Aix-en-Provence or Portofino?

Neither is a classic beach destination, but Portofino has the water at its door. Swimmers climb down ladders from the rocks on the lighthouse path into deep, very clear sea, and there is sand at Paraggi and a pebble cove at San Fruttuoso a short walk or boat ride away. The catch is that the spots are small, and much of Paraggi is taken up by paid beach clubs.

Aix sits about 30km inland, so swimming is a day out. The coves of the Cote Bleue, Cassis and the calanques are around an hour by car, and they are small, rocky and full in August. Many visitors to Aix settle for the pool.

Aix eats far better. There are daily markets on Place Richelme, long Provencal lunches of daube, vegetable tians and Coteaux d'Aix rosé, and a good spread of bistros, though the choice stays French and Mediterranean.

Portofino has trofie with pesto, fritto misto and the cheese focaccia from Recco. But there is only a small cluster of harbour restaurants, where the view costs more than the cooking deserves, and no market at all. Visitors who care about food eat in Camogli or the trattorie up in the hills.

Aix has far more to see. The Cours Mirabeau with its mossy fountains, the honey-coloured mansions of the Mazarin quarter, the Cathedrale Saint-Sauveur and the Cezanne trail of studio, family house and quarries fill two or three unhurried days, and the Musee Granet adds the paintings.

In Portofino, the main sight is the village itself: the coloured houses around the harbour, San Giorgio, Castello Brown and the walk to the lighthouse, plus the abbey at San Fruttuoso around the point. It is a day of atmosphere, with no museums of any size.

Aix has much more of an evening scene. In Portofino the night is really one event, a long aperitivo and dinner on the harbour. Aix gives you a student town's choice of terraces, wine bars and a few small clubs, with Place des Cardeurs and the lanes behind the town hall as the natural place to start. Neither suits a night that runs until dawn, and Aix is quieter outside term time.

Portofino's evenings are about dressing up and being seen at the bars facing the yachts, and then the village goes to bed, early outside July and August. For a real club night, from Aix you go half an hour down the road to Marseille. From Portofino you have to go along the coast to Santa Margherita or Rapallo, or into Genoa.

Both are excellent for the outdoors, but on very different ground. From Aix you head inland: the limestone ridge of Sainte-Victoire, cycling through the Luberon and the Alpilles, the canyon of the Gorges du Verdon, and the Calanques within an hour. A car helps with most of it, and the massifs close on high fire-risk days in summer.

In Portofino it is all one protected headland, and you can walk straight from the door. Trails through holm oak climb to Monte di Portofino and drop to San Fruttuoso, some with chains. Offshore, the marine reserve gives divers red coral walls and the Christ of the Abyss statue.

Aix has the richer list. Avignon is a short TGV ride away, and Arles, Nimes and the Pont du Gard add a run of Roman history. Marseille is half an hour off, and Luberon villages such as Gordes and Roussillon are within an hour, though for those you need a car.

Portofino's outings are pleasant and simpler. Camogli, Santa Margherita and Sestri Levante line the coast, Genoa is under an hour away, and summer ferries reach the Cinque Terre and Portovenere. Out of season the boats stop and the train does the work.

With children, Aix is the more manageable of the two. The centre is largely pedestrian, the fountains and plane-tree squares make natural places to stop, and the morning markets and ice cream help. The sights themselves are aimed at adults and summer afternoons are very hot, so families tend to take a place with a pool and drive out to the zoo at La Barben or to the coast.

Portofino is safe, and children enjoy the boats and swimming off the rocks. But there are no playgrounds, the steep steps rule out pushchairs, and most of the sand at Paraggi belongs to paid clubs. Families usually stay in Rapallo or Santa Margherita and spend a day at Genoa's aquarium.

On foot the two are much alike. The real difference is getting in and out, and Aix makes that far simpler. Its compact centre is mostly free of cars, and a local train and regional buses run to Marseille and its airport. Only the TGV station out of town and the countryside villages are awkward to reach.

Portofino takes a few minutes to cross, though the climbs to the castle and the lighthouse are steep. A single narrow road comes in from Santa Margherita. It jams in summer and parking is scarce. The bus and, from spring to autumn, the ferries are the best ways in.

Aix is a real shopping town, on a small scale. There are fashion and shoe boutiques on Rue d'Italie and Rue Fabrot, chains at the Allees Provencales, and markets every morning. To take home there are santons, calissons and Provencal printed fabrics.

Portofino has the opposite mix: a few lanes of big-name fashion and jewellery boutiques for people off the yachts, some lace and jars of pesto, and no markets. You can see it all in under an hour. For a longer browse, people go to Chiavari or Genoa.

Both are expensive, but Portofino is far pricier. Its few hotels are luxury properties, the piazzetta charges for the view, and loungers, boat hire and parking all add up, so many visitors sleep in Rapallo or Camogli instead.

Aix is dear for the south of France, especially during the July festival. Even so, back-street lunch menus, market picnics and cheap buses make a moderate budget possible, and a hire car is the main extra cost.

This is one of the widest gaps between the two. Aix has the July opera festival in the courtyard of the Archbishop's Palace, Ballet Preljocaj at the Pavillon Noir, and the Grand Theatre de Provence and the Theatre du Jeu de Paume all year.

Portofino has the occasional summer concert in the piazzetta or at the castle, and no venue of its own. For opera, you spend an evening at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa.

Aix has a real thermal heritage. The Romans founded it for its warm springs, some fountains still run warm, and the Thermes Sextius spa stands on the site of the Roman baths. Outside July, its slow rhythm of markets and long lunches is restful in itself.

In Portofino, calm depends on timing. The only spas are in the luxury hotels on the hillside. The quiet harbour mornings and shaded paths give way to tour-boat crowds in the middle of the day in high summer.