Aix-en-Provence or Paris?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Aix comes much closer. The coves of the Cote Bleue, the city beaches of Marseille and the calanques near Cassis are all within an hour's drive, though they are small, mostly pebbly or rocky, and crowded in August.

From Paris the sea means Normandy, around two hours by train to a cool Channel with a short season. In the city itself, a swim means the summer river beaches, the Bassin de la Villette or one of the Art Deco public pools.

Both cities eat in the French way, but Paris offers far more depth and range. Aix is about the Provencal market on Place Richelme, a long terrace lunch of daube or grilled fish with Coteaux d'Aix rose, and calissons from the old confiseries. Beyond French and Mediterranean cooking, the choice runs thin.

Paris covers everything from steak frites at the counter to the haute cuisine tradition, with natural-wine bars and small inventive kitchens in the 10th and 11th arrondissements. North African, Vietnamese, Lebanese and West African cooking add range that Aix cannot match, and its pastry is a reason to visit in itself.

Aix is a beautiful town to wander, with the plane trees and fountains of the Cours Mirabeau, the Mazarin quarter's mansions and the Cezanne trail from his Lauves studio to the Bibemus quarries. Two or three unhurried days cover it.

Paris belongs to another league. The Louvre, the Orsay, the Orangerie, Notre-Dame and the Sainte-Chapelle are each worth a trip on their own, and Haussmann's boulevards and the Marais are worth seeing in their own right. Cezanne fans will even find more of his canvases in the Orsay than in his home town.

Aix's evenings are about drinking on a terrace around Place des Cardeurs with students and locals, a few wine and cocktail bars and a small club or two. It all winds down early and goes quiet in the university breaks.

Paris has a proper night out. Bars fill the streets of Oberkampf, the Canal Saint-Martin and Belleville, there are cocktail bars in South Pigalle and a gay scene in the Marais, and house and techno clubs and summer river barges keep going until dawn.

Aix sits in real landscape. You can climb Sainte-Victoire to the Croix de Provence, walk the cliffs of the Calanques, kayak the Gorges du Verdon or cycle past vineyards in the Luberon and Alpilles. In midsummer, though, heat and fire closures can shut the massifs.

Paris offers parks rather than wilderness: formal gardens at the Luxembourg, the cliffs and lake of the Buttes-Chaumont, and rowing in the Bois de Vincennes. Its best outing is the sandstone boulders and forest trails of Fontainebleau, which are gentle by comparison.

Both are superb bases, and Paris edges ahead mainly because so much of its range is reached by train. Versailles, Chartres, Giverny, Reims and the Champagne houses, Rouen and the Loire gateway at Tours all make easy days out without a car.

From Aix, the towns are just as rewarding: Marseille, Avignon's papal palace and Roman Arles and Nimes. Its other half is the hill villages of the Luberon and Alpilles, such as Gordes, Roussillon and Les Baux, which really need a hire car.

Paris gives children far more to do. There is Disneyland and Parc Asterix by train, the hands-on Cite des Sciences, the Jardin d'Acclimatation's rides, and puppet shows and toy boats in the Luxembourg. The price is metro stairs with a pushchair, small hotel rooms and long queues.

Aix is safe and easy, with a pedestrian centre and fountains for stopping points, but the town itself has little for children. Families tend to base themselves at a villa with a pool and drive out to the zoo at La Barben or the coast.

Inside the old town, Aix is easy: everything is a short walk. The difficulty starts at the edge of town, with the TGV station out on the plateau and villages poorly served by buses, so most visitors end up hiring a car.

Paris is far easier for a visitor without one. Its centre is a great walk along the Seine, and the dense metro, the RER to the airports and Versailles, and the bike-share cover the rest. The drawbacks are stairs, rush-hour crowds and pickpockets.

Paris is one of the world's great shopping cities. Fashion houses have their flagships on the Faubourg Saint-Honore, Galeries Lafayette and Le Bon Marche are sights in their own right, and the covered passages, the bouquinistes and the Saint-Ouen flea market add antiques and old books.

Aix is a pleasant browse rather than a destination. You will find French boutiques around Rue d'Italie and Rue Fabrot and market stalls on the squares, and the best things to take home are calissons, santons, olive wood and Provencal fabrics.

Neither is cheap, but Aix is the slightly lighter bill. Its hotels are few and pricey, especially during the July festival, and a hire car adds to the cost. Market picnics and back-street lunch menus help.

Paris hotels are expensive and small, terrace drinks add up, and the big museums charge full admission. It does have more ways to save: walking and reasonable public transport, the free permanent collections of the city's own museums, and staying in the outer arrondissements.

Aix has one world-class moment, the July opera festival in the courtyard of the Archbishop's Palace. Outside it there is Ballet Preljocaj at the Pavillon Noir and touring orchestras at the Grand Theatre de Provence, but the calendar is thin.

Paris has a full season all year. There is ballet at the Palais Garnier and opera at the Bastille, orchestras at the Philharmonie, Moliere at the Comedie-Francaise, jazz cellars on the rue des Lombards, and cabaret in Pigalle. Even a short stay will find something on.

Aix is the better place to unwind. Its Roman spring still warms some of its fountains, the Thermes Sextius offers thermal pools on the site of the ancient baths, and outside July the town moves at a slow pace of market mornings and shaded afternoons.

Paris has no springs of its own. Its best-known soak is the tiled hammam of the Grande Mosquee, alongside hotel day spas, and otherwise rest means an hour in the Luxembourg gardens away from the noise of the city.