Valencia or Alicante?

Both have fine sand, shallow calm water and the same warm summer sea, so the difference is in the setting. Alicante's Postiguet lies at the foot of the castle at the end of the old town, which makes a swim easy to fit between sights, though it gets cramped in July and August. San Juan's 7km strip, the island of Tabarca and the Costa Blanca coves give you more choice.

Valencia's beaches form one long, wide golden band where there is room to spread out even in high summer, but they are a twenty-minute ride from the centre. South of the port, the dune-backed beaches of El Saler and La Devesa inside the Albufera park are wilder than anything near Alicante.

Both cities live on rice, but Valencia is the place where it matters most. Paella valenciana with rabbit and chicken, eel stew in the Albufera villages, horchata in Alboraya and a creative restaurant scene in Ruzafa give it more depth, and its Mercado Central ranks among Europe's great food halls.

Alicante eats very well in its own style: arroz a banda, arroz con costra, red prawns from Santa Pola and tapas bars around the old town and market. Jijona turrón is the sweet to try. It is good everyday eating rather than a reason to travel.

Valencia is the much richer city to explore. The UNESCO-listed Lonja de la Seda, the cathedral with its Holy Grail chalice and Miguelete tower, the Serranos and Quart gates and the ceramics museum in the Marqués de Dos Aguas palace are all close together in the old town. The futuristic City of Arts and Sciences and the Bellas Artes collection mean two or three days fill easily.

Alicante's highlights are the Castillo de Santa Bárbara with its bay views, the whitewashed steps of Santa Cruz and the well-presented MARQ archaeology museum. It is a pleasant couple of days, not a city you visit for its monuments.

Valencia has a little more going on and more variety. You can choose cocktail and wine bars in Ruzafa, older, rougher bars in El Carmen, cheap student streets in Benimaclet, or summer clubs near Malvarrosa that run until dawn. Fallas in March turns whole districts into street parties.

Alicante's nights centre on the small bars that spill onto the steps of El Barrio under the castle, with dressier clubs at the marina and late beach terraces at San Juan. The Hogueras in June is its big blow-out, but anyone after serious clubbing will run out of options sooner.

Both offer plenty outdoors, but the landscapes are very different. Alicante is dry and mountainous, with real hiking on Puig Campana and the Sierra de Aitana, climbing at Sella, snorkelling in the Tabarca marine reserve and flamingos on the Santa Pola salt lagoons. Most trailheads need a car.

Valencia is flat and green, built around the Albufera lagoon with its rice fields, herons and sunset boat trips, plus the pine dunes of the Devesa. The Turia gardens make easy cycling and running right in the city, while the gorge at Chulilla is the nearest serious rock about an hour inland.

Both are good bases, each with its own region. From Alicante, Elche's palm grove is half an hour away, the coastal tram runs to the painted houses of Villajoyosa and on towards Altea, and Guadalest perches above its reservoir inland. Valencia itself is a two-hour train ride.

Valencia looks north and inland instead. Sagunto's Roman theatre and Xàtiva's ridge-top castle are about half an hour by train, high-speed services put Cuenca's hanging houses about an hour away, and the cellars of Requena and the sea castle at Peñíscola complete a varied list.

In both cities children are welcome at dinner at ten in the evening, and July and August afternoons are hot enough that families plan the day around the midday heat. Alicante's appeal is the beach: shallow water at San Juan and a palm-lined promenade for scooters and pushchairs. The castle lift, the Tabarca boat and the hands-on displays at the MARQ make a change from the sand, and the animal park outside Elche, with its small train round the grounds, fills a half day.

Valencia has more for children within its own limits. Beyond the big attractions at the City of Arts and Sciences, the Hemisfèric shows films on a huge domed screen, the Turia gardens have sports fields and long flat paths for bikes, and the flat, compact centre is easy for small legs. What it lacks is a big theme park in the city itself.

Alicante's centre is small enough to need nothing but your feet. The old quarter, port, market and Postiguet lie within about fifteen minutes of each other, and a lift inside the rock takes care of the castle climb. Beyond that, the coastal tram is slow but scenic, and the airport is reached by bus.

Over a much wider city, Valencia is the easier of the two. The old town, Ruzafa and the Ensanche are flat, the Turia gardens give a car-free cycle route to the City of Arts and Sciences, and bike lanes and bike-share run across the city. Metro and tram lines link the airport, the port and the beaches, so the sights further out are a short ride rather than a trek.

Valencia gives you noticeably more choice. The Ensanche around Calle Colón has luxury boutiques next to the big chains, El Carmen and Ruzafa add vintage and independent design, and the local crafts are Manises ceramics, porcelain figurines, hand-painted fans and silk.

Alicante's shopping is practical: Spanish chains on Avenida Maisonnave, edible souvenirs at the market and baskets and ceramics at street markets. Its best card is the shoe factory outlets in Elche, half an hour away.

Neither will stretch the budget, and both rely on the set lunch, cheap tapas and inexpensive public transport. Alicante's main sights, including the castle grounds, cost little or nothing, and rooms become much cheaper from October to May.

In Valencia the expensive times are high summer near the beach and especially Fallas in March, when rooms book up far ahead. In Alicante the peak is July, August and the June Hogueras. A visit to the City of Arts and Sciences is the extra cost Alicante does not have.

On a short stay, what matters is what you could actually book on a given evening. In Alicante that usually means a Spanish-language play, a touring musical or a comedy night at the old Teatro Principal, or an orchestral or jazz concert at the ADDA. Beyond that you are relying on bands in bars, open-air concerts in summer and the street music of the Hogueras in June.

Valencia gives you more evenings worth planning around, and more variety. As well as the same kind of theatre and touring shows, it has ballet and full-scale staged opera, two resident orchestras instead of Alicante's one, and a small jazz circuit in the centre and Ruzafa. In March, the village wind bands fill the streets throughout Fallas. The scene is still modest, but if you don't speak Spanish you will find far more to choose from here.

Neither city has a bathing tradition of its own, so relaxing in both means hotel spas and the slow Mediterranean routine. Alicante's advantage is the thermal springs at Archena and Fortuna, used since Roman times and about an hour away by car.

Valencia keeps its history within the city: the medieval Baños del Almirante survive as a monument, modern Arab-style bath houses carry on the idea, and the shady Turia gardens are a good place for a slow afternoon.