Monaco or Dubai?

Dubai has far more beach. A long run of pale sand stretches from Kite Beach and Umm Suqeim to the JBR strip, and the resorts on Palm Jumeirah have their own private beaches. All of it sits on calm, shallow Gulf water that stays warm most of the year. The catch is summer, when the sand is too hot by mid-morning.

Monaco has one real city beach, the short, groomed Larvotto behind its breakwaters. Beyond that there are beach clubs and rocky platforms. The water is clear, but the season runs only from June to early October, and anyone after proper beach days takes the train to Menton or Nice.

Dubai offers much more range. The canteens of Deira, Karama and Al Satwa serve Keralan, Pakistani, Iranian and Filipino food cheaply and late, while Downtown and DIFC cover the expensive end. Alcohol stays inside licensed venues, so wine plays little part in a meal.

Monaco is almost all top end: starred Riviera and Ligurian cooking, polished Italian rooms and harbourside terraces. The casual layer is thin, little more than barbagiuan and socca at the Condamine market, so for easy everyday eating many visitors go to Menton or Nice.

Monaco gives the more rewarding day of sightseeing. On the Rock are the Prince's Palace with its guard ceremony, the cathedral where Grace Kelly lies and the Oceanographic Museum of 1910. Across the harbour are the Casino and Belle Époque Monte-Carlo, all compact and with real history behind them.

Dubai's sights are mostly modern spectacle, such as the Burj Khalifa and the Museum of the Future. Its trading-port past survives along the Creek, in Al Fahidi, Al Shindagha and the abra ride to the souks. Both cities are covered in two or three days, but Monaco's sights have more depth.

Dubai's night out is far bigger: big-name DJ clubs, rooftop bars above Sheikh Zayed Road, beach clubs on the Palm that run into the evening, and the boozy weekend brunch, all inside hotels and licensed venues. Monaco has the same dressed-up glamour on a much smaller scale, around the Casino square and a few clubs by Larvotto and the port. It is lively in summer and on Grand Prix weekend, and quiet the rest of the time.

Monaco wins clearly. Limestone mountains rise straight behind the coast, with the view from the Tête de Chien, the old path up to Èze and footpaths around Cap d'Ail and Cap Martin. The clear sea suits snorkelling and diving.

Around Dubai the outdoors means desert: dune drives and nights under the stars at Al Marmoom or Lahbab, kitesurfing at Kite Beach and the winter flamingos of Ras Al Khor. For hiking or kayaking you go to Hatta in the Hajar range, and through the summer heat most of this works only at dawn.

Monaco is much the better base. The train reaches Villefranche, Nice and Menton within half an hour, and buses climb to Èze and La Turbie. Antibes, Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Grasse, Sanremo and Dolceacqua across the Italian border can all be reached without a car.

Dubai has three strong outings: Abu Dhabi for the Grand Mosque and the Louvre Abu Dhabi, Sharjah next door for its heritage quarter and Islamic museum, and Al Ain for its oases and mud-brick forts. Beyond those, it is mostly desert and road.

Dubai is built for this. It has Legoland near Jebel Ali, water parks on the Palm, the aquarium in the Dubai Mall, indoor snow at the Mall of the Emirates and kids' clubs at the beach resorts, and children are welcome in restaurants late into the evening. The trade-offs are the summer heat and the taxi rides between outings.

Monaco is safe, clean and compact. Its main draws are the Oceanographic Museum's sharks and turtles, Larvotto's sheltered water and the palace guard. That fills a day or two, after which the formal dining and steep streets feel made for adults.

Monaco is about 3km end to end and most visitors simply walk. Free public lifts and escalators take out the steepest climbs, and a small solar ferry crosses the harbour.

Dubai stretches some 50km along the coast. The driverless metro and the Marina tram are easy to use, but between stations the roads are wide and the heat makes walking tiring, so the Palm, the beaches and the theme parks usually mean a taxi. Only the Marina promenade, Al Fahidi and Downtown's boulevard are pleasant on foot.

Dubai is a shopping destination in its own right. The Dubai Mall and the Mall of the Emirates carry nearly every luxury and high-street brand, and the Deira souks sell gold by weight, saffron, frankincense and oud. Its weak point is independent shopping at street level.

Monaco's offer is the Carré d'Or, a quarter-hour walk of fashion houses, jewellers and watchmakers around the Casino gardens, plus one modest mall. With no chains to speak of and no markets for goods, people who want variety shop in Nice.

Neither is cheap, but Dubai gives you more room to save. Meals in Deira and Karama cost very little, the metro and abras are inexpensive, and hotel rates drop sharply in summer, even though alcohol and winter resort stays are dear.

Monaco is among the most expensive places in the world, with almost no cheap layer at all. The free lifts, the buses and walks on the Rock help a little, but budget visitors usually stay in Nice, Menton or Beausoleil and come in for the day.

Monaco has a resident stage that Dubai lacks. The Monte-Carlo Opera performs in the Salle Garnier of 1879, alongside an orchestra and ballet company with international names. Opera and ballet run from winter to spring with the Printemps des Arts, and summer brings concerts by the sea.

Dubai depends on touring productions at the dhow-shaped Dubai Opera and on international acts at its arena, which is reliable if you book around a show. Neither city has much to stumble on by chance on an ordinary evening.

Monaco has the edge for unwinding. Its thalassotherapy centre beside the Casino carries on the principality's long tradition of sea-bathing cures, with heated seawater pools. Outside Grand Prix week, a slow morning in the Japanese Garden or a walk along the ramparts of the Rock is quietly restful, which the city itself rarely is in Dubai.

Dubai's answer is the big resort spa on the Palm or the Jumeirah coast, with hammam rituals, hydrotherapy and long treatment menus. Because these spas are indoors, they work even in high summer. There is no local bathing custom, though, and for real silence you leave the city for the desert retreats an hour inland.