Andorra la Vella or Monaco?

Andorra la Vella has no beach at all. The Mediterranean is about three hours away by road and the mountain lakes are too cold for a swim, so bathing means a hotel pool or Caldea's lagoons.

Monaco has Larvotto, a short, sheltered city beach with clear water, as well as rocky bathing platforms, beach clubs and the coves at Cap d'Ail. It is not a long sandy resort. But with Menton and Nice a short train ride away, it supports a summer of swimming in a way Andorra simply cannot.

Andorra la Vella serves hearty Catalan mountain food. It is best eaten in the bordas of the side valleys, where lamb and sausages are grilled over wood fires, while the restaurants on the town's avenues are uneven and aimed at shoppers and skiers.

Monaco eats better, and at far greater cost. It has starred hotel dining rooms, Riviera and Ligurian cooking built on fish, olive oil and herbs, and barbagiuan from the Condamine market. Neither is worth the trip for the food alone. Monaco has more meals worth dressing up for, and Andorra more that are relaxed and filling.

Andorra la Vella's heritage fills a day at most. You get the fortified Casa de la Vall and Sant Esteve in the Barri Antic, then Romanesque churches such as Santa Coloma out in the valleys.

Monaco has more to see, though it is compact too. The Rock gives you the Prince's Palace and its guard ceremony, the cathedral with Grace Kelly's grave and the Belle Époque Oceanographic Museum. Monte-Carlo adds the Casino, the grand hotels and the national museum's art villas. Allow a day or two there, against a single day in Andorra.

Neither is a party town. Andorra la Vella's evenings mean pubs and wine bars around the centre and Escaldes-Engordany, and they are quiet because most people are tired from the slopes. The real après-ski happens up in the resort villages.

Monaco offers more of a night out, but only of one kind. Expect dressed-up hotel bars around the Casino square and glossy clubs on the Larvotto seafront, at their liveliest in summer and on Grand Prix weekend. A casual pint is easier to find in Andorra. In Monaco it is glamour or an early night.

Here Andorra la Vella is clearly ahead. The town sits at about 1,000m among peaks near 3,000m, and the UNESCO-listed Madriu-Perafita-Claror valley starts at the edge of town. Large ski areas are a short ride away in winter, and from late spring marked trails lead to glacial lakes and high refuges.

Monaco itself is built up from wall to wall, but the land behind it is dramatic. There is the Tête de Chien viewpoint, the old mule path up to Èze and coastal walks round Cap Martin. Its strength is the sea, with snorkelling, diving and sailing in clear water. Andorra's outdoors is all about altitude.

Monaco makes the far better base for outings. The coastal train reaches Villefranche, Nice and Menton quickly, and Èze and La Turbie are a short bus ride up the hill. Antibes, Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Grasse and Sanremo over the Italian border all make easy days without a car.

From Andorra la Vella the list is short and mostly by road. You can go half an hour south to La Seu d'Urgell's cathedral and market, east to Puigcerdà and Llívia on the Cerdanya plateau, or about two hours over the pass to Foix's castle in France.

The two are close for families, but they suit different ones. Andorra la Vella works for active children. Winter brings ski schools and beginner slopes, summer brings toboggan runs, rope courses and an animal park, and Caldea's family pools are there when it rains.

Monaco is easier to walk with small children thanks to its lifts and escalators, and its attractions are gentler: the aquarium, calm water at Larvotto and the palace guards. Without the mountains, older children may tire of Andorra's long shopping street. In Monaco they may tire of the formal restaurants after a couple of days.

Monaco is simpler to get around. The whole principality is about 3km end to end, and free public lifts and escalators take the strain out of the slopes. Add local buses, a harbour ferry and a railway station with trains along the whole Riviera.

Andorra la Vella has a small, walkable centre and national buses up the valleys. But there is no train in the country, the drive from the nearest airports is long, and the main road clogs at weekends. Many trailheads are easier to reach by car, while in Monaco a car only gets in the way.

Both are known for shopping, for opposite reasons. Andorra la Vella is a long, low-tax strip running into Escaldes-Engordany, selling ski gear, electronics, perfume and spirits. It is practical rather than stylish.

Monaco's Carré d'Or, around the Casino gardens, is pure luxury, with fashion houses, jewellers and watchmakers, and for most visitors it is more for looking than buying. Neither town has many independent designers or a craft market worth the detour.

Andorra la Vella is by far the cheaper stay of the two, with prices in the middle range for Western Europe. Low taxes make spirits, tobacco and much of the shopping cheaper than over the borders, and a summer week of free trails and suppers at a borda stays modest. The real expense is the mountains. Ski passes, equipment hire and a session at Caldea cost what they would in any big resort, and hotels charge more in the high winter season.

Monaco is among the most expensive places in the world to visit. Hotels are priced for the very wealthy and climb further on Grand Prix and other event weekends, and cheap meals barely exist. The sightseeing, though, costs almost nothing. The Rock, the gardens and the harbour are free to walk, the public lifts are free and the buses are cheap. That is why so many visitors stay in Beausoleil, just over the French border, and come in for the day.

Monaco has a genuine stage. Opera plays in the gilded Salle Garnier inside the Casino, and the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic and Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo perform mostly from winter to spring, with concerts by the sea in summer.

Andorra la Vella's music is mainly a summer affair: the jazz festival in Escaldes-Engordany and classical concerts in Ordino. Outside those weeks there is usually little on. Neither has much spoken theatre or small live-music venues to wander into.

The two are level here, and the difference is mountain hot springs against seawater. Andorra la Vella has Caldea, the large thermal complex fed by the springs of Escaldes-Engordany, with lagoons, saunas and an adults-only area. It is a natural end to a day of skiing or hiking.

Monaco offers the thalassotherapy centre beside the Casino and the spas of the grand hotels, with the Japanese Garden and the Rock's ramparts for slow mornings. Andorra's avenues full of traffic are less restful than Monaco's tidy streets, though the stone villages in its side valleys are quieter than either.