Aix-en-Provence or Saint-Tropez?

Saint-Tropez has the real beaches. Pampelonne is about 5km of fine pale sand on the Ramatuelle side, with quieter coves at Escalet, Cap Taillat and Gigaro and small town beaches such as Les Graniers for a quick dip. From June to September, swimming is part of every day.

Aix is 30km inland, so the sea is an outing of up to an hour by car, to the small pebbly or rocky coves of the Cote Bleue or the calanques near Cassis. Many visitors swim in their hotel or villa pool instead.

Aix eats better day to day. The morning markets on Place Richelme and around the Palais de Justice supply a lunch culture of daube, tians and Coteaux d'Aix rosé. The back-street bistros offer fair cooking, and there are a few serious restaurants.

Saint-Tropez cooks the same Provençal dishes, plus bouillabaisse and the cream-filled tarte tropézienne, and its hotel dining rooms are genuinely good. Good-value everyday eating is harder to find, though: many quayside places sell the view, and much of the town closes in winter.

Aix has far more to see. There is the plane-shaded Cours Mirabeau, the honey-coloured mansions of the Mazarin quarter and the cathedral with its Merovingian baptistery. A full Cezanne trail runs from the studio at Les Lauves to the Bibemus quarries, and there is the Musee Granet. Together they fill two or three unhurried days.

Saint-Tropez has one strong museum, the Annonciade, with pointillist and Fauvist paintings from the Signac years. Add the citadel's maritime museum and the lanes of La Ponche, and a single day covers it. People come for the setting.

In summer, Saint-Tropez is the party town of the two. Afternoon beach-club sessions at Pampelonne lead to champagne on the harbour and famous clubs open until dawn. The scene is moneyed, with dress codes and table service, and it almost disappears after the season.

Aix's evenings are spent on student-filled terraces around Place des Cardeurs and the lanes behind the town hall, plus a few wine and cocktail bars. Things end early, and people who want to go clubbing head to Marseille.

Aix has the wider range within reach. Montagne Sainte-Victoire rises at the edge of town, and the Calanques offer cliff walks and sea kayaking. You can cycle in the Luberon and the Alpilles, and the Gorges du Verdon is about an hour and a half away. Most of it needs a car.

Saint-Tropez is more about the sea: the Sentier du Littoral around the capes, sailing and snorkelling in the gulf, and the islands of Port-Cros and Porquerolles. The Maures forests inland offer quieter hiking. In both places, summer fire risk closes trails, so spring and autumn are the seasons for it.

This is where Aix pulls well ahead. Marseille is half an hour away, and the TGV reaches Avignon in about twenty minutes. Arles, Nimes and the Pont du Gard add a run of Roman sites, and the Luberon villages from Gordes to Roussillon are within an hour by car, as are the Alpilles.

The outings from Saint-Tropez are pleasant but smaller: the hilltop villages of Ramatuelle and Gassin, Grimaud's castle, a boat across to Port Grimaud and wine cellar tastings. Porquerolles or Fréjus makes a longer day out. Summer traffic on the gulf road slows every one of them.

Neither is built around children, and both are safe and small enough to walk. The main difference is the beach. Saint-Tropez has gently shelving sand at Pampelonne and Gigaro that suits small children, but the prices and the clubs aimed at adults make long stays hard.

Aix offers pedestrian squares, fountains and ice cream. Family days out mean driving to the zoo at La Barben, the coast or Sainte-Victoire, usually from a base with a pool.

Both centres are easy to walk, but Aix is far better connected. Local trains and regional buses run to Marseille and its airport. The TGV station is out on the plateau but puts Avignon within easy reach. Only the countryside villages really need a car.

Saint-Tropez has no railway, only slow buses and a single gulf road that jams for hours in July and August. Even its main beaches are several kilometres from town. Most visitors use a car, scooter or taxi, and the passenger boats from Sainte-Maxime are often the easiest way in.

Saint-Tropez is the better shopping stop if fashion is the aim. The big luxury houses keep summer boutiques behind the port and around Place de la Garonne, alongside resort wear, jewellery and the hand-stitched Tropézienne sandal. Much of it shuts for winter.

Aix has no luxury shopping. Instead it has a pleasant mix of French boutiques around Rue d'Italie and Rue Fabrot, chains at the Allées Provençales and daily markets. It is the place to buy calissons, santons and Provençal fabrics.

Neither is cheap, but Aix is far easier on the wallet. Rooms are scarce and expensive in July, but back-street lunch menus, market picnics, walking and cheap buses keep the rest of the bill reasonable.

In summer Saint-Tropez is priced for the yachting crowd, from beach loungers to coffee on the port, and taxis or parking add to the cost. Many visitors on a budget stay inland or across the gulf and come in for the day.

Aix is a real music town. Every July, the Festival d'Aix brings opera of international standing to the courtyard of the Archbishop's Palace. The Grand Théâtre de Provence, Ballet Preljocaj at the Pavillon Noir and the Jeu de Paume keep performances going all year.

Saint-Tropez has open-air classical and jazz concerts in summer and live sets at some beach clubs. Its most memorable event is the Bravade procession each May, and out of season there is little to attend.

Aix has a genuine spa heritage. The town grew up around Roman warm springs, and the Thermes Sextius stands on the site of the old baths. Outside July, its slow rhythm of markets and long lunches is calming in itself.

Saint-Tropez relies on its luxury hotel spas, which are aimed at their own guests. It is restful only in May, June and September, when games of pétanque under the plane trees replace the summer noise.