Aix-en-Provence or Antibes?

Antibes wins clearly here. It has real sand at Juan-les-Pins and La Salis, flat rocks to swim from around Cap d'Antibes, and the sea within walking distance of most places to stay.

Aix is inland, so a swim means driving, or taking a bus and train, to the small pebbly coves of the Cote Bleue or the calanques near Cassis. Many visitors settle for the pool instead.

Both towns eat from a morning Provencal market, but Aix makes more of it. Produce from the stalls on Place Richelme goes into long lunches of daube and tians with Coteaux d'Aix rosé, the bistros are stronger, and the calisson gives the town a sweet of its own.

Antibes cooks in the Niçoise style, with socca and pissaladière around the Cours Masséna market. There are fine tables on the cape, but the streets near the port have more tourist menus.

In Aix the whole town is the sight: the Cours Mirabeau, the honey-coloured mansions of the Mazarin quarter, a cathedral with a Merovingian baptistery, and Cezanne's studio, family house and quarries, with the Musee Granet on top. It fills two or three unhurried days.

Antibes has one outstanding sight, the Picasso Museum in the Château Grimaldi on the sea wall. Around it are the ramparts, Fort Carré and the villa and chapel on the cape. It is charming but has less to see.

Neither is a place for going out, and serious clubbers head elsewhere, from Aix to Marseille and from Antibes to Nice. What differs is the season and the style.

Evenings in Aix run on students and locals drinking on the terraces around Place des Cardeurs for most of the year, going quieter in the university breaks. Antibes comes alive in July and August, when Juan-les-Pins has beach bars and clubs open into the small hours and the port has pubs full of yacht crews. Out of season most of it closes.

Aix has more to choose from. Sainte-Victoire is on the doorstep, the Calanques are within the hour, the Luberon and Alpilles are good for cycling, and the Gorges du Verdon makes a longer day out. The catch is the summer heat and the closures on fire-risk days.

Antibes is more about the water. There is the coastal path round the cape, snorkelling and diving in clear water and paddleboarding in the bay, with the red cliffs of the Esterel and the hills above Grasse within driving distance.

Both are excellent bases, but for different kinds of day out. The trips from Aix are Roman and rural: Avignon by TGV, Arles, Nimes and the Pont du Gard, and Luberon villages such as Gordes and Roussillon, which really need a car.

From Antibes the trips are along the coast and easier without one. The train links Nice, Cannes, Monaco and Menton, boats go out to the Lérins Islands, and Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Eze and Grasse lie inland, with Italy close enough for a day.

Aix works best for families whose children are old enough to walk. Sainte-Victoire rises at the edge of town and the Calanques are within the hour, but in midsummer the heat makes afternoons hard going and the trails can close on high fire-risk days. Most families end up planning around a pool and the car, with drives to the zoo at La Barben or out to the Luberon.

Antibes is easier to manage, because more of the day happens close to where you stay. Older children can snorkel in the clear water off the cape, take the boat out to the Lérins Islands or walk round Fort Carré. The pressure there comes in August, when the free beaches are full by mid-morning, so an early swim and a long lunch out of the sun shape most days.

Both centres are compact and easy on foot, and both get harder once you leave them. The railway makes the difference: Antibes sits on the coastal line, so Nice, Cannes and Monaco are a short train ride away.

The TGV station for Aix is out on the plateau, and its villages barely see a bus, so a hire car is close to essential there. Antibes pays for its coast with summer traffic and parking trouble, while in Aix parking is tight in the centre.

Aix is the better town for browsing. It has French fashion and shoe boutiques in the lanes around Rue d'Italie, delicatessens, chains at the Allees Provencales, and flower, textile and bric-a-brac markets as well as the produce stalls. Santons, calissons and printed fabrics make distinctive things to take home.

Antibes is smaller and more local, with the covered market and a few shops selling linens and ceramics. For clothes people go to Cannes or Nice, and glass and pottery are best bought in Biot and Vallauris.

Both are expensive, and neither suits a tight budget. In Aix the cost comes from the few hotels in the centre, at their dearest during the July opera festival, plus the car you need for the countryside. In Antibes it comes from summer rooms near the beaches and the beach-club loungers.

The ways to save differ too. Antibes gets much cheaper in spring and autumn, and its coastal trains are good value. Aix rewards set lunches in the back streets and picnics from the market.

Aix has much more on stage. Its July opera festival, held in the courtyard of the Archbishop's Palace, draws the opera world. The rest of the year the Grand Theatre de Provence, Ballet Preljocaj at the Pavillon Noir and the Jeu de Paume keep a real programme going.

Antibes has one famous event, Jazz à Juan under the pines each July, and otherwise the Anthéa theatre. For opera you go to Nice.

Aix has the deeper tradition. The town grew up around Roman warm springs, the Thermes Sextius spa stands on the site of the old baths, and outside July its pace of markets and afternoons under the plane trees is restful.

Antibes offers thalassotherapy and the grand-hotel spas on the cape. It is calm in May, June and September, but much less restful in high summer.