out is Madrid itself, half an hour away for the Prado and the palace. Beyond that it looks south into La Mancha, to the windmills of Consuegra, Almagro's Golden Age theatre and the ceramics of Talavera. Those trips work best with a car, and Segovia or Ávila make long days from here.

Children are welcome in restaurants and plazas late into the evening in both cities, but Madrid has far more for them to do. There are the Retiro's rowing boats and puppet shows, the zoo, aquarium, funfair and cable car in Casa de Campo, and Faunia and a Warner Bros park further out. The flat centre and the metro's lifts make it easy with a pushchair.

Toledo's swords, armour and castle-like Alcázar catch young imaginations, and a large history-show theme park sits on the outskirts. Otherwise the steep cobbled lanes and the church-heavy sights wear children out quickly, so a short stay works best.

Madrid is the easier city to move around. The centre from the Royal Palace to the Prado is flat and walkable, and one of Europe's largest metro systems, air-conditioned and running to the airport, covers the rest.

Toledo is tiny by comparison, with almost everything inside a walled town you can cross in twenty minutes. That town sits on a steep hill of narrow cobbled lanes, though. The station lies across the river at the bottom, and the public escalators from the car parks only take the edge off the climb.

Madrid offers proper shopping by district. Luxury houses line Calle Serrano in Salamanca, flagships and department stores fill Gran Vía and Preciados, Malasaña and Conde Duque have independent and vintage shops, and El Rastro flea market takes over La Latina on Sunday mornings.

Toledo is about crafts rather than fashion: gold-inlaid damascene work, steel blades, Talavera ceramics and convent marzipan. Much of the stock near the cathedral is souvenirs, so it pays to seek out workshops that make their own. For clothes, people go to Madrid.

Toledo is the somewhat cheaper stay. A small tapa often comes with each drink, the taverns away from the cathedral serve good-value set lunches, and rooms below the walls are moderately priced. The catch is that the cathedral, the synagogues and the El Greco sites each charge separate entry.

Madrid's hotels cost what you would expect in a big capital. Its free museum hours, cheap metro and the midday menú del día keep the daily spend in check, but overall it costs a little more.

Madrid has a full stage life of its own. Opera plays at the Teatro Real, the national orchestra at the Auditorio Nacional and zarzuela at its own theatre. Gran Vía has long-running musicals, and serious flamenco is on in the tablaos every night, with jazz and indie venues in Malasaña.

Toledo has the nineteenth-century Teatro de Rojas with a regional programme, occasional organ and choral music in the churches, and the great Corpus Christi procession. On an ordinary evening there is little on, and serious performances mean the train to the capital.

Neither city is built for a restful stay, and both offer the same basic option: an Arab-style bathhouse with warm and cold pools under old vaults, or a hotel spa. The calm comes in different forms. Madrid is loud and late, and its slow hours are found in the shade of the Retiro or the Botanical Garden. Toledo is quiet by default in the early mornings and evenings, when the tour groups have gone and the terraces over the Tagus empty out.