Segovia or Seville?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Seville can at least manage a day by the sea. The Huelva coast at Matalascañas and Mazagón is about an hour and a quarter by car, and the long sands of Cádiz province lie further on, so a coastal day trip or a few extra nights on the coast is easy to arrange.

From Segovia the coast is a long day's drive, so summer swimming means a pool or a chilly reservoir in the Guadarrama foothills.

Segovia's cooking is built around the wood-fired oven: crisp-skinned cochinillo, roast milk-fed lamb, La Granja's big judiones beans and ponche segoviano for dessert. It is a destination meal rather than a varied food scene, and away from the roasts the choice narrows quickly.

Seville eats in small plates and on the move, from tile-fronted bars in Santa Cruz and Triana to more inventive kitchens around the Alameda, with fino and manzanilla from the nearby sherry towns. That gives a week of different evenings where Segovia offers one superb lunch. Both are thin on international cooking.

Both cities have an Alcázar and a Gothic cathedral, but Seville's sights are on a larger scale. Its Alcázar is a working royal palace of Mudéjar courtyards, the cathedral is the largest Gothic church in the world and carries the Giralda, and beyond them come Plaza de España, Casa de Pilatos and a fine gallery of Murillo and Zurbarán. Three or four days fill easily.

Segovia is more concentrated: the mortarless Roman aqueduct, the castle on the tip of its ridge, and an unusual cluster of Romanesque churches with arcaded porches. Its museums are modest, and a day or two covers it well.

Seville is made for late nights. Dinner starts around ten, and the evening moves on to terraces in Triana, the Alfalfa squares and the mixed, LGBT-friendly bars of the Alameda de Hércules, with open-air bars along the river in summer. Clubbing is limited, but staying out until the early hours is normal.

Segovia's evenings are a tapas round near Plaza Mayor and a few student bars at weekends. On weeknights and in winter the old town goes quiet early.

Segovia has the mountains on its doorstep. Within half an hour you can be in the Valsaín pine forests or at the Navacerrada and Cotos passes, with trails towards Peñalara's 2,428m summit, and the Eresma valley path gives an easy walk beneath the castle. The Hoces del Duratón gorge, with its vultures, adds a fuller day out.

Seville's surroundings are flat farmland and orchards. The Doñana wetlands are exceptional for birds, but they are best visited on a guided trip, and summer heat rules out most outdoor plans.

Both make excellent bases, and the choice comes down to the region you want to see. Segovia opens up Castile: the palace gardens of La Granja, Madrid by fast train in under half an hour, walled Ávila, and with a car the medieval villages of Pedraza and Sepúlveda.

From Seville you reach Andalusia, with Córdoba's Great Mosque under an hour by train, Jerez for sherry, the old port of Cádiz and the white villages beyond Arcos. More of Seville's best trips work by rail, while Segovia's village circuit really needs a car.

Seville gives children more to do. María Luisa Park has rowing boats on the canal at Plaza de España, the Alcázar gardens have a maze, and La Cartuja has a theme park with a summer water park as well as an aquarium. The flat centre is easy with a pushchair, though July and August are very hard going with small children.

Segovia's castle and giant arches thrill children for a day or two, but there is little built for them, and the steep cobbles are tiring for small legs.

Seville is the easier city to move around. Its centre is flat, the old lanes are largely pedestrianised, and a public bike scheme on an extensive web of lanes makes cycling practical, backed by a tram, a metro line and buses. Midday walks in summer are the only real obstacle.

Segovia's sights fit along a single ridge that you can walk in a morning, but the climbs are steep and cobbled. The high-speed station is about fifteen minutes out by bus, and the villages and trailheads need a car.

Seville has far more to browse, and much of it is genuinely local. The Triana workshops sell hand-painted tiles and pottery, the streets around Sierpes and Cuna sell flamenco dresses, shawls, fans and guitars, and there is a Thursday flea market on Calle Feria as well as the main chain stores.

In Segovia, shopping is mostly souvenirs along Calle Real, with some ceramics, embroidery and boxed ponche or beans to take home.

The two cost about the same overall, but the expensive times differ. Segovia is cheapest midweek and in winter, and dearest at summer weekends when visitors arrive from Madrid. A roast suckling pig lunch by the aqueduct is the main expense.

In Seville, a tapas evening is the great saving, and rooms are good value through the summer heat. Holy Week and the April Fair send hotel rates sharply upwards, so time a trip around them if cost matters.

Seville is the heartland of flamenco, with performances every night in the tablaos of Santa Cruz and Triana and in the peñas where local aficionados gather, plus the Bienal in even-numbered autumns. The Teatro de la Maestranza adds opera and a symphony orchestra in the city where Carmen is set.

Segovia's stage life comes in seasons: the Titirimundi puppet festival in spring, summer concerts in churches and gardens, and touring shows at Teatro Juan Bravo.

Seville has the edge thanks to its Arab-style bath houses, where warm, hot and cold pools sit under arched ceilings in old mansions, and its cool tiled courtyards make a good refuge from the afternoon heat. Its narrow streets can be noisy late at night, though.

Segovia has only a few hotel spas. What it offers instead is stillness, with quiet evenings once the coaches leave and pine-scented air from the sierra.