Ronda or Valencia?

There is no real contest here. Ronda sits in the mountains about 50km from the sea. Reaching the built-up sand of San Pedro de Alcántara or Estepona takes a winding drive that uses up the day, so most visitors swim in a pool instead.

Valencia has the beach on its doorstep. Las Arenas, Malvarrosa and Patacona are broad, shallow city beaches with a promenade. El Saler and La Devesa, behind the Albufera dunes, are quieter and wilder. In late summer the water is also a few degrees warmer than on the coast below Ronda.

Ronda's table is mountain food: oxtail stew, lamb, game, cured hams, and mushrooms and chestnuts from the Genal valley in autumn. It is best eaten in the Mercadillo's tapas bars rather than on the terraces by the gorge. The cooking is satisfying but narrow, and a few days cover it.

Valencia gives a food trip far more to work with. It is the home of paella and a whole family of rice dishes, and the Mercado Central is one of Europe's great markets. Ruzafa has a creative restaurant scene, and drinking horchata in Alboraya is a ritual Ronda has no equivalent for. Both have wine country close by.

Ronda's heritage is memorable but small. The Puente Nuevo over El Tajo, the old Maestranza bullring, the Arab baths and the stairway at the Casa del Rey Moro can all be seen in a day or two. The setting does most of the work.

Valencia has more depth. The Lonja de la Seda and the cathedral, with its Holy Grail chalice, anchor a larger old town, and the Museo de Bellas Artes and IVAM give it proper art collections. The City of Arts and Sciences adds a modern landmark Ronda has nothing to match. Two or three days are well filled.

For nights out, Valencia is far ahead. In Ronda the evening means a late dinner and a drink around the Plaza del Socorro, and the town is asleep by the early hours except during the September fair.

Valencia goes out properly. Ruzafa has cocktail and wine bars, El Carmen has older student bars, and the university districts have cheaper places. In summer there are open-air clubs by the port and Malvarrosa. Fallas in March turns whole districts into a street party.

This is where Ronda pulls ahead. The town is ringed by limestone mountains. To the west is the green Sierra de Grazalema, with its crags and vultures, and to the east the fir forests of the Sierra de las Nieves. A path leads to the foot of the gorge, and the Caminito del Rey is about an hour away.

Valencia's outdoors is gentler and flatter. There are boat trips on the Albufera lagoon among rice fields and herons, pine dunes at the Devesa del Saler and cycling along the Turia gardens. Real hills, such as Chulilla or the Sierra Calderona, need a drive.

Both cities make good bases, but for different outings. From Ronda the draw is the white villages, such as Setenil de las Bodegas under its rock, Zahara and Grazalema, plus the cave paintings at La Pileta and Roman Acinipo. Nearly all of it needs a hire car, and Seville or Málaga make long days.

Valencia's outings are towns you reach by train. Sagunto and Xàtiva, both with castles and Sagunto with its Roman theatre, are about half an hour away. Cuenca and its hanging houses take around an hour by high-speed rail. Valencia suits travellers without a car better, while Ronda rewards those happy to drive mountain roads.

Valencia is much easier with children. The Oceanogràfic, the hands-on science museum and Bioparc fill several days. The Turia gardens have the giant Gulliver playground and flat paths for scooters, and the city beaches are shallow.

Ronda has the bridge, the gorge walk and the cave visits for older children, but nothing built for them. Its steep cobbled lanes are hard going with a pushchair. A country house with a pool is the way to make it work.

You can walk around the centre of either city. In Ronda, though, the lanes down to La Ciudad and the gorge are steep. Beyond the town, buses are slow and trains few, so the villages and parks really need a car, and parking in the old town is tight.

Valencia is flat and easy to get around without a car. Bike lanes and the car-free Turia gardens cross the city, and metro and tram lines run to the airport, the port and the beaches. Only the hills inland call for a car.

Neither city is a shopping destination, but Valencia offers far more. The Ensanche around Calle Colón has the big chains, international labels and luxury boutiques. El Carmen and Ruzafa add vintage and independent design, and the local crafts are Manises ceramics, fans and silk.

Ronda has one pedestrian street of ordinary shops, plus souvenir ceramics and leather near the bridge. Its best buys are wine, cured meats, olive oil and convent sweets.

Both are good value, and Ronda is a little cheaper day to day. Tapas and set lunches in the Mercadillo cost little, entry fees are modest and the town is small enough to walk. The main extra is the hire car the countryside needs, and rooms with gorge views or during the fair cost more.

In Valencia, set lunches, tapas and cheap transport keep daily spending low for a large city. Rice lunches on the beach and the City of Arts and Sciences add up, though, and rooms cost much more during Fallas.

Valencia is far better for an evening performance. The Palau de les Arts stages opera and ballet with its own fine orchestra, and the Palau de la Música is home to the city orchestra. Ruzafa has a small jazz and live music circuit.

Ronda has flamenco for visitors in small venues and an occasional programme at its municipal theatre. Its one great event is the Corrida Goyesca at the September fair, a spectacle that comes only once a year.

Neither city has a bathing tradition: Ronda's Arab baths and Valencia's Baños del Almirante are monuments, not places to bathe. Valencia has a little more, with Arab-style bath houses as well as hotel spas, seafront walks and long lunches in a mild climate.

Ronda offers quiet rather than treatments. Its best version is a farmhouse among olive groves, with a pool and a view, once the day-trippers have left.