Santiago de Compostela or Seville?

Neither city is on the coast, but Santiago makes the easier beach outing. The sheltered Ría de Muros e Noia and Ría de Arousa are about 35km away and have fine white sand in calm inlets, a pleasant July or August excursion if you can cope with chilly Atlantic water.

From Seville, the Huelva beaches of Matalascañas and Mazagón take well over an hour by car. The water there is warmer, but the trip takes most of a day, so in town swimming means a rooftop or municipal pool, and sea lovers usually add a few nights on the coast.

Both cities eat very well, but in different ways. Santiago is about the sea: octopus, scallops in the shell and percebes, with the Mercado de Abastos at the centre and Albariño in the glass along Rúa do Franco.

Seville is about the tapas crawl, standing at tiled counters in Triana or Santa Cruz over salmorejo, pork cheek and fried fish, with cold manzanilla to drink. It also has a few more inventive kitchens around the Alameda. Both are thin on international cooking.

Seville has the greater weight of sights. The Real Alcázar, the vast Gothic cathedral with its Giralda and the Archivo de Indias form a UNESCO-listed trio, and Casa de Pilatos, Plaza de España and Murillo at the Bellas Artes add enough for three or four full days.

Santiago gathers its interest around one great building: the pilgrimage cathedral with the Pórtico da Gloria, set on the Obradoiro and surrounded by a compact granite old town of monasteries and convent squares. It is deeply atmospheric, but two or three days see it well.

Seville offers longer and livelier evenings, mostly outdoors. Dinner starts around ten, then the crowds move between terraces on the Alameda de Hércules, Triana and the Alfalfa, with riverside bars filling once the summer heat breaks.

Santiago's nights belong to its students: wine along Rúa do Franco, pub-like bars around the Praza de Cervantes, folk sessions and a big Thursday night. In summer the students leave and the pilgrims go to bed early, so it is quieter just when Seville is at its liveliest outdoors.

Santiago is the better base for the outdoors. Green hills of oak and stone-walled fields begin at the edge of town, the Camino paths make ready-made walks, and the Costa da Morte cliffs and the old woodland of the Fragas do Eume are within a couple of hours. Rain comes with the green.

Seville is surrounded by flat farmland and olive groves, and summer heat shuts down most activity. Its trump card is Doñana, one of Europe's great wetlands, with flamingos and a slim chance of lynx on guided trips. The Sierra de Aracena adds gentle hiking in spring and autumn.

Seville has the stronger list of day trips. Córdoba's Great Mosque is under an hour away by high-speed train, Jerez and Cádiz are easy by rail, and Carmona and the Roman ruins of Itálica are closer still. Arcos opens up the white villages.

Santiago is a good base for Galicia: A Coruña's Tower of Hercules is half an hour by train, and Lugo's Roman walls and Ourense's thermal springs are within reach. The Rías Baixas wine villages and Fisterra, though, really need a car or a tour.

Seville gives children more to enjoy. The flat centre suits pushchairs, the boats at Plaza de España and the maze in the Alcázar gardens hold young attention, and La Cartuja adds a theme park with summer water rides. The catch is midsummer heat, so families do better in spring.

Santiago is safe and relaxed, but its sights are churches and museums, its lanes are steep and cobbled, and rain can keep everyone indoors. Most families do the city quickly and then head for A Coruña's aquarium or the coast.

Both centres are best on foot, and both are compact. In Santiago you can cross the old town in twenty minutes, but the granite is hilly and slippery when wet, and regional trains run to A Coruña, Vigo and Ourense.

Seville is flat and a little larger, with a tram, a metro line and bike lanes with a public bike scheme that make cycling easy. There the obstacle is not rain but summer heat, which makes a midday walk an ordeal.

Seville has more to browse. Triana's pottery workshops sell hand-painted tiles, the streets around Sierpes and Cuna are full of flamenco dresses, shawls, fans and guitars made for local use, and Sierpes and Tetuán add the main chain stores. The Thursday flea market on Calle Feria is good for browsing.

In Santiago the choice is narrower: jet amulets on the Azabachería, Sargadelos ceramics and good food gifts such as tetilla cheese and tinned seafood. Much of the rest is pilgrim souvenirs.

Santiago goes slightly further for the money. Tapas often come free with a drink, entry to the cathedral itself costs nothing, and pensiones and pilgrim hostels keep rooms cheap, except around the feast of Saint James in July.

Seville is still reasonably priced, with cheap tapas evenings and modest room rates in the summer heat. Holy Week and the April Fair push hotel rates up sharply, though, and the Alcázar and cathedral tickets add up.

Seville is a real reason to travel for live performance. It is the heartland of flamenco, with shows every night in tablaos, cultural centres and local peñas, and the Bienal brings top performers in autumn of even-numbered years. The Maestranza stages opera in the city where Carmen is set.

Santiago's offer is smaller and more local. The Real Filharmonía de Galicia plays at the Auditorio, and the real pleasure is Galician bagpipes in old-town bars and caped student tunas singing in the streets. There is no opera to speak of.

Neither city is a spa destination, and the ways to unwind differ. Santiago's real asset is Galicia's hot springs, with Caldas de Reis, Cuntis and Ourense's riverside pools all within an easy outing.

Seville keeps its bathing in town, in Arab-style bath houses inside old mansions, and its calm in shaded courtyards and the slow afternoon. Its noisy streets at night and festival crowds disturb the peace more than Santiago's quiet evenings do.