Porto or Sintra?

Neither place is a beach destination, and in both the Atlantic is cold, the surf rough and fog likely. The real difference is the setting. Porto's beaches are city beaches: you take the metro to broad Matosinhos or walk the boardwalks along the Gaia shore.

Sintra's coast feels wilder. There's the cove at Adraga under dark cliffs, the tidal pool below Azenhas do Mar and the surf at Praia Grande, but you reach them by car, bus or the summer tram rather than straight from your door.

Porto is a place to eat well. Local dishes such as tripas and the francesinha, bacalhau in family tascas, whole streets of fish grills in Matosinhos and port lodges in Gaia make meals one of the main reasons to go.

Sintra's best food is its pastry, travesseiros and queijadas bought warm in the old town. Beyond that, the centre mostly serves day-trippers. The better meals are the seafood in the coastal villages, and serious eating means going to Lisbon.

Sintra comes out ahead because so much is concentrated in one place. The Pena Palace, the Moorish Castle, the National Palace with its huge chimneys, Quinta da Regaleira and Monserrate fill a single UNESCO landscape of fantasy architecture that's hard to match anywhere.

Porto's appeal is a whole historic city rather than a set of palaces. There are gilded church interiors at São Francisco, the tiled hall at São Bento and modern architecture at Serralves and Casa da Música. Neither has major museum collections, and both take about two or three days to see.

In Porto, the bars around Rua Cândido dos Reis fill the streets at weekends, helped by a large student population, and a few clubs keep going until dawn. Quieter evenings mean wine by the river in Ribeira.

Sintra has almost no nightlife. Once the day-trippers have gone there are a handful of bars and terraces, nothing open late, and a night out means the train to Lisbon and back.

Sintra's nature starts at the edge of town. The mossy granite ridge of the Serra de Sintra, with its cork oaks and giant ferns, has trails up to Cruz Alta and Peninha, and the land drops away to the cliffs of Cabo da Roca. Walking, mountain biking and riding are all close by.

Porto's outdoor side is the Douro gorge and the long riverside and seafront path to Matosinhos, which is ideal for an easy ride. Its wilder country, the Douro vineyards and the Peneda-Gerês national park, needs a day out and preferably a car.

Both make good bases for day trips, but in different ways. From Sintra the standout is a whole capital: Lisbon is forty minutes away by train, with Cascais just over the hills. With a car you can also reach Mafra, Óbidos, Alcobaça, Batalha and Évora.

Porto's trips go mostly by train to historic northern towns: Guimarães and Braga each take about an hour, Coimbra's university is about an hour away, and Aveiro is closer still. The scenic line up the Douro to Pinhão leads to the wine estates.

Porto is the easier choice with children. The aquarium at Foz, river cruises, the Gaia cable car, the peacocks in the Crystal Palace gardens and the space of the Parque da Cidade add up to a good choice of outings, although the steep centre is hard going with a buggy.

Sintra appeals to older children, who love the castle walls and the Initiation Well's tunnels. However, it has nothing built for children, long queues and crowded hill buses, so it suits a few days with school-age children better than a week with toddlers.

Porto is steep but well connected. A light-rail metro links the airport, the centre, Gaia and Matosinhos, heritage trams run to Foz, and the funicular helps with the climb up from Ribeira. You won't need a car.

Sintra's centre is small and you can walk it from the station, but the palaces sit high above. Getting up to them means a stiff climb or a crowded circular bus. Reaching the coast and the wider region is much easier with a car, as long as you leave it outside the narrow lanes of the centre.

Porto gives you more to browse. Rua de Santa Catarina has the high-street chains, independent design and craft shops cluster around Rua das Flores and Miguel Bombarda, and you can buy port straight from the Gaia lodges.

Sintra's shopping comes down to the souvenir lanes of the old town, a few antique tile dealers and the Sunday fair at São Pedro de Penaferrim, which is worth a look for bric-a-brac.

Porto is the cheaper stay. Everyday meals, wine, coffee and the metro all cost little, and rooms are the main expense. Sintra's food and train fares are also inexpensive, but its separate palace tickets add up quickly over a few days, and manor-house rooms in the centre are expensive. In both, staying a little outside the centre saves a good deal.

Porto has a real year-round programme. Casa da Música hosts its symphony orchestra along with jazz and electronic music, the São João theatre stages drama, and the Rivoli and Coliseu bring in dance and touring shows.

Sintra has one highlight, its summer festival of classical music and dance held in the palaces and quintas. Outside that, there's the Olga Cadaval centre and not much else.

Neither has its own bathing culture, and spas mostly mean hotel spas. Sintra relaxes you more because of where you stay: a night in a quinta among misty gardens, with the town empty once the day-trippers have left, is restful in a way Porto can't easily offer.

Porto's calm comes from its pace instead: long lunches, wine on a terrace above the Douro and slow walks at Foz or in the Serralves gardens. The thermal spa towns of the north are a day trip away.