Malaga or Granada?

This is where the two differ most. Malaga has its own urban beaches of grey-brown sand starting a few minutes from the cathedral. The fishing quarters of Pedregalejo and El Palo lie to the east, and the long Costa del Sol strip to the west is on the suburban train. The sand is ordinary, but you can swim every day without planning.

Granada has no beach of its own. The pebble and dark-sand coves of the Costa Tropical, around Salobreña and La Herradura, are an hour away over the mountains, so a swim takes a whole day. In the city itself, a pool is the only answer to the summer heat.

Both cities live on tapas, but Malaga has a little more range and the sea gives it its own character: sardine espetos grilled on the beach, plates of fried fish in El Palo, sweet moscatel poured from the barrel and ajoblanco in summer. The Atarazanas market lets you eat at the counters as well as shop.

Granada's food comes from the mountains: Alpujarras ham, habas con jamón, aubergine with cane honey. Its pleasure is the bar crawl around Calle Navas, with a free plate arriving with each drink. The Moroccan tea houses of Calderería Nueva add something Malaga does not have.

Granada is in a different league here. The Alhambra's Nasrid palaces and the Generalife gardens are among the great sights of Europe. Around them sit the Albaicín, the cathedral and Royal Chapel, the Carthusian sacristy and the cave houses of Sacromonte, which together give several full days of looking.

Malaga's Alcazaba and Gibralfaro are smaller echoes of the same Moorish past, with a Roman theatre beside them. The city's real cultural strength is its museums, with the Picasso Museum and the Carmen Thyssen collection leading. It is a satisfying two days, but you would not travel to Malaga for its monuments the way you would to Granada.

Both keep late Spanish hours, and neither is a clubbing destination, so they are much of a muchness on going out. The difference is the crowd. Granada's nights belong to students, in the bars of Calle Elvira and the pubs around Pedro Antonio de Alarcón, and the city goes quiet in summer when term ends.

Malaga is busiest exactly then. Its terraces around Plaza de la Merced and the beach bars of Pedregalejo draw a mix of ages, and Torremolinos's bigger clubs and gay scene are a short train ride away.

Granada has the bigger landscape on its doorstep. The Sierra Nevada rises straight behind it, with ski slopes about 45 minutes away and summer routes up Mulhacén, and the terraced valleys of the Alpujarras lie on its southern side. When the city bakes in summer, you can still climb into cooler air.

Malaga's outdoors are gentler and more varied: the pine forest of the Montes de Malaga on the city edge, the Caminito del Rey gorge walkway, the limestone stacks of El Torcal, and kayaking and snorkelling under the Maro cliffs. The high mountains are two hours away.

Granada's excursions run inland and into the mountains, while Malaga has the longer reach and the better connections. From Granada, Córdoba is about an hour and a half by fast train and Antequera is closer still. The trips that set it apart are the Renaissance towns of Úbeda and Baeza, the cave quarter of Guadix and the Alpujarras villages of Pampaneira and Capileira. Seville is too far to get there and back comfortably in a day.

Malaga sits where the region's railways meet the coast. Córdoba is about an hour away by fast train and Antequera half an hour. Ronda, Nerja with Frigiliana, the white streets of Mijas, Marbella's old quarter and even Gibraltar all fit into a day. Seville is just about possible, and Granada itself is within reach, though the Alhambra deserves a full day of its own.

Malaga is the easier city with children. The centre is flat and pedestrianised, the city beaches slope gently into calm water, and the coast west of town has the Bioparc zoo, an aquarium and dolphin and safari parks, all reachable without a car.

Granada is safe and relaxed and its science park is worth most of a day, but beyond that the choice thins. The steep, stepped lanes of the Albaicín and the Alhambra hill wear out small legs and pushchairs, and summer afternoons there are hotter.

Granada's sights sit on steep, cobbled hills, so the small red minibuses up to the Alhambra, the Albaicín and Sacromonte do much of the work. The flat lower town is easy on foot, and the light rail serves the station and suburbs more than anything a visitor wants to see.

Malaga is flat almost everywhere except the climb to Gibralfaro, and the cathedral, museums, market and beach are all a short walk apart. The suburban train reaches the airport in about ten minutes and carries on along the resort coast. That suits a stay split between the city and the beach.

Malaga is the better place for shopping, though neither city is a serious shopping destination. Calle Larios gives a polished high street of Spanish chains, Muelle Uno adds shops by the port and Soho has a few independents. Puerto Banús is within reach for luxury.

Granada's appeal is its crafts rather than its shops: inlaid taracea woodwork, Fajalauza ceramics and handmade guitars. These are worth seeking out among the souvenir stalls of the Alcaicería.

Granada stretches a budget further. The free tapa with every drink makes a night out cheap, and rooms in the lower town and the Realejo cost less than on the coast. Costs only climb around the Alhambra, with Albaicín boutique stays and terraces looking out at the palace.

Malaga eats just as fairly, but its beds are the problem. Old town and beachside rooms are in heavy demand from spring to autumn, so a stay there adds up faster unless you come in winter.

Granada has the richer stage. The zambra danced in the Sacromonte caves and the small flamenco peñas of the Albaicín give rawer evenings. Each summer the music and dance festival puts concerts and ballet inside the Alhambra and the Generalife theatre, and the legacy of Lorca and Falla runs through the year.

Malaga relies on the Teatro Cervantes and its philharmonic, tourist tablaos with a few genuine peñas, and small bar stages. Its great show is Semana Santa in the streets.

Neither city is a spa destination, and Granada is only a little ahead. Several hammams in the lower Albaicín recreate the old Arab baths, and the real thermal towns of Lanjarón and Alhama de Granada are within an hour.

Malaga has a single Arab-style bathhouse in the old town and otherwise relies on hotel and resort spas towards Marbella. Its strengths are a sea-front walk along the Paseo Marítimo and a mild winter sun that Granada cannot match.