Aix-en-Provence or Toulouse?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Aix is much closer to the water. The coves of the Côte Bleue, Marseille's city beaches and Cassis with its calanques are all within about an hour by car. That makes a swim in the Mediterranean an easy day out, though the beaches are pebbly and crowded in August.

From Toulouse the nearest sea, around Narbonne and Gruissan, is about two hours away, so it is a long excursion. In practice, swimming there means the supervised lakes at Sesquières and La Ramée or a hotel pool.

Both cities eat well, but in different ways. Aix cooks the Provençal way: morning markets on Place Richelme, olives, goat's cheese, tians and grilled fish over a long lunch with Coteaux d'Aix rosé, and calissons to finish.

Toulouse cooks heavier, heartier food, built on cassoulet, duck confit, foie gras and Fronton reds, and the counters upstairs at the Victor Hugo market let you eat among the stallholders. Its set lunches and student quarters also make eating out cheaper than on Aix's expensive terraces.

Either city gives about two days of unhurried sightseeing, but the character differs. Aix is a town of elegance and painting: the fountains and plane trees of the Cours Mirabeau, the honey-stone mansions of the Mazarin quarter, and Cézanne's studio, family house and quarries.

Toulouse is built of rose-red brick and has the larger monuments, led by the Romanesque basilica of Saint-Sernin and the palm-tree vault of the Jacobins. Its aircraft museums and space centre add a modern side that Aix has nothing to match.

Toulouse has the livelier evenings. Its very large student population fills Place Saint-Pierre and the quays on warm nights, Carmes and the Daurade have wine and cocktail bars for an older crowd, and there are clubs and a solid electronic scene.

Aix has students too, but an evening there means a drink on the terraces around Place des Cardeurs and an early night. Anyone wanting a club goes to Marseille. Both cities get noticeably quieter when the students leave for the summer.

Aix has the more dramatic outdoors close at hand. Montagne Sainte-Victoire rises just east of town, and the Calanques, some of the best coastal walking in the Mediterranean, are within an hour. The Luberon, the Alpilles and the Gorges du Verdon add cycling, kayaking and hiking. Spring and autumn are the seasons for all of this, as the hills often close on high fire-risk days in midsummer.

Around Toulouse the land is mostly flat farmland, good for long rides along the Canal du Midi towpaths. Its great asset is the Pyrenees, with serious hiking and winter skiing, but they are one and a half to two hours away.

Both make good bases, but Aix is exceptional. Marseille is about half an hour away, the TGV reaches Avignon in about twenty minutes, and Arles and the Pont du Gard are also within reach. The Luberon hill villages of Gordes, Roussillon and Lourmarin are within an hour, though you need a car for them.

Toulouse has fewer outings, but two excellent ones are each about an hour by train: walled Carcassonne, and brick-built Albi with its cathedral and Toulouse-Lautrec museum. Moissac's cloister and the hilltop village of Cordes-sur-Ciel complete a shorter list.

Toulouse gives children far more to do. The Cité de l'espace, with its Ariane rocket and Mir module, can fill a whole day. The aircraft museum lets families walk inside a Concorde, and there is a drive-through safari park on the western edge of the city.

Aix is safe and mostly pedestrian, with fountains and ice cream to keep younger children happy, but its sights are aimed at adults. Families there usually rely on a pool and drive out to the zoo at La Barben, the coast or the walking trails.

Both centres are easy to walk, but Toulouse has better transport. Two automated metro lines, trams and a bike-share scheme cover the city, and the main station is a short walk from the centre.

Aix's old town is small and mostly pedestrian, but its TGV station is out on the plateau and needs a shuttle bus, and the Provence villages are hard to reach without a hire car. Toulouse also needs a car for the Pyrenees, but trains reach more of its main day trips.

Neither city is a serious shopping destination, and the difference is one of style. Aix is better for browsing: French fashion boutiques and delicatessens in the lanes around Rue d'Italie, flower and textile stalls on market days, and Provençal things to take home such as santons, olive-wood ware and printed fabrics.

Toulouse is more mainstream, with chain stores and a department store on Rue d'Alsace-Lorraine. Its best souvenirs are edible: violet sweets, Armagnac and cassoulet in jars, with the big Sunday market around Saint-Sernin as well.

Aix is the more expensive of the two, and most of the difference goes on where you sleep. Rooms in and around the old town are scarce and lean towards boutique hotels and country houses, and in July the opera festival pushes rates higher still. Eating on the Cours Mirabeau also means paying for the view. Lunch menus in the back streets and picnics from the market are where the town gives fair value.

Toulouse is a much larger city, with more beds that cost noticeably less than Aix's, except in the weeks of big trade fairs. Its everyday costs are lower too. The set lunch is something locals eat every day rather than a bargain you have to seek out, the student districts keep drinks and simple meals cheap on a scale Aix cannot match, and getting around by metro costs little. Neither is a cheap destination, but the same week leaves more money in your pocket in Toulouse.

The two are evenly matched, but their strengths differ. Aix has its big moment in July, when the opera festival fills the courtyard of the Archbishop's Palace. For the rest of the year it has Ballet Preljocaj at the Pavillon Noir and touring companies at the Grand Théâtre de Provence.

Toulouse offers more through the whole year. There is a full opera and ballet season at the Théâtre du Capitole, and the Orchestre National du Capitole plays in the round Halle aux Grains. A piano festival fills the Jacobins cloister in late summer, and Rio Loco brings world music to the riverside in early summer.

Aix is the better place to unwind. The warm springs the Romans found still run through some of its fountains and feed the Thermes Sextius spa. Outside July the town is calm, with market mornings and long afternoons under the plane trees.

Toulouse has hotel spas, a few hammam-style day spas, open-air pools in summer and slow walks along the Garonne and the canal. For thermal water you have to go to Luchon or Ax-les-Thermes in the Pyrenees, which works best with a night away.