Porto or Santiago de Compostela?

Porto has the sea on its doorstep. The metro reaches broad Matosinhos in about half an hour, and sandy coves broken by granite run from Foz down the Gaia shore, with boardwalks behind them. A beach afternoon slots easily into a city stay.

From Santiago the coast is about 35km away, so a beach means a bus or a drive. The white-sand inlets of the Ría de Muros e Noia and the Ría de Arousa are more sheltered than Porto's open, surf-prone Atlantic. The water is cold at both, though, and neither is a swimming destination.

Both are serious eating cities, but the food is different. Porto's table is meat and bacalhau: the francesinha, tripas, and slow-cooked pork in family tascas. Add the charcoal fish grills of Matosinhos and port tastings in the Gaia cellars.

Santiago is about shellfish. Octopus, scallops, razor clams and percebes come from the Mercado de Abastos, where some counters will cook what you buy, and the taverns of Rúa do Franco pour Albariño with them. Neither city offers much beyond its own region's cooking.

Santiago's culture is concentrated in one place: the great pilgrimage cathedral, with the Pórtico da Gloria and the shrine of Saint James, set on the Praza do Obradoiro among granite arcades and monasteries. Porto's sights are more spread out. They run from the gilded interior of São Francisco and the Palácio da Bolsa to the azulejos of São Bento.

Porto also has the stronger modern side, with Serralves and Casa da Música worth a visit for their buildings alone, while Santiago has a single modern landmark in the Cidade da Cultura. Both old towns are UNESCO-listed and each takes two or three days. Santiago gives you one deeper experience, Porto more variety.

Porto is the livelier night out. On weekends the streets behind the Clérigos tower fill with people drinking outside narrow bars until well past midnight, and a few clubs in the centre and by the river keep going until dawn.

Santiago is smaller and more intimate. Evenings mean wine and tapas on Rúa do Franco, then pub-like bars around Praza de Cervantes, some with Galician folk sessions, and Thursday is the big student night. In summer the students leave and early-to-bed pilgrims take their place, so the city goes quieter still.

Porto's landscape is its river: the Douro gorge under the Dom Luís I bridge, and a flat path out to Foz and along the rocky shore to Matosinhos. The granite peaks of Peneda-Gerês are about an hour and a half away by car. Santiago is greener and wetter. Camino paths lead straight out of town into oak woods and stone-walled fields, and the cliffs of the Costa da Morte and the old woodland of the Fragas do Eume are within reach.

Porto is better for a walk or bike ride by the water, Santiago for walking in the countryside and kayaking in the rías, with a waterproof in your bag.

Both make good bases, but Porto has more within easy reach by train. Guimarães and Braga are about an hour away, Coimbra is on the fast line, Aveiro is closer still, and a scenic riverside railway climbs to the Douro vineyards.

From Santiago, trains reach A Coruña in half an hour, as well as Pontevedra, Vigo, Ourense and walled Lugo. The Albariño country, Combarro and the Camino's end at Fisterra and Muxía are much easier with a car or a tour. The two cities are a little over two hours apart, so neither makes a comfortable day out from the other.

Neither city is built around children, but Porto gives families more to do: the aquarium at Foz, river cruises, the Gaia cable car, the peacocks of the Crystal Palace gardens and zoos on the edge of town. The Parque da Cidade gives children room to run down to the sea.

In Santiago the sights are mostly churches and museums, rain can keep you indoors for days, and the nearest aquarium and science museums are in A Coruña. Both centres are cobbled and hilly for buggies, with Porto's stepped streets the steeper of the two.

Santiago's centre is small and pedestrian, about twenty minutes from end to end with only short climbs, so in town you barely need transport. Porto's sights are compact too, but the drop to the river is steep and stepped. You will lean on the funicular and the metro, which links the airport, the beaches and Gaia.

Further out, Porto has the edge. Its trains reach most of the day-trip towns, while Santiago's coast, wine villages and Costa da Morte are much easier with a car or a tour.

Porto has more to browse. Rua de Santa Catarina has chain stores and old shopfronts, the streets around Rua das Flores and Miguel Bombarda have independent shops selling ceramics, cork, linen and design, and you can buy port straight from the lodges.

Santiago's shopping is narrower and tied to its pilgrim history: jet carvings in the Azabachería, Sargadelos ceramics, tetilla cheese and tarta de Santiago. Many old-town streets sell little but scallop shells and pilgrim souvenirs.

Both are inexpensive by Western European standards, and in both the room is the main cost. Prices rise in summer, on Porto's festival weekends and around the feast of Saint James in Santiago.

The savings come in different forms. In Porto it is the tasca lunch, the glass of Douro wine and cheap metro rides. In Santiago it is tapas that come free with a drink, a cathedral that is free to enter, and pensiones and pilgrim hostels for a lean budget.

Theatre and concert-goers get the wider choice in Porto. Casa da Música is home to the Porto symphony orchestra and runs from classical to jazz and electronic, the Rivoli and Coliseu bring dance and touring shows, and there are small fado houses in Ribeira.

Santiago has the Real Filharmonía de Galicia at the Auditorio de Galicia and drama in Galician and Spanish. Its most memorable sounds, though, are the bagpipe sessions in old-town bars and student tunas singing in the streets in their capes. Each city has a great street festival, São João in June and Saint James in July.

Santiago is the better place to rest. Galicia's hot springs are close: the spa towns of Caldas de Reis and Cuntis are about half an hour away, and Ourense's riverside thermal pools, some of them free, are forty minutes by train.

Porto's spa towns, such as Caldas do Gerês and Vizela, take a full day out. Relaxing there mostly means hotel spas, long lunches, terraces above the Douro and the gardens of Serralves.