Segovia or Zaragoza?

Neither city works for a swimming vacation. Both are far inland, and in summer the locals cool off in pools. The difference is in what lies nearby. From Segovia you can reach cold reservoirs and river pools in the Guadarrama foothills, while Zaragoza has open-air municipal pools on a hot plain and a coast more than 200km away.

Zaragoza has the broader and more sociable food scene. Its strength is the tapas crawl through El Tubo, with a different speciality at each counter, along with Aragonese ternasco, borage with clams, Ebro valley fruit and the Mercado Central for browsing produce.

Segovia's cooking is narrower and built around one great meal: wood-roasted cochinillo or lechazo, often preceded by La Granja judiones. It is worth the journey for that lunch, but the tourist asadores by the aqueduct can feel like a production line, and after a couple of days the choice runs thin. Neither city offers much fine dining or international food.

Segovia has the more striking set of sights in a smaller space. The Roman aqueduct, the late Gothic cathedral and the Alcázar on its clifftop line a single ridge, with Romanesque churches, the Jewish quarter and Vera Cruz in between. It is a complete historic town that you can take in within a day or two.

Zaragoza spreads its history more thinly through a mostly modern city, but it covers more periods. The Islamic Aljafería, La Seo's Mudéjar wall, the Goya ceilings in the Pilar and the underground Roman forum and baths stand out, and its museums, including the Goya Museum, are stronger than anything in Segovia.

Zaragoza is the place for a night out. After tapas in El Tubo, the bars around Plaza San Felipe and Santa Marta fill with students from Thursday onwards, and a few clubs stay open until the early morning. During the Fiestas del Pilar the streets stay full until dawn.

Segovia's evenings come down to a tapas round and a terrace on Plaza Mayor. That is pleasant in summer, but the town empties early on weeknights and in winter, and anyone after a late night is better off taking the train to Madrid.

Segovia has the mountains on its doorstep. The Guadarrama rises behind the Alcázar, the Valsaín pinewoods and the high passes are close, and you can walk from spring to autumn, with snow in winter. Even the Eresma valley path below the old town counts as a proper walk.

Zaragoza's surroundings are stark steppe swept by the cierzo, so in town nature means the Ebro riverside, Parque Grande and Parque del Agua. Its real landscapes lie further out: Moncayo's beech woods, the Bardenas Reales badlands and Monasterio de Piedra all make good outings, but each takes a drive.

Both make excellent bases, and the difference is in range rather than quality. From Segovia the outings are short and dense: La Granja's palace and gardens in twenty minutes, Madrid by train in under half an hour, and Ávila, Pedraza and Sepúlveda within about an hour.

Zaragoza reaches further. Madrid and Barcelona are both about an hour and a half away by fast train, and a car opens up Aragon's castles and villages, from Loarre and Alquézar to the ruins of Belchite and, with an early start, Albarracín.

Zaragoza is the more practical city with children. Its centre is flat with wide pedestrian squares, and it has the river aquarium at the Expo site, playgrounds in Parque del Agua and fairground rides at Parque Grande, plus giants and big-heads parades in October.

Segovia offers one great draw in the turreted Alcázar, along with the aqueduct's huge arches, but very little beyond that, and its steep cobbles are tiring with a pushchair. It works for a short stop, especially combined with a run in La Granja's gardens.

Both centres are walkable, but Zaragoza's is flat and has a tram line, buses and bike-share to cover the rest of the city, and the Delicias station is a short ride from the centre. You can manage the whole stay without a car.

In Segovia everything lies along one ridge that you can walk end to end in a morning, though the cobbles climb steeply. The high-speed station is about fifteen minutes out by bus, and the villages and mountain trailheads are much easier to reach with a car.

Zaragoza at least offers a proper high street. The fashion chains and a department store line Paseo de la Independencia, Calle Alfonso I has old pastry shops, and there is a large mall on the southern edge, along with candied fruit and Muel ceramics to take home.

Segovia's shopping hardly goes beyond souvenirs on Calle Real, with some local embroidery and ponche segoviano. Anyone who wants to shop will end up in Madrid.

Zaragoza is a little easier on the budget. Its central hotels are fairly priced most of the year, the local wines and set lunches are generous, and the Pilar basilica is free to enter. Rooms are only tight during the October fiestas.

Segovia's family-run guesthouses are modestly priced midweek and in winter, but rooms in the old town cost more at summer weekends when visitors arrive from Madrid, and the famous roast is a meal to budget for.

Zaragoza has a year-round programme: touring orchestras and jazz at the Auditorio, plays and dance at the nineteenth-century Teatro Principal, and Aragon's leaping jota during the Pilar fiestas. It is provincial, but there is usually something on.

In Segovia, live arts mostly come in season. Titirimundi brings puppets into the squares in spring, and summer concerts fill churches and palace gardens, while Teatro Juan Bravo covers the gaps. Outside those times the calendar is largely empty.

Neither city has its own bathing tradition, but Zaragoza has more to offer. Alongside hotel spas there are Arab-style baths, and the thermal waters of Alhama de Aragón are close enough for an outing.

Segovia's restorative side is quiet rather than pampering. Once the coaches leave, there are evening walks along the walls and pine-scented air from the sierra, which is a cooler kind of calm than Zaragoza's shady afternoons beside the Ebro.