Aix-en-Provence or Lugano?

Neither town has a beach of its own, and the swimming is quite different in each. From Aix the Mediterranean is about 30km away, so a swim means a day out to the small pebbly coves of the Cote Bleue or to Cassis and the calanques, with clear salt water but crowded inlets in August.

In Lugano the water is right on the doorstep. The lido at the mouth of the Cassarate and the smaller bathing spots towards Castagnola and Paradiso are lawns, decks and ladders into the lake, good for an afternoon dip but with no sand, no salt and a shorter season.

Aix eats better and more variedly. The morning stalls on Place Richelme feed into long Provencal lunches of tapenade, daube and vegetable tians with Coteaux d'Aix rosé, and the old town has a good choice of bistros as well as the calisson shops.

Lugano's strength is narrower: the grotto, where polenta, braised meats and Ticino Merlot are served at granite tables under chestnut trees. Outside the grotti, choice in town is thin and dear, and many visitors save their big meals for Italy.

Aix gives a culture lover much more to fill the days. The Cours Mirabeau and the honey-stone hotels particuliers of the Mazarin quarter are sights in themselves. The town also has the Cathedrale Saint-Sauveur with its Merovingian baptistery, and Cezanne's studio, family house and quarries, which make a rare chance to follow a painter through his own landscape.

Lugano's arcaded Lombard old town, San Lorenzo above it and Luini's Passion fresco in Santa Maria degli Angioli are fine, but they are quickly seen. A day there covers what Aix spreads over two or three.

Aix has the livelier evenings, thanks to its students. The terraces around Forum des Cardeurs and behind the town hall fill on warm nights, and there are a few small clubs, though term breaks thin the crowd.

Lugano evenings are an aperitivo by the lake followed by dinner, with a smart, local crowd, and most nights are over before midnight. For a proper night out, people from Aix head to Marseille and people from Lugano go to Milan.

Both are excellent for the outdoors, in very different landscapes. Around Aix it is dry limestone and light: the trails up Sainte-Victoire, the white cliffs of the Calanques, cycling through Luberon vineyards and the Verdon gorge. Most of it needs a car, and the massifs often close on summer days of high fire risk.

Lugano is green, steep and watery. Funiculars and a rack railway lift you to Monte Brè, San Salvatore and Generoso, the Lema to Tamaro ridge is a fine day hike, and the Verzasca valley is about an hour away. All of this is reachable without driving.

Both are outstanding bases, and the difference lies in the kind of trip. From Aix you head into Roman and papal Provence. Avignon is about twenty minutes by TGV and Marseille about half an hour, with Arles, Nimes and the Pont du Gard further out. The Luberon villages of Gordes and Roussillon are close, but you need a car to reach them.

Lugano's trips cross a border and mostly go by train or boat. Milan's cathedral and The Last Supper are just over an hour away by train, and Como about half an hour. Nearest of all are Bellinzona's castles, a short train ride north, and Morcote, a boat trip down the lake. Lake Maggiore and the Borromean Islands take a full day, and so does Lucerne through the Gotthard.

Lugano is the easier choice with children because the lake gives them things to do. There are boat trips to the villages, slides at the lidos, playgrounds in Parco Ciani and funicular rides, all without a car, though the steep streets are hard work with a pushchair.

Aix is safe and pedestrian, and its fountains and ice cream will please young children for a while. Its sights are aimed at adults, though, and summer afternoons are very hot, so families end up driving out to La Barben zoo, the coast or the Luberon.

Lugano is much easier for a visitor without a car. A short funicular links the station to the old town, buses climb the hillsides, boats serve the lakeside villages and the Swiss rail network reaches Bellinzona, Locarno and Milan without fuss.

Aix's centre is flatter and almost entirely walkable, which beats Lugano's slopes for strolling. Beyond the town, though, the TGV station sits out on the plateau, the villages are poorly served by buses and parking in the centre is tight.

Aix is the better town for browsing. Its lanes around Rue d'Italie and Rue Fabrot mix French fashion with delicatessens, and the markets add flowers and bric-a-brac. There are also distinctly Provencal things to take home: santons, olive-wood ware, Marseille soap and printed fabrics.

Lugano's shopping centres on Via Nassa, where Swiss watchmakers and jewellers sell to a wealthy clientele, and there is a designer outlet near Mendrisio. Beyond that there is little depth, and keen shoppers go on to Milan.

Neither town is cheap, but Aix is considerably kinder to the wallet. Its hotels are pricey and July is especially dear, yet back-street lunch menus, market picnics and walking everywhere keep daily spending in check.

In Lugano everything carries Swiss prices, from lakeside rooms to boat trips and mountain railways. Grotti, set lunches and the regional transport pass included with hotel stays help a little, and some visitors cross into Italy to eat for less.

Aix has the stronger stage, above all in July, when the Festival d'Aix puts on new opera productions in the courtyard of the Archbishop's Palace. The rest of the year is quieter but still active, with the Grand Theatre de Provence, Ballet Preljocaj at the Pavillon Noir and the old Jeu de Paume theatre.

Lugano's offer centres on LAC, where the Orchestra della Svizzera italiana plays in a hall with fine acoustics. In summer, Estival Jazz holds free concerts on Piazza della Riforma. Opera lovers there go to La Scala in Milan.

Aix has an edge here because of its water. The Romans founded the town for its warm springs, some fountains still run warm, and the Thermes Sextius offers thermal pools on the site of the old baths.

Lugano has no springs, so its spas are in the big lakeside hotels and an indoor pool and sauna complex near Rivera. What it offers instead is the lake: an afternoon on a lido or a bench in Parco Ciani is as restful as a slow market morning in Aix.