Andorra la Vella or Cannes?

Andorra la Vella has no beach. The Mediterranean is about three hours away by road, and the mountain lakes are far too cold for a real swim. If you want to swim in warm water, the choice is a hotel pool or the thermal lagoons in Escaldes-Engordany.

In Cannes, by contrast, swimming is the main point of a summer stay. The Croisette runs along a curve of fine sand. The plainer Plage du Midi is mostly free, and boats to the Lérins islands and the coves of the Esterel give you clearer water when the central beaches fill up in July and August.

Cannes eats better, though neither town is worth the journey for its food alone. Its strength is Provençal produce and fish. You can see both at the Forville market, then eat bouillabaisse, socca and stuffed vegetables in the lanes of Le Suquet with a glass of rosé. For a special meal, there is fine dining towards Mougins.

Andorra la Vella offers heartier mountain food: escudella stew, trinxat, lamb and sausages grilled over wood fires in the bordas, the old stone barns in the side valleys. In both towns the main strip, whether the shopping avenues or the Croisette, mostly serves uneven food to passing crowds.

Neither town is a cultural destination, but Cannes has a little more to fill a morning. You can climb Le Suquet to the castle museum and the church above the bay, walk past the Belle Époque palace hotels, and look at the stars' handprints outside the Palais des Festivals.

Andorra la Vella has its history in a small old quarter centred on the Casa de la Vall, the fortified house where the parliament met for centuries. The more rewarding sights are the Romanesque churches out in the valleys, such as Santa Coloma with its round bell tower.

Cannes has more going on after dark, but mostly in summer and during festivals. Beach clubs on the Croisette turn into party venues, and the streets behind the old port fill with cocktail bars. The style is champagne and dressing up, and the town goes quiet out of season.

Andorra la Vella stays quiet all year. There are pubs and wine bars in the centre and in Escaldes-Engordany, but most visitors are worn out from the slopes or the shops. The real après-ski happens up in the resort villages, not in the capital.

Andorra la Vella sits in the middle of high mountain country, with peaks near 3,000m all around. Large ski areas are a short ride away in winter. The UNESCO-listed Madriu-Perafita-Claror valley begins at the edge of town, and in summer there are trails to glacial lakes and refuges as well as long climbs for cyclists.

Cannes has a coastal kind of landscape. The red volcanic rock of the Esterel drops into a deep blue sea, pine paths circle Sainte-Marguerite, and you can sail, kayak or dive around the islands. It is lovely, but on a smaller scale than Andorra, and fire risk can close forest trails in high summer.

Cannes makes a far better base for outings. Coastal trains reach Antibes in about fifteen minutes and Nice in half an hour, and Villefranche, Monaco and Menton are further along the same line. Grasse, Mougins, Saint-Paul-de-Vence and Èze are a short bus or car ride inland.

From Andorra la Vella the choice is short and the roads are long. The best trip is La Seu d'Urgell, with its cathedral and market. Beyond that there is the Cerdanya plateau with Puigcerdà and Llívia, or the drive over the high pass into France to Ax-les-Thermes and the castle at Foix.

Both towns suit families, but in different ways. Andorra la Vella works for active children, with large ski schools and gentle beginner slopes in winter and toboggan runs, rope courses and a wildlife park in summer. Without those activities, the long, traffic-heavy shopping street soon gets boring.

Cannes is a beach vacation for families. Its sandy shore slopes gently into calm water, and the flat Croisette has carousels and plenty of room for pushchairs. There is not much else in town for children, and the midsummer heat calls for early starts.

Cannes is easier to get to and easier to move around. Its station sits in the middle of a flat, compact centre, regional trains run along the coast, and ferries to the islands leave from the old port. You only really need a car for Grasse and the Esterel corniche.

Andorra la Vella's centre is also walkable and runs straight into Escaldes-Engordany. However, the country has no railway, so arriving means a long road journey from airports in Spain or France. National buses serve the valleys, but the main road jams at weekends, and many trailheads are easier to reach by car.

The two are broadly level for shopping, but they suit different shoppers. Andorra la Vella is all about low-tax buying. A continuous strip of stores and department stores sells ski and outdoor gear, electronics, perfume and spirits, and people come specifically to stock up.

Cannes is about style. The great Paris fashion and jewellery houses face the sea along the Croisette, Rue d'Antibes has mid-range French labels, and Rue Meynadier sells olive oil, cheeses and Provençal soaps. Neither town has much independent design.

Andorra la Vella is clearly the cheaper stay. Outside the peak ski weeks, rooms and set lunches cost what you would expect in a middling part of Western Europe, and low taxes make a drink or a bag of outdoor gear cheaper than over either border. The costs that do bite are the mountain ones. In high winter the hotels fill and charge more, and lift passes, equipment hire and the thermal spa are priced like those of any other resort.

Cannes is at its dearest at the opposite end of the year: in summer and in the weeks of the film festival and the trade fairs, when rooms near the Croisette cost far more than usual. In spring and autumn the gap between the two towns narrows. It narrows further in Cannes if you eat, swim and sleep away from the seafront. Even so, a week on the Riviera costs more than the same week in the Pyrenees.

Cannes has more live performance, though neither town fills the calendar. The Palais des Festivals hosts concerts and touring shows, and the regional philharmonic plays through the season. There is also a respected dance festival, summer concerts in the castle courtyard on Le Suquet and free beach screenings during the film festival.

Andorra la Vella comes alive mainly in summer, with a jazz festival in Escaldes-Engordany and a classical music festival in Ordino. For the rest of the year an evening of music is hard to find.

Andorra la Vella has the stronger wellness offer, thanks to the hot springs in Escaldes-Engordany. They feed a large thermal complex with lagoons, saunas and an adults-only section, which makes a natural end to a cold day on the slopes. For real quiet, though, you need the stone villages in the side valleys, not the busy main avenues.

In Cannes, wellness means polished spas in the palace hotels and seawater thalassotherapy along the coast. There are no springs. What helps you rest here is the pace of spring and autumn, with slow mornings on a terrace and evening walks by the bay.