Santiago de Compostela or Zaragoza?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Santiago at least has the sea within reach. About 35km away, the rías offer fine white sand and calm water in sheltered inlets, a worthwhile day out in high summer even if the Atlantic stays cold.

From Zaragoza the Mediterranean is more than 200km off, so swimming means a municipal open-air pool. Anyone who wants sand on this trip should add a few days on the coast.

Santiago eats better, largely on the strength of Galician seafood. Octopus with paprika, scallops, razor clams and percebes from the Mercado de Abastos, washed down with Albariño in the taverns of Rúa do Franco, make a meal here feel like the point of the trip.

Zaragoza is meat and tapas country instead: ternasco lamb, migas and a bar-to-bar crawl through El Tubo with robust reds from Cariñena and Somontano. It is hearty and enjoyable, but less of a reason to travel than Santiago's shellfish, and both cities are thin on international cooking.

Santiago has the greater single experience. The pilgrimage cathedral, with the Pórtico da Gloria and the botafumeiro, opens onto the Obradoiro, and the whole UNESCO-listed old town of granite arcades and monasteries holds together as one historic place.

Zaragoza's history is longer and more varied, from Roman Caesaraugusta through the Islamic Aljafería to Goya's ceilings in the Pilar, with the Mudéjar wall of La Seo and the underground Roman remains. Its monuments are scattered through a largely modern city, though, so the effect is a series of fine sights rather than one complete setting.

Zaragoza has the fuller night out. After the tapas in El Tubo, the bars around Plaza San Felipe and Santa Marta fill with students at weekends, cocktail and music bars add variety, and the Fiestas del Pilar keep the streets busy until dawn.

Santiago's evenings are smaller and more pub-like, with wine on Rúa do Franco, folk sessions around Praza de Cervantes and a few clubs. In summer the students leave and early-rising pilgrims take their place, so the old town quietens just when most visitors arrive.

Both cities have good country nearby, but the landscapes could hardly be more different. Santiago sits among green, rain-fed hills, with the Camino paths leaving straight from town and the cliffs of the Costa da Morte and the woods of the Fragas do Eume a short drive away.

Zaragoza's surroundings are dry steppe swept by the cierzo, with beauty found further out: the beech forests of Moncayo, the red towers of the Mallos de Riglos and the desert-like Bardenas Reales. Pack a waterproof for Santiago and expect fierce sun in Zaragoza.

Both are excellent bases, but they reach different worlds. Santiago looks out over Galicia by train and car: Roman Lugo, A Coruña's lighthouse, the thermal town of Ourense and the fishing villages of Fisterra and Muxía at the end of the Camino.

Zaragoza's trump card is the high-speed line, which makes Madrid or Barcelona a realistic day out. Closer by, a hired car opens up Loarre castle, the ruins of Belchite, the Mudéjar towns of Tarazona and Teruel, and the cliff-top village of Alquézar.

Zaragoza is clearly easier with children. The centre is flat with roomy pedestrian squares, the Expo site has a large river aquarium next to the playgrounds of the Parque del Agua, and Parque Grande has a small funfair. Only the summer heat needs planning around.

Santiago is safe and relaxed, but it has little made for children: churches, museums, hilly cobbles and rain that can last for days. Most families find a day or two in the city enough, then head for the coast or the aquarium in A Coruña.

Santiago is compact and hilly. You can cross its granite old town on foot in about twenty minutes, but there are short climbs, and the lanes turn slippery in the rain. Buses link the centre with the station, the Cidade da Cultura and the airport. The beaches and wine villages of the rías are much easier with a car or a tour.

Zaragoza's centre is wider but flat. Its sights are spread between the Pilar riverfront, the Casco and the Aljafería, and a tram line, dense buses and bike-share stations cover the distances between them. A car is only worth having for rural Aragon.

Zaragoza is better for ordinary shopping, with the main chains and a classic department store around Paseo de la Independencia, older shops and pastry makers on Calle Alfonso I, and a large mall on the city's edge.

Santiago is better for keepsakes than for clothes. Black jet on the Azabachería, silver around the Praterías and blue-and-white Sargadelos ceramics carry real local meaning, though much of the old town sells scallop-shell souvenirs.

Both are among the cheaper cities in Spain, with generous set lunches, inexpensive local wine and free entry to their great churches, the cathedral in one and the Pilar in the other. The difference lies in what the money buys: shellfish and Albariño in Santiago, lamb and Aragonese reds in Zaragoza.

Each city has its expensive weeks as well, the feast of Saint James in July in Santiago and the October fiestas in Zaragoza.

Neither city has a large stage scene, and both run modest seasons, so the interest lies in the local traditions. Santiago has bagpipes, tambourines and folk sessions in old-town bars, along with caped student tunas singing in the streets, while the Real Filharmonía plays at the Auditorio de Galicia.

Zaragoza's Auditorio takes a wider run of touring orchestras, chamber music and jazz. Its own sound is the leaping jota, which is seen at its best during the Fiestas del Pilar.

Neither city has a bathing tradition of its own, and both offer little more than hotel spas, so the real difference is how far you travel for hot water. From Santiago it is a short hop. Galicia is full of thermal springs, the old spa towns of Caldas de Reis and Cuntis are roughly half an hour away, and Ourense's open-air pools by the Miño, some free to use, make an easy train outing to rest legs tired from the Camino.

From Zaragoza, the thermal waters at Alhama de Aragón are a little over an hour away, so a soak takes up most of a day rather than an afternoon. Relaxing here mostly means settling into the slow provincial rhythm, with a long lunch and an evening by the river. That works best in spring and autumn, because summer on the plain is draining.