Aix-en-Provence or Turin?

Neither city is on the coast, but Aix is much closer to it. The pebbly coves of the Cote Bleue, the Marseille city beaches and the calanques around Cassis are all within about an hour, so a morning swim followed by an evening back in town is realistic, at least with a car.

From Turin the nearest sea is the Ligurian Riviera, close to two hours away. In summer the people of Turin make do with small lakes such as Avigliana. Anyone who wants regular swimming will find Aix the more workable base.

Turin is the stronger food city by some way. Piedmontese cooking is rich and precise, from vitello tonnato and agnolotti del plin to white truffles from the Langhe in autumn, and the wine lists are full of Barolo and Barbaresco. Vermouth, gianduiotti and the bicerin served in the arcaded cafés give it a sweet and aperitivo tradition that Aix cannot match.

Aix eats well in a simpler Provencal way: morning markets on Place Richelme, long lunches of daube and tians with local rosé, and calissons from the old confiseries. Beyond French and Mediterranean cooking there is little choice, and the terraces on the Cours Mirabeau charge for the view.

Turin has far more to see. The Museo Egizio alone is worth the trip, and around it stand the Royal Palace, Palazzo Madama, the cathedral of the Shroud and the UNESCO-listed Savoy residences such as Venaria. The cinema museum in the Mole, the car museum and the old Fiat factory at Lingotto add a modern, industrial side.

Aix offers beauty more than depth: the plane trees and fountains of the Cours Mirabeau, the stately mansions of the Mazarin quarter, and Cezanne's studio and the quarries of Bibemus. The Musee Granet is good, but the town is seen in two or three unhurried days, while Turin can fill a week.

Turin gives a fuller evening. The aperitivo leads on to wine bars in the Quadrilatero Romano, crowded pavements in San Salvario, a more alternative scene in Vanchiglia and, in summer, the Murazzi on the Po. It also has clubs in former industrial buildings.

Aix's students keep the bars around Place des Cardeurs lively on warm nights, but it stays a terrace town, and people looking for a proper club night go to Marseille. Both quieten noticeably when the universities break.

Both are excellent bases for the outdoors, and the difference is in the landscape. Around Aix it is the limestone south: hiking on Sainte-Victoire, cliff paths and sea kayaking in the Calanques, cycling through the Luberon and the canyon of the Gorges du Verdon. Spring and autumn are the times to go, since summer heat and fire closures often shut the massifs.

Turin looks towards the high Alps. The Gran Paradiso, with its ibex, and the Susa valley offer hut-to-hut hiking and climbing in summer, and the slopes around Sestriere offer skiing in winter. Closer to town there is the Mandria forest and the riverside paths of Valentino park.

From Aix the days out run through Roman and painterly Provence: the arena at Arles, the Palais des Papes in Avignon about twenty minutes away by TGV, Nimes and the Pont du Gard, and Marseille's old port half an hour down the road. The Luberon villages of Gordes, Roussillon and Lourmarin, Les Baux in the Alpilles and the fishing port of Cassis add the classic Provencal scenery.

Turin's excursions lead into Piedmontese wine country. Alba, Barolo, La Morra and Bra lie in the Langhe about an hour south, with Asti and the Monferrato hills beyond. Milan is an hour away by fast train, and the Sacra di San Michele sits on its rock above the Susa valley. In both places the towns are easy to reach by rail, but the villages and vineyards are far simpler with a car.

Turin is the easier city with children. Its flat, arcaded grid suits pushchairs in any weather, and it has attractions children actually enjoy: the glass lift up through the Mole, the Egyptian mummies, the car museum, the planetarium and the rack railway to Superga. Zoom Torino makes a full day out.

Aix is safe and pleasant to stroll around, with fountains and ice cream, but its sights are mansions and Cezanne's studio, and summer afternoons are hot. Families there usually rely on a pool and drives out to La Barben zoo or the coast.

Both centres are walked rather than ridden, but on different scales. In Aix the old town and the Mazarin quarter form one small, mostly pedestrian area, with electric shuttles in the lanes. Turin is a larger flat grid of arcades with one driverless metro line, plus trams and buses that take some learning.

The bigger difference lies beyond the centre. Turin's main stations are central and well connected to the rest of Italy. The TGV station in Aix is out on the plateau and needs a shuttle bus, and the Provencal villages more or less require a hire car.

Shopping in Aix happens at the market stalls and in small shops selling Provence to take home: calissons, painted clay santons, olive-wood bowls, Marseille soap and printed fabrics, found in the lanes around Rue d'Italie and Rue Espariat. On market days, flower and bric-a-brac stalls fill the squares, but there is no luxury fashion and no big department store.

Turin has more range, with designer labels under the arcades of Via Roma, chain stores along pedestrian Via Garibaldi and antique dealers on Via Maria Vittoria. The best things to buy there are edible, from chocolate makers and pastry shops to delicatessens selling truffles and Barolo. The Balon flea market behind Porta Palazzo is worth a Saturday morning.

Aix costs more at almost every turn. Prices climb further in July, when the opera festival fills the town, and a meal on the Cours Mirabeau pays mostly for the view. The savings come from the set lunch menus in the back streets, picnics put together at the morning market and the cheap regional buses to Marseille.

Turin is the easier city to keep to a budget. Trams, buses and the metro cost little, and most of the central grid is covered on foot anyway, while neighbourhood trattorie and bakeries keep everyday eating modest. The spending comes in a few places: museum tickets, fine dining, white truffles in autumn and hotel rates during the big trade fairs.

Over a whole year Turin offers more. The Teatro Regio runs a full opera and ballet season, the RAI National Symphony Orchestra plays in its own hall, and concerts fill the Lingotto auditorium, with jazz clubs and music festivals on top. Its theatre is almost all in Italian.

Aix has one great asset in the Festival d'Aix, which brings international opera to the courtyard of the Archbishop's Palace every July. Outside July it is quieter, with touring productions at the Grand Theatre de Provence and Ballet Preljocaj at the Pavillon Noir.

Aix has the edge, thanks to the warm springs the Romans founded it on. The Thermes Sextius spa stands on the site of the ancient baths, warm water still runs through some of its fountains, and the gentle pace of the town outside July does the rest.

Turin has no bathing tradition, only hotel spas, and real thermal waters at Acqui Terme or in the Aosta valley are close to two hours away. Its calm comes instead from café breaks under the arcades and evening walks along the Po.