Madrid or Valencia?

There is no contest here. Valencia has a long stretch of fine golden sand within twenty minutes of the centre, with calm, shallow water from June into October. When Malvarrosa feels too busy, the quieter dune beaches inside the Albufera park are further south.

Madrid sits on the plateau, far from any coast. In summer the locals cool off in open-air pools or at the reservoirs below the Sierra de Guadarrama. That makes for a pleasant afternoon, but not a beach trip.

Madrid's strength is range and rhythm. You can do a standing tapas crawl through La Latina and Huertas, eat Castilian dishes such as cocido and callos, and find good cooking from every Spanish region, from Galician seafood to Basque grills, along with a top tier of tasting menus.

Valencia goes deeper on one thing. Rice is the centre of the table, eaten at lunch in the beachfront restaurants of Las Arenas or the Albufera villages, and the modernista Mercado Central is one of Europe's great food markets. With horchata in Alboraya and the creative kitchens of Ruzafa it is a superb food city, just a narrower one.

Madrid is one of the world's great cities for painting. The Prado, the Reina Sofía and the Thyssen-Bornemisza sit within a short walk of each other and give art lovers days of Velázquez, Goya and Guernica. The Royal Palace and Plaza Mayor frame a grand Habsburg and Bourbon centre, though little of it is medieval.

Valencia has the older streets. Its highlights are the Gothic silk exchange of the Lonja, the cathedral with its Grail chalice and the medieval gates of Serranos and Quart. The City of Arts and Sciences, its modern emblem, is about the buildings more than the collections, and two or three days cover the city well.

Both cities eat late and go out later, but Madrid does it on a bigger scale. Each district has its own kind of night, from the indie bars of Malasaña and the gay scene in Chueca to the big clubs around Gran Vía, which run past dawn every night in summer.

In Valencia the night centres on the cocktail and wine bars of Ruzafa and the older bars of El Carmen, and in summer it moves to open-air clubs near the beach. Outside the street parties of Fallas in March, it is a friendly local scene rather than a place people travel to for clubbing.

The two cities have about as much outdoors as each other, but of different kinds. Madrid's lies an hour north in the Sierra de Guadarrama, with granite peaks, the boulders of La Pedriza and some winter skiing. In town there are the Retiro and Casa de Campo.

Valencia's outdoors is flat and watery: the Albufera lagoon with its rice fields and herons only 10km south, pine dunes along the coast and the Turia gardens for cycling. For proper hills you need to drive inland to the Sierra Calderona or the Chulilla gorge.

Madrid is one of the best bases in Spain for day trips. High-speed trains reach Toledo and Segovia in about half an hour, Ávila's walls and Salamanca's sandstone university are not much further, and El Escorial and Aranjuez are closer still.

Valencia has good outings too: Roman Sagunto, the castle ridge at Xàtiva, and the hanging houses of Cuenca, which you can reach from either city. Beyond those, coastal towns such as Peñíscola and Altea take longer to reach, so there is less to choose from.

Valencia is the easier city with children. The Oceanogràfic, the hands-on science museum and Bioparc give you several days of outings. The Turia gardens have the giant Gulliver playground and car-free paths for scooters, and the shallow beaches suit small swimmers.

Madrid has rowing boats and puppet shows in the Retiro, the zoo and funfair in Casa de Campo and theme parks further out. But its great museums are aimed at adults and its summer heat is harder going. Both cities are relaxed about children out late at dinner.

Madrid's metro gives it the edge. It is one of Europe's largest networks, air-conditioned and running straight to the airport, and Atocha and Chamartín stations connect it to the fast trains. The centre, from the Royal Palace to the Prado, is easy to walk.

Valencia is the better city for a bicycle, with bike lanes, a bike-share scheme and the Turia gardens as a car-free route across town. Its metro and tram network is smaller, though, and the beaches and the City of Arts and Sciences are a ride away from the old town.

Madrid gives shoppers more. Calle Serrano in the Salamanca district has the luxury houses, Gran Vía and Preciados have the flagship stores and department stores, and Malasaña and Chueca have the independents. El Rastro fills the streets below La Latina every Sunday morning.

Valencia's Ensanche around Calle Colón covers the chains and boutiques well enough, but the real finds are local: ceramics from Manises, silk, and saffron and rice from the Mercado Central to take home.

Neither city is expensive by Western European standards, and in both the set lunch menu and tapas let you eat well for little. Valencia is easier on the budget, with reasonably priced rooms for most of the year, cheap transport and bike hire, and old-town museums that cost little.

Madrid's hotels are priced like those of any major capital, though its great museums are free at set times. If money matters in Valencia, avoid Fallas in March, when room prices rise sharply.

Madrid has much more on stage. The Teatro Real and the Auditorio Nacional lead on opera and orchestral music, the Teatro de la Zarzuela keeps Spanish light opera going, and Gran Vía is lined with long-running musicals. In the old centre the better flamenco tablaos put on serious singers, guitarists and dancers every night.

Valencia's high point is the Palau de les Arts, a fine opera and ballet house with its own orchestra beside the old riverbed. The Palau de la Música and a small jazz circuit in Ruzafa back it up, so there is always something worth seeing, just far less of it. If you come for Fallas in March, you will hear the region's village wind bands playing all through the festival.

Neither city is a spa destination, and both rely on Arab-style bathhouses and hotel spas. Valencia has the edge for unwinding because of its pace: slow evening walks on the seafront promenade, shady paths through the Turia gardens and a mild climate for most of the year.

Madrid is late, social and noisy by nature, so rest comes in snatches: a long lunch, or an afternoon in the Retiro or the Botanical Garden.