Aix-en-Provence or Arles?

Neither town is on the coast, so swimming means a day trip from both. From Aix the nearest water is around Marseille, Cassis and the Côte Bleue. These are small pebbly or rocky coves, lovely but quick to fill in August, and many visitors settle for the pool.

Arles gives the better beach day. The Camargue shore at Saintes-Maries, Piémanson and Beauduc is long, sandy and shallow, with room to spread out even in high summer. Shade and services are scarce, though, and the mosquitoes come with the marshes.

Both towns eat to the Provençal market rhythm, but Aix has more to offer at the table. There is a produce market every morning on Place Richelme, a good spread of bistros, a few serious restaurants, rosé from the Coteaux d'Aix and calissons from the old confectioners.

Arles cooks in a narrower, more local style: gardiane bull stew, Camargue rice and tellines, with the long Saturday market on the Boulevard des Lices as the week's main event. It has fewer ambitious kitchens and many places close in winter, so it is the weaker choice for eating out off season.

Arles has the more important sights, packed into a smaller space. The arena, the antique theatre, the underground cryptoporticus, the Alyscamps and the Romanesque cloister of Saint-Trophime are all UNESCO-listed. The Luma tower and the Rencontres photography festival add a modern side.

Aix is about the beauty of the town more than its monuments. There are the plane trees and fountains of the Cours Mirabeau, the mansions of the Mazarin quarter, and Cézanne's studio, family house and quarries, with the Musée Granet for paintings. Each town fills two or three unhurried days.

Neither is a going-out town, but the university gives Aix a real evening crowd. Students drink on the terraces around the Forum des Cardeurs, and there are a few wine and cocktail bars and a handful of small clubs.

Arles goes quiet after dinner on the Place du Forum. The exception is the Easter and September ferias, when bodegas fill the streets for a few late nights. For a proper club night, people from both towns head to Marseille.

Aix has the more dramatic walking country nearby. The ridge of Sainte-Victoire rises just east of town, the white cliffs of the Calanques are within an hour and the Gorges du Verdon is a little further. On high fire-risk days in summer, though, the massifs can be closed.

Arles has a flatter, wilder kind of nature. The Camargue delta begins at the edge of town, with flamingos, white horses and black bulls that you can see on horseback, by bike along the dykes or from the bird reserve. The Alpilles to the north-east add hills.

The two towns reach much of the same country, and Avignon is a short train ride from each, so the difference is which part of Provence lies closest. From Aix, Marseille is half an hour to the south-west and the fishing port of Cassis is on the coast to the south. The Luberon villages of Gordes, Roussillon and Lourmarin are within an hour to the north.

Arles sits nearer to Roman Provence and the Languedoc. Nîmes is about half an hour by train and the Pont du Gard is under an hour's drive to the west. Les Baux and Saint-Rémy are close by to the north-east, and the walled town of Aigues-Mortes lies across the Camargue. From both towns, the villages really need a car.

With small children, Aix is the easier town to spend a day in. Arles has the better animal outings. The pedestrian centre of Aix has fountains to stop at and ice cream along the way, and families drive out to the zoo at La Barben or take older children walking on Sainte-Victoire.

In Arles, children can climb the arena towers and explore the dark cryptoporticus, though the cobbles are hard work with a buggy. The best days are out in the Camargue, with pony rides at the ranches, flamingos near Saintes-Maries and a shallow, gentle sea. Neither town has big attractions built for children.

You can walk across either centre in minutes. Aix has the better connections beyond town: frequent buses to Marseille and its airport, a local train, and the TGV from a station on the plateau outside town, reached by shuttle bus.

In Arles the station is a short walk from the old town, with trains to Avignon, Nîmes and Marseille. Buses into the Camargue and the Alpilles are infrequent, though, and the delta's beaches and ranches are only really practical by car or bike.

Aix is clearly the better place to shop. The lanes around Rue d'Italie and Rue Fabrot have French fashion and shoe boutiques, delicatessens and homeware, the Allées Provençales add the chains, and there are flower and textile stalls on market days.

Shopping in Arles is smaller and more specialised: Provençal cottons, gardian shirts, Camargue salt and rice, and good bookshops strong on photography. Anyone wanting clothes goes to Aix.

Arles is the easier town on the wallet. Mid-range hotels and lunch menus cost what they would in any French provincial town, and a combined pass covers most sights.

Aix is dearer. It has few hotels in the centre, much of its accommodation is boutique hotels and country houses, and terrace prices on the Cours Mirabeau are higher than the cooking deserves. In both towns, July and a hire car add to the bill.

Aix is well ahead here. Its July opera festival in the courtyard of the Archbishop's Palace is a major event in the opera world. Outside July, the Grand Théâtre de Provence hosts touring orchestras and opera, and Ballet Preljocaj performs at the Pavillon Noir.

Arles is mostly a summer stage, with concerts in the Roman theatre and the arena, world music at Les Suds, and brass bands and the course camarguaise in feria season. The rest of the year there is little beyond a modest town theatre.

Aix has a real spa heritage. The Romans founded it for its warm springs, some fountains still run warm, and the Thermes Sextius stands on the site of the Roman baths. Arles has no thermal tradition, only a few hotel spas and quiet farmhouse retreats with pools, so rest there means siestas and evenings by the Rhône rather than treatments.