Aix-en-Provence or Basel?

Neither city has a beach of its own, but Aix is closer to real sea swimming. It is a drive of about an hour to the pebbly coves of the Cote Bleue, the calanques or Cassis, and in August the water is warm, though crowded. Without a car, many visitors settle for the pool.

Basel offers a different pleasure. You walk upstream with a waterproof swim bag and float back through town on the Rhine. It is memorable, but it is a strong current for confident swimmers, possible only in summer, and there is no sand.

Aix eats better for a visitor. Its days are built around the morning markets on Place Richelme, long lunches of daube, tians and Coteaux d'Aix rosé, and calissons from the old confiseries. Food is a reason to go, even if the choice rarely goes beyond Provencal and Mediterranean cooking.

Basel cooks carefully but has few dishes of its own beyond Läckerli and Fasnacht flour soup, and it borrows from Alsace and Baden. Everyday meals feel expensive, so many people cross the border to eat in the wine villages.

Basel has the greater collections. The Kunstmuseum's Holbeins, the Fondation Beyeler, Tinguely and Vitra just over the German border give it three or four solid days. Around them are a red sandstone Münster and contemporary buildings by Herzog & de Meuron.

Aix appeals more through its setting than its museums. It has the Cours Mirabeau, the honey-coloured mansions of the Mazarin quarter and fountains on almost every square. Its great draw is Cezanne, with his studio at Les Lauves, Bibemus and the Jas de Bouffan, and the Musée Granet adds to that. It fills two or three slower days.

Both cities are quiet at night, and neither is a place for serious clubbing. Aix's evenings are student terraces around Place des Cardeurs that wind down early, and they thin out during term breaks. For anything bigger, people go to Marseille.

Basel goes out by the river, drinking on the Kleinbasel steps in summer, with a few electronic clubs in old harbour buildings. Its one great outburst is Fasnacht, three days of drums and lanterns that begin at four in the morning.

Aix has the more striking scenery right on its doorstep. Sainte-Victoire rises just east of town, the white cliffs and turquoise inlets of the Calanques are within an hour, and the Luberon, the Alpilles and the Gorges du Verdon add cycling and kayaking. The catch is the summer heat and the fire-risk closures, which make spring and autumn the seasons for it.

Basel's countryside is greener and gentler: the Jura ridges, the Black Forest summits and the Vosges, all with well-marked trails, plus flat Rhine cycle paths into two countries. It suits walkers who enjoy forest and hills rather than drama.

Both are first-class bases, but the trips are different in kind. From Aix you reach Roman Provence in Arles, Nîmes and the Pont du Gard, Avignon by TGV and Marseille in half an hour. The hilltop villages of the Luberon and Alpilles, which really need a car, are the highlight.

From Basel everything runs by train and crosses borders: Colmar and the Alsace wine route, Freiburg, Strasbourg, then Lucerne, Bern and Zurich, with Augusta Raurica close by. It is the better choice if you want a week of outings without driving.

Basel does more for children. Its zoo is one of the best in Europe, and the natural history and toy museums cover a wet morning. Riding the current-driven ferries is a small adventure, and the Lange Erlen animal park is free.

Aix is safe and pedestrian, with fountains and ice cream, but its sights are mansions and painters' studios, and summer afternoons are hot. Families there tend to stay somewhere with a pool and drive to La Barben zoo or the coast.

Both centres are small enough to explore on foot, but Basel is far easier once you leave the middle of town. In Aix, nearly everything a visitor comes for is a short stroll away, from the medieval lanes to the mansions south of the Cours Mirabeau, and Cezanne's studio is only a brief climb or bus ride out. Things get harder beyond the town. The TGV station is out on the plateau and needs a shuttle bus, buses barely reach the Luberon villages, and most visitors end up hiring a car and parking underground at the edge of the old town.

Basel needs no car at all. Green trams cover the rest of the city, some lines cross into France and Germany, and hotel guests ride them free. The main station has direct trains into all three countries, and even the airport, which is shared with France, is a short bus ride from the centre.

Aix is the more enjoyable place to shop because so much of it happens outdoors. There are produce, textile and flower markets on the squares, fashion and deli shops along Rue d'Italie and Rue Fabrot, and good things to take home, such as santons, olive wood, Marseille soap and printed fabrics.

Basel is neater but narrower: Swiss watches, chocolate and chains along Freie Strasse, small design shops on the Spalenberg and a pretty Christmas market by the Münster. Locals often shop in Germany instead.

Aix is expensive for the south of France, yet Basel costs a great deal more for almost everything you pay for. In Aix most of the cost is the room. There are few hotels in the old town, many of the beds are in boutique hotels and country houses, and July's opera festival pushes rates higher. Terraces on the Cours Mirabeau charge for the view, and a hire car for the countryside adds to the bill.

In Basel the high prices carry on into museum tickets and evening drinks as well as hotels, and Art Basel and the other trade fairs make rooms scarce. The way to save here is the border. Many visitors sleep on the French or German side, and a short tram ride takes you to cheaper shops.

The two are evenly matched, but their calendars are opposite. Aix peaks in July, when the opera festival fills the courtyard of the Archbishop's Palace and tickets go early. The rest of the year has Ballet Preljocaj, the Grand Théâtre de Provence and the Easter classical festival.

Basel's season runs from autumn to early summer and goes quiet in July and August. It has bold opera and ballet at Theater Basel, the Sinfonieorchester at the Stadtcasino and a strong tradition of early music.

Both are calm places to unwind rather than spa destinations, and they do it differently. In Aix the warm springs are part of the town's Roman origins. A thermal spa stands on the site of the old baths, and the real restorative is the pace of long lunches under the plane trees.

Basel has no thermal water of its own. Instead it offers quiet Sundays on the river and easy trips to the saline baths at Rheinfelden, about twenty minutes away, or to the German spa towns of southern Baden.