Porto or Toledo?

Porto has real beaches, from Foz up to Matosinhos and down the Gaia shore, and you can reach them by metro. The Atlantic is cold and often rough, so treat them as an afternoon off rather than a beach vacation.

Toledo has nothing comparable. It sits far inland on the Castilian plateau, the Tagus is not for swimming, and in summer the only way to cool off is a pool.

Eating is one of the reasons to go to Porto. The francesinha, tripe and bacalhau fill the tascas, Matosinhos grills fish on the street, and Douro wine and vinho verde make every meal better. The Bolhão market and the port lodges give you food to plan a day around.

Toledo's cooking is also hearty, built on partridge, game, carcamusas and Manchego, with convent marzipan as its sweet. But the choice is narrower, and set menus for day-trippers crowd the cathedral area, so you need to walk a few streets away to eat well.

Toledo goes deeper. The whole hilltop is a layered record of Spain's faiths and empires, with one of the country's great Gothic cathedrals and two medieval synagogues. Above all there is El Greco, seen in the city he painted, at Santo Tomé and the Tavera hospital.

Porto's strength is more about atmosphere and architecture: the tiled hillside of Ribeira, the gilded São Francisco, the azulejos of São Bento, and modern buildings by Siza Vieira and Koolhaas. It is a lovely city to look at, but Toledo has more to understand.

Porto is clearly the place for a night out. On weekends the streets behind the Clérigos tower fill with drinkers spilling out of small bars, students keep it cheap, and a few clubs run until dawn. Ribeira and Gaia suit a slower glass of wine by the river.

Toledo's evenings stop at a late dinner and tapas around Zocodover. With no club scene, a big night means the train to Madrid.

Porto has the more varied outdoors. The Douro gorge, the promenade and cycle path out to the lighthouses at Foz, and the country's largest urban park running down to the sea are all within the city. The terraced Douro valley and the granite peaks of Peneda-Gerês are further out.

Toledo's best outdoor moment is the path around the Tagus gorge below the walls, with views from the cigarrales on the far bank. Beyond that, the open plain of La Mancha and the low Montes de Toledo are gentle country rather than grand scenery.

Both are excellent bases, and the difference is in what lies around them. From Porto, trains take you to the medieval towns of Guimarães and Braga, to Coimbra's university and to Aveiro. The Douro wine country is the classic outing, so the theme is northern Portugal's small towns, rivers and vineyards.

Toledo's ace is Madrid, half an hour away by fast train, with the Prado and the royal palace. Aranjuez, El Escorial, the windmills of Consuegra and the Golden Age town of Almagro add royal Spain and La Mancha, though many of these trips are easier with a car.

Porto has a modest edge for children. The aquarium, river cruises, the Gaia cable car, the peacocks at the Crystal Palace and room to run in the seaside park keep a few days varied, although the steep, stepped centre is hard work with a buggy.

Toledo's swords, armour and castle-like Alcázar catch the imagination, and the history theme park on the outskirts is a real draw. But most sights are churches and paintings, and summer afternoons are punishingly hot.

Both are steep cities where you mostly walk. Porto covers more ground, so it backs walking up with a light-rail metro from the airport to the beach and Gaia, riverside trams, and a funicular for the climb from Ribeira.

Toledo is smaller: the old town takes twenty minutes to cross and you hardly need transport inside it. Public escalators lift you up from the car parks below the walls, but the station sits across the river, and you will want a car for the countryside.

Porto gives a shopper more to work with. There is the high street of Santa Catarina, independent design, ceramics and cork shops around Rua das Flores and Miguel Bombarda, tinned fish from old grocers, and port straight from the lodges.

Toledo's shopping comes down to its historic crafts: gold-inlaid damascene work, steel blades and convent marzipan. Much of what is on show near the cathedral is souvenir stock, so look for workshops that make their own.

Day-to-day costs are similar, and both are gentle on the budget by Western European standards. In Porto the cheap parts are lunch menus, wine and the metro, and the main expense is a central room in summer.

In Toledo, the free tapa with each drink keeps eating cheap. What adds up is paying separately for each monument and the price of rooms inside the walls.

Porto has a real cultural calendar. Casa da Música brings in orchestras, jazz and electronic music, and the São João, the Rivoli and the Coliseu stage theatre, dance and touring shows. The June festival of São João fills the streets with music.

Toledo has the Teatro de Rojas, the occasional organ or choral concert, and the procession of Corpus Christi. On most evenings, though, serious performance means going to Madrid.

Neither city is a spa destination, and both rely on hotel spas. Porto relaxes you through its pace: long lunches, wine on a terrace above the Douro and seafront walks at Foz, with thermal towns such as Caldas do Gerês a day away.

Toledo's calm comes at the ends of the day, in quiet lanes once the tour groups leave. A few Arab-style bath houses offer warm pools under vaulted ceilings.