Sintra or Tangier?

Neither is a beach destination, and the sand is about equal. The difference is in character. Sintra's coast is wild: Praia Grande and Praia das Maçãs for proper sandy beaches, the cove at Adraga under dark cliffs and the tidal pool below Azenhas do Mar, with cold water, heavy surf and fog that can arrive on a sunny day.

Tangier's beach is a city affair, a long bay below the promenade with water few visitors want to swim in. The better swimming is out west at Achakar and Cap Spartel, or near Asilah to the south. The sea is a few degrees warmer, the summer crowds are mostly Moroccan families and dress on the beach is more modest.

Tangier is the better place to eat. Its kitchen is everyday Moroccan cooking with a strong seafood accent: fish picked at the port and grilled, bissara at breakfast, harira, couscous on Fridays and snacks from the grill counters around the Grand Socco. Long hours over mint tea on terraces facing Spain are as much part of eating here as the meals. The range is narrow, though, and wine or beer is limited to certain restaurants and hotels.

Sintra's real treat is pastry, warm travesseiros and queijadas from the old bakeries in the centre. Restaurants in the historic town cater mostly to day-trippers and vary in quality, so the better meals are grilled fish in the coastal villages, and an ambitious dinner usually means going into Lisbon.

Sintra is the stronger sightseeing destination by some distance. Its UNESCO-listed hills hold a run of palaces and follies that few places of any size can match, from the red and yellow Pena Palace and the Moorish Castle ramparts to the National Palace's huge kitchen chimneys, the Initiation Well at Regaleira and the cork-lined Capuchos convent. What it lacks is serious museums, and it needs two full days.

Tangier works on mood more than monuments. The kasbah palace museum, the American Legation and its account of the international era, St Andrew's church and the Art Deco Ville Nouvelle are all worth seeing, and the Bowles and Beat connections add a literary layer. The whitewashed medina rising from the port is the real draw.

Neither city is lively at night, but Tangier has more to offer. Summer evenings on its seafront are busy with families, and there are old bars from the international era, hotel lounges in the Ville Nouvelle and beach clubs along the bay in season. The drinking is discreet, though, and the medina is silent after dark.

Sintra empties once the day-trippers catch their trains home. A few wine bars and terraces stay open into the evening, but a real night out means taking the train to Lisbon, about 40 minutes away, and planning the trip back.

Sintra is the better choice for the outdoors. The town sits inside its landscape, a granite ridge of mossy oak, cork and fern forest, with trails up through Pena Park to Cruz Alta and Peninha and views over the Atlantic and the Tagus. To the west the cliffs end at Cabo da Roca, Praia Grande has surf, and the park is used for mountain biking and riding.

Tangier's nature lies mostly on the headland at Cap Spartel, with its lighthouse, pine paths and the Caves of Hercules, and in the wooded Perdicaris park. Its special asset is the Strait itself, with storks and raptors migrating overhead in spring and autumn and boats going out to see dolphins. Real hiking in the Rif needs an overnight stay.

Sintra has the better range of day trips, mainly because Lisbon is just a suburban train ride away, with Cascais and the Estoril coast even closer. A car adds the baroque palace at Mafra, Ericeira, walled Óbidos, the monasteries of Alcobaça and Batalha, and Évora at the outer limit.

Tangier's list is shorter but more varied. It takes in whitewashed Asilah, the UNESCO-listed medina of Tetouan, a long day to blue Chefchaouen and Rabat by high-speed train, and a ferry crossing to Tarifa puts a day in Spain within easy reach.

Sintra is the easier choice with children. Climbing the Moorish Castle walls, going down the spiral of the Initiation Well and exploring Regaleira's tunnels feels like a storybook to school-age children, and the shady parks stay cool in summer. Steep cobbles, crowded hill buses and rough surf make it harder with toddlers.

Tangier is warm towards children, but there is less for them to do. The promenade, Perdicaris park, the caves and the ferry to Spain make good outings, but the stairs of the medina defeat a pushchair and the touts wear parents down. A hotel with a pool usually becomes the base.

Sintra is easier to get around. The train from Lisbon stops a short walk from the compact centre, and the circular bus, tuk-tuks and taxis cover the steep climb to Pena and the castle, though the buses fill at busy times. Driving in the hills is a struggle, so a car is only worth having for the coast and the wider region, and best parked outside the centre.

Tangier has no metro or tram, and its buses are of little help to a visitor. The medina, kasbah and Boulevard Pasteur can be walked, if steeply, and cheap blue petit taxis do the rest, including the trips out to Cap Spartel. Good rail links south and a ferry port in the centre help with longer journeys.

Tangier is the better place to shop. The lanes between the Petit Socco and the kasbah sell leather slippers, rugs, lanterns and the red-and-white striped Rif cloth, and the Saturday market at the Grand Socco brings farm women down from the hills. Bargaining is expected and the selling is pushy, and there are malls on the bay for ordinary needs.

Sintra's old town offers hand-painted tiles, cork goods, linen and boxes of pastries, along with a few dealers in old azulejos and the Sunday fair at São Pedro de Penaferrim. For anything more, shoppers go to Lisbon.

Tangier is much cheaper day to day. Meals of fish or tagine, mint tea, petit taxis and museum entry all cost little, and medina riads are good value, particularly outside summer. Alcohol and sea-view hotels are where the bill rises.

In Sintra, food and the train are reasonable, but each palace charges its own entry and seeing four or five of them costs more than eating. Manor-house rooms in the centre are expensive, so budget travellers do better staying near the coast or in the outlying villages.

Both are thin on stage culture, and Tangier has a slightly better claim. Its musical heritage includes the Jajouka musicians, Andalusian classical music, gnawa and a long-running jazz festival, and the historic art-house cinema on the Grand Socco is a real cultural landmark. On an ordinary night, though, live music mostly means what hotels and restaurants put on.

Sintra's highlight is its summer festival of classical music and dance in the palaces and quintas, which makes for a memorable evening. The Olga Cadaval centre programmes concerts and theatre, but for most of the year opera and regular live music mean going into Lisbon.

Tangier has the stronger tradition of bathing. Neighbourhood hammams in the medina offer steam, black soap and a scrub with the kessa glove as part of local life, with plainer rooms and separate hours for men and women, while riads and larger hotels offer gentler spa versions. Rooftop terraces over the Strait set a slow pace.

Sintra has no bathing culture and only a few hotel spas. Its calm comes from staying overnight in a quinta among old gardens and misty forest, and from early mornings and evenings when the crowds have gone, with Monserrate's gardens the quietest spot.