Marbella or Sintra?

Marbella is built around its shore. More than two dozen beaches line roughly 27km of coast, from La Venus and El Fuerte in town to the dunes at Cabopino, with fine greyish sand, sun loungers and chiringuitos. The water is calm and clear, and warm enough to swim from June into early autumn.

Sintra's coast is wilder and more dramatic but far less comfortable for swimming. Praia Grande, Praia das Maçãs and the cove at Adraga under its dark cliffs face cold Atlantic water and often heavy surf, and fog can roll in. They make a fine afternoon after the palaces, not a reason to stay.

Marbella has far more range. There are chiringuitos grilling sardines over fires, tapas bars in the Casco Antiguo and a real top tier of tasting-menu kitchens along the Golden Mile, even if the seafront middle ground is forgettable.

Sintra's signature is its pastry: the travesseiro and the queijada, bought warm from old pastry houses such as Piriquita. Its best meals are grilled fish in Azenhas do Mar and Praia das Maçãs. Dinner choice in town is small, and anyone wanting a serious meal tends to go into Lisbon.

This is Sintra's great strength. Its UNESCO landscape packs in the Pena Palace, the ramparts of the Moorish Castle and the National Palace with its conical kitchen chimneys. Quinta da Regaleira's Initiation Well and Monserrate add to a list that rewards two full days, though there are no museums of weight.

Marbella's heritage is modest by comparison. The whitewashed lanes around the Plaza de los Naranjos, the Museo del Grabado Español, the Dalí bronzes on the Avenida del Mar and the mosaics at Río Verde fill an afternoon. For major monuments it relies on drives to Ronda, Málaga or Granada.

In summer Marbella is one of Spain's best-known places to go out. Afternoons at beach clubs with DJs give way to clubs at Puerto Banús that run until dawn, and the old town offers gentler terraces. In winter it shrinks to a quiet drink.

Sintra has almost nothing after dark: a few wine bars and terraces, no late opening and no clubs. Anyone wanting a night out takes the train to Lisbon and plans the ride back.

Both have hills close to the sea, but Sintra puts its landscape on the doorstep. Trails climb straight from town through mossy forest of oak, cork and giant ferns to Pena Park, Cruz Alta and Peninha. The clifftop paths at Cabo da Roca, continental Europe's westernmost point, lie just to the west, and the cool, damp air keeps walking pleasant even in summer.

Marbella has higher and harsher terrain: the demanding climb up La Concha in Sierra Blanca, the fir forests and ibex of Sierra de las Nieves, and El Torcal and the Caminito del Rey further out. The drawbacks are a heavily built-up coastal strip and needing a car for most of it.

Sintra has a slight edge, mainly because Lisbon, a whole capital, is about 40 minutes away by suburban train. Cascais is over the hills by bus, and a car brings Mafra, Óbidos, the monasteries of Alcobaça and Batalha, and Évora within reach.

Marbella's list is just as tempting: Ronda's gorge, Málaga's Alcazaba and Picasso Museum, Gibraltar, white villages such as Casares, and a long day to the Alhambra. Almost all of it depends on a car, though, as there is no train and the buses are slow.

Marbella is the easier family base. Its sheltered, lifeguarded town beaches, flat promenade for buggies and scooters and pool-centred apartments make daily life simple. Animal parks, water parks and an aquarium lie along the coast.

Sintra enchants school-age children with castle walls and the tunnels of Regaleira. However, steep cobbles, crowded hill buses, rough surf and the lack of anything built for children make it hard work with toddlers.

Sintra is easier to manage without a car for the core visit. The train from Lisbon stops a short walk from the compact centre, and the circular tourist bus or a tuk-tuk handles the climb to Pena and the castle. Driving in the narrow hill lanes, by contrast, is frustrating.

Marbella stretches along the motorway from San Pedro to Cabopino. The old town and the promenade are walkable, but with no train and hotels spread far apart, many visitors end up hiring a car or taking taxis.

Marbella offers real luxury shopping. Fashion and jewellery boutiques face the yachts at Puerto Banús, with a department store and malls nearby and linen, leather and ceramics in the old town lanes.

Sintra's narrow streets sell hand-painted tiles, cork goods, linen and boxes of pastries. There are also antique azulejo dealers and the Sunday fair at São Pedro de Penaferrim, but no fashion streets, so serious shopping means Lisbon.

Sintra is the cheaper stay. Tasca meals, coffee and pastries, and the train are all inexpensive, and the main cost is paying separate entry at each palace. Rooms in the outlying villages cost less than manor houses in the centre.

Marbella costs much more, especially in July and August around Puerto Banús and the Golden Mile. Old-town tapas, local buses and off-season rooms bring it down, and many visitors save by staying in a neighbouring town.

Neither town is a place for regular live performance, and both send serious audiences on to Málaga or Lisbon. Marbella has a little more: a summer festival of big pop and rock acts in an old quarry amphitheatre, concerts at beach clubs and flamenco shows aimed at visitors.

Sintra's highlight is its long-running summer festival of classical music and dance, held in the palaces and quintas. For the rest of the year there is the Olga Cadaval cultural centre and the occasional evening of fado.

Marbella offers more for a pampering stay. Spa resorts, retreats and detox clinics are spread along the Golden Mile and the hills, and there are a few Arab-style bathhouses. From October to May it is calm and sunny, good for golf and long promenade walks, though high summer is hot and loud.

Sintra's spas are limited to a few hotels and manor houses. Its calm comes instead from staying in a quinta among old gardens and drifting mist, and enjoying the town once the day-trippers have gone.