Rabat or Seville?

Rabat at least has the ocean on its doorstep. The city beach below the Kasbah of the Udayas is a lively local spot for football and surfing, and quieter sand lies a short taxi ride south at Temara, Harhoura and Skhirat. The swell and currents keep swimmers close to shore, and the water stays cool for much of the year.

Seville has no beach of its own. Matalascañas and Mazagón on the Huelva coast are over an hour away by car, so a swim in the sea costs a full day, and in town cooling off means a rooftop or municipal pool.

Rabat serves honest Moroccan home cooking: tagines, couscous on Fridays, harira, grilled sardines near the port and snail broth from evening stalls, with mint tea on the Ville Nouvelle terraces. It is good, plain food, but alcohol is discreet and the range is limited for anyone who travels to eat.

Seville is the stronger table. Tapas are a way of life here, taken a few plates at a time at the counters of Triana, El Arenal and Santa Cruz, washed down with manzanilla or orange-blossom vermouth, with more inventive kitchens around the Alameda. Only international and top-end cooking are thin.

Rabat's UNESCO-listed sights make a calm, well-kept set: the blue-and-white Kasbah of the Udayas, the unfinished Hassan Tower beside the Mausoleum of Mohammed V, and the Chellah, where Roman and Marinid ruins sit among fig trees and storks. Two or three days cover them comfortably.

Seville plays in a higher league. The Real Alcázar's Mudéjar courtyards, the vast Gothic cathedral with the Giralda, and the Archivo de Indias form one of Europe's great historic cores, and Plaza de España, Casa de Pilatos and the Murillos in the Museo de Bellas Artes easily fill three or four days.

After dark Rabat belongs to families on the riverside promenade and men in cafés, with drinks confined to hotel bars and a few lounges in Agdal and Hassan. Anyone after a big night out goes to Casablanca.

Seville's evenings are long and largely outdoors. Dinner starts around ten, then the crowd drifts between the Alameda de Hércules, the Plaza de la Alfalfa and Triana, with riverside bars busy on summer nights. Clubbing is modest, but as a city of late, sociable nights it is far ahead.

Rabat's outdoors is coastal and gentle: surf schools at the river mouth, paddling on the Bou Regreg estuary, easy walks and rides in the Maamora cork oak forest and birdwatching at Sidi Boughaba. Its mild climate allows time outdoors in any month, but mountains are several hours away.

Seville has the bigger prize in Doñana, one of Europe's great wetlands, with flamingos, migrating birds and a slim chance of the Iberian lynx, plus gentle hiking in the Sierra de Aracena. The catch is the summer heat, which limits outdoor plans to spring and autumn.

Rabat is a practical rail base: Casablanca's Hassan II Mosque is about an hour away, the high-speed line puts Tangier and Asilah within easy reach, Meknes is two hours by train, and Salé's old medina is a tram ride across the river.

Seville has more to choose from, and much of it closer. Córdoba's Great Mosque is under an hour by fast train, Itálica and Carmona are on the doorstep, and Jerez, Cádiz and the white villages around Arcos de la Frontera fill further days, making it one of the best bases in Spain.

Rabat is easy and relaxed with children, with a calm medina, the tram, a large modern zoo and the Jardin d'Essais for running around. Beyond these there is little aimed at children, and the city beaches need close watching.

Seville offers a little more: rowing boats at Plaza de España, the maze in the Alcázar gardens, and a theme park, summer water park and aquarium on and near La Cartuja, in a culture where children stay up late in the squares. The drawback is July and August, when temperatures pass 40°C and Rabat's milder summer is easier.

In Rabat the medina, kasbah, Hassan Tower and Ville Nouvelle sit close together on flat streets, and the tram and cheap blue petit taxis cover the Chellah, Agdal and Salé. Rabat Ville station in the centre handles day trips without a car.

Seville is easier still on foot. Its flat, compact centre puts the cathedral, Triana and Plaza de España within a half-hour walk along shaded, often pedestrianised streets, and an extensive network of bike lanes makes cycling a real option. Only the midday summer heat gets in the way.

Both cities shop for crafts rather than fashion. Rabat's best is along Rue des Consuls in the medina, with its own dense, deep-coloured carpets, leather and brass, gentle haggling, and pottery across the river in Salé.

Seville has more variety: hand-painted tiles from Triana's old pottery workshops, flamenco dresses, shawls, fans and guitars around Calle Sierpes and Calle Cuna, high-street chains on Tetuán and the Thursday flea market on Calle Feria.

Rabat is the cheaper place to spend each day: medina meals, café terraces, the tram and petit taxis cost little, and the main sights are cheap or free. The exceptions are hotels, which run pricier than in Morocco's tourist cities, and alcohol.

Seville is reasonable for Western Europe, with tapas and drinks the big saving and a walkable centre, but the Alcázar and cathedral charge for entry and hotel rates climb steeply during Holy Week and the April Fair.

Rabat's high point is the Mawazine festival, which fills open-air stages with international stars and Gnawa, Arab and African musicians. Otherwise the national theatres run irregular programmes, mostly in Arabic and French, and Andalusian or chaabi concerts have to be sought out.

Seville has live performance on any night of the year, above all flamenco in the tablaos of Santa Cruz and Triana and the peñas where local fans gather. The Teatro de la Maestranza adds opera in the city where Carmen and The Barber of Seville are set.

Rabat has a living bathing culture: neighbourhood hammams in the medina and Salé offer steam and a vigorous black-soap scrub, and hotel spas add argan oil massages for first-timers. Combine that with the calmest pace of any major Moroccan city and it makes a genuinely restful stay.

Seville's version is a few Arab-style bath houses in old mansions plus hotel spas. Its shady courtyards and long lunches slow the day down, but noisy streets at night and festival crowds make it less of a place to recharge.