Marbella or Segovia?

The two could hardly be further apart here. Marbella has more than two dozen beaches along roughly 27km of shore, from La Venus and El Fuerte in the centre to the dunes at Cabopino. The sand is fine and greyish, the water calm and clear, and chiringuitos line the shore.

Segovia sits on the Castilian plateau, a long day's drive from any coast. The closest it gets to a swim is a hotel pool or a cold reservoir in the Guadarrama foothills, so if the sea matters, it belongs on another leg of the trip.

Marbella has the wider table. You can eat sardines grilled on skewers on the beach, tapas in the Casco Antiguo, and acclaimed tasting menus along the Golden Mile. The middle ground by the port is weak, though, and the better meals are a few streets inland.

Segovia's cooking is narrower and built around one famous dish: cochinillo from wood-fired ovens, followed by roast lechazo, judiones from La Granja and ponche segoviano. Ribera del Duero and Rueda wines are poured everywhere. Come for one memorable roast rather than for variety.

Segovia is far ahead. The mortarless granite arches of the aqueduct, the late Gothic cathedral and the Alcázar on its cliff anchor a UNESCO old town. Romanesque churches such as San Martín, the Jewish quarter and the twelve-sided Vera Cruz add enough for a second, slower day.

Marbella has a pretty Casco Antiguo around the Plaza de los Naranjos, a museum of Spanish prints, Dalí bronzes on the Avenida del Mar and Roman mosaics at Río Verde. That is an afternoon's worth, and Andalusia's major monuments mean a drive.

In summer Marbella is a proper night out on the Spanish clock. There are champagne bars facing the yachts in Puerto Banús, clubs until dawn, and beach clubs whose DJ afternoons turn into parties along the Golden Mile. It is expensive and see-and-be-seen, and it shrinks sharply in winter.

Segovia's evenings are a tapas round on the terraces around Plaza Mayor, plus a few later student bars at weekends. There are hardly any clubs, so for a real late night you go to Madrid.

Both have serious mountains on the doorstep, but of different kinds. Marbella pairs sierra and sea. You can hike La Concha, with views to Gibraltar and the Rif mountains, walk the fir forests of the Sierra de las Nieves or the Caminito del Rey, and go paddleboarding, sailing or dolphin-watching. Its mild winters make it a year-round walking base.

Segovia is high country, with the Scots pines of Valsaín, the passes of Navacerrada and Cotos, glacial lakes below Peñalara, and griffon vultures over the Duratón gorge. Walking is best from spring to autumn, and in winter there is snow.

Both make good bases, and the difference lies in transport and setting. From Segovia, high-speed trains reach Madrid and Valladolid quickly, and buses run to La Granja and Ávila. A car adds Pedraza, Sepúlveda, El Escorial and Peñafiel, so the day trips are royal palaces and walled towns of Castile.

Marbella's day trips are Andalusian: Ronda's gorge, Málaga, Gibraltar, the white villages of Casares and Mijas, and Granada as a long day. With no train, almost all of these depend on a car.

Marbella is the easier choice with children. The town beaches are sheltered and lifeguarded in season, the flat promenade suits buggies and scooters, and many resorts are built around pools. Along the coast there are an animal park, a zoo, water parks and an aquarium, all best reached by car.

Segovia has a real castle with a tower to climb and the giant arches of the aqueduct, but no zoo or theme park, and the steep cobbles are hard work with a pushchair. It suits a day or two of a longer trip, and the gardens at La Granja give children room to run.

Marbella is the harder of the two to get around. The old town and the central seafront are easy walking, and the promenade suits a long stroll or a bike ride. The resort itself is strung out along the coast road, though, so getting between your hotel, Puerto Banús and the beach you like is often a taxi or bus ride. There is no railway, so you reach Marbella by coach from Málaga airport, and many visitors hire a car just to get about.

Segovia is much simpler. Everything worth seeing in the city is within one compact walk, so once you are in the old town you can forget about transport, apart from some stiff cobbled climbs. You can arrive by high-speed train and take a short bus up from the station, so a stay without a car is easy here in a way it rarely is in Marbella.

Marbella is clearly better for shopping, mostly at the luxury end: international fashion and jewellery boutiques facing the yachts at Puerto Banús, a department store and malls, and linen, leather and ceramics in the old-town lanes. Segovia offers souvenirs along Calle Real, local ceramics and embroidery, and boxed ponche or La Granja beans to take home. For anything more, people go to Madrid.

A stay in Marbella costs a lot by Spanish standards, especially in July and August and around Puerto Banús and the Golden Mile. You can bring the cost down with old-town tapas bars, cheap buses and apartments outside summer, and many visitors stay in a neighbouring town and come in for the day.

Your money goes noticeably further in Segovia. There are plenty of small family-run hotels and guesthouses, and the lunch menus in the newer town are fair value. Midweek and winter stays are inexpensive, and the famous roasts by the aqueduct are the main splurge.

Neither is a place for opera or a full concert season. Serious audiences head to Málaga from Marbella and to Madrid from Segovia. What differs is the kind of event.

Marbella's high point is summer, when big pop and rock acts play an amphitheatre in an old quarry, alongside flamenco shows aimed at visitors. Segovia relies on its festivals, with the Titirimundi puppet festival in spring and concerts in churches and palace gardens in summer. Teatro Juan Bravo on Plaza Mayor fills some of the gaps between them.

If you want spa treatments, Marbella is the place. Resort spas, retreats and detox clinics are spread across the Golden Mile and the hills behind it, and there are a few Arab-style bathhouses. From October to May the calm, mild weather suits golf and long walks on the promenade, though high summer is anything but restful.

Segovia has only a handful of hotel spas. Its calm comes from the old town falling quiet once the coaches leave, with long lunches and evening walks along the walls in pine-scented mountain air.