Malaga or Ronda?

Malaga has the beach on its doorstep. You can walk from the cathedral to La Malagueta, follow the shore east to Pedregalejo and El Palo, or take the suburban train west to the resort beaches of Torremolinos and Fuengirola. The sand is plain grey-brown, but you can swim from June to October, and Nerja's coves are an hour away when you want clearer water.

Ronda is a mountain town, and the nearest sea is about 50km away down a road of hairpin bends to Estepona and San Pedro. That trip takes up a whole day, so summer swimming here usually means a hotel or country-house pool.

Malaga eats from the sea and has more choice. You get sardines roasted over driftwood, plates of fried fish at the seafront in El Palo, the Atarazanas market with counters where you can eat, and moscatel poured at old bodegas. The range is wide enough to keep you interested for a long stay.

Ronda's cooking comes from the mountains: oxtail stew, lamb, game, cured meats and chestnuts and mushrooms in autumn, with wine from vineyards just outside town. It is honest food, but the choice is narrow. The good meals are in the Mercadillo's tapas bars, not on the terraces facing the gorge.

Malaga has more to see indoors. The Alcazaba and the Roman theatre stand together at the foot of Gibralfaro, and in the centre are the Picasso Museum, his birthplace, the Carmen Thyssen and the Museo de Malaga. That is enough to fill two full days.

Ronda's main sight is the place itself: the Puente Nuevo spanning El Tajo, with the Moorish old town on one side and the Mercadillo on the other. Around it are smaller but real sights: the old Maestranza bullring, some of Spain's best-preserved Arab baths and the rock-cut stairway at the Casa del Rey Moro. It is memorable for its views rather than its galleries.

Malaga has a proper night out. After a late dinner the old town fills between Plaza de la Merced, Calle Granada and Plaza Uncibay, and the beach bars at La Malagueta stay open late. Bigger clubs and the gay scene are a short train ride away in Torremolinos.

Ronda's evenings revolve around tapas around Plaza del Socorro. There are a few bars for a drink afterwards, and outside the September fair the town is quiet by the early hours.

Both are fine bases for the outdoors, but the setting differs. From Malaga you get pine-covered hills right behind the city in the Montes de Malaga and the limestone stacks of El Torcal. There is also the sea: you can kayak and snorkel under the Maro cliffs.

Ronda puts you inside mountain country. The gorge path starts in town and its cliffs draw climbers. You have the green crags and vultures of Grazalema on one side and the Spanish fir forests of the Sierra de las Nieves on the other. The Caminito del Rey is about an hour from either.

Malaga is the better base for big-name trips, thanks to the railway. Cordoba's Mezquita is about an hour away by fast train, Granada is close behind, and Antequera's dolmens take half an hour. Ronda itself is an easy day trip from Malaga.

Ronda's best trips are smaller and more rural. Setenil de las Bodegas is twenty minutes away, Zahara and Grazalema are within the hour, and Acinipo and the painted Cueva de la Pileta are close by. Seville and Malaga take a long day, and the villages really need a car.

Malaga gives children more to do in the city itself. Older ones can climb the ramparts and through the gardens of the Alcazaba and carry on up to the walls of Gibralfaro, and the palm-lined Paseo del Parque has room to run. Little in town is built specially for children, so most families split their days between the sand and outings along the coast.

July and August are hard going with small children, and late spring or early autumn is gentler.\n\nIn both places children stay out late with their parents in the squares and tapas bars. In Ronda, the highlights for them are the bridge, the stairway cut through the rock at the Casa del Rey Moro and the cave visits nearby. With no zoo, aquarium or theme park to fall back on, it works best as a country-house stay with a pool and short trips into the hills.

Malaga's flat, largely pedestrian centre puts the cathedral, the market, the port and the beach within a short walk. The suburban train reaches the airport in about ten minutes and continues along the coast, and fast trains leave for Cordoba and Madrid.

You can walk all of Ronda in minutes, though the lanes down into La Ciudad are steep. Trains and buses get you there but are slow for exploring, so outside town Ronda is car country, and parking in the old town is tight.

Malaga has a real shopping street in marble-paved Calle Larios, with El Corte Ingles across the river, the Muelle Uno promenade and a few independent shops in Soho. Ronda's Carrera Espinel and the souvenir stalls by the bridge are modest. There, the things worth buying are local wine, cured meats and convent sweets.

Ronda is a little kinder to the budget. Its tapas bars and set lunches are good value, and country houses outside town are fairly priced, although rooms overlooking the gorge and stays at Easter or fair time cost more. The hire car is usually the biggest extra.

Malaga's food, drink and transport are cheap enough, but its old-town and beachside rooms are in heavy demand from spring to autumn. Coming in winter helps.

Malaga has a proper stage in the nineteenth-century Teatro Cervantes, home to the Malaga Philharmonic, and its peñas offer flamenco that feels like the real thing. There is jazz in small bars and open-air concerts in summer.

Ronda has small flamenco venues and a municipal theatre with occasional shows. Its one great event is the Corrida Goyesca at the September fair, held in the old bullring.

Malaga has an Arab-style bathhouse in the old town where you can actually soak, and the big resort spas towards Marbella are not far. Ronda's Arab baths are a monument to look at, not to bathe in. Its form of rest is a farmhouse in the hills with a pool and olive groves, and a town that goes quiet once the coaches leave.