Andorra la Vella or Nice?

This is the widest gap between the two. Andorra la Vella sits deep in the Pyrenees, about three hours from the Mediterranean. Its mountain lakes are too cold for a proper swim, so warm water means a hotel pool or the lagoons at Caldea.

In Nice the sea is at the end of nearly every street. A 7km pebble shore runs below the Promenade des Anglais, the water is clear from June into October, and sandier coves at Villefranche, Beaulieu and Juan-les-Pins are a short ride away. Bring water shoes for the stones.

Nice eats better, and its food has more of its own character. Its cooking leans towards Liguria: socca from wood ovens, pissaladière and stuffed vegetables. Add the Cours Saleya market and the small Bellet vineyards above the city, and it is worth planning meals around, as long as you skip the promenade terraces.

Andorra la Vella offers hearty Catalan mountain food such as escudella, trinxat and lamb grilled over wood. It is at its best in the bordas of the side valleys, not in the uneven restaurants along the shopping avenues. It rewards an appetite built on the trails more than a trip planned around food.

Nice has much more to see. There is Vieux Nice with its baroque chapels and Sainte-Réparate, the Belle Époque villas of the promenade and Cimiez, and the Russian cathedral. Above all there is the art of the Matisse, Chagall and MAMAC collections, which together fill two or three days.

Andorra la Vella's heritage is the small Barri Antic around the Casa de la Vall, the old parliament house, plus Romanesque churches such as Santa Coloma out in the valleys. It is worth a morning or a day, but not a trip on its own.

Neither is a party city, but Nice has the more sociable evenings. The lanes of Vieux Nice fill with wine and cocktail bars, the port has a few calmer bars, and in summer the beach clubs stay open late. Its clubs are ordinary, though, and the glossier nights happen in Monaco and Cannes.

In Andorra la Vella most people turn in early after a day on the slopes. There are pubs and wine bars around the centre and Escaldes-Engordany, but the real après-ski is up in the resort villages.

Both have mountains, but in Andorra la Vella they start at the door. The town lies on a high valley floor ringed by peaks near 3,000m, and the glacial Madriu-Perafita-Claror valley, with its shepherds' huts and terraced pasture, opens just beyond the last houses. The ski areas a short bus ride away turn into hiking and mountain-biking country from late spring, with trails to lakes, refuges and summits.

Nice offers more variety rather than more height: coastal paths on Cap Ferrat, cycling on the corniches, the red rocks of the Esterel and sailing or diving in the bay. Its high country, the Mercantour and the ski slopes of Isola 2000 and Auron, takes one and a half to two hours to reach.

Nice is one of the best bases on the coast for day trips. You can reach Villefranche, Monaco, Menton, Èze, Antibes, Cannes, Grasse, Saint-Paul-de-Vence and even Sanremo over the Italian border. Most are under an hour away by train or bus, and none needs a car.

From Andorra la Vella the list is shorter and the roads slower. La Seu d'Urgell and its cathedral are half an hour south, and Puigcerdà and Llívia sit on the Cerdanya plateau. Across the French border, Ax-les-Thermes and the castle at Foix are about two hours away.

Both work for families, in different ways. Andorra la Vella suits children who will ski or hike. It has large ski schools, toboggan runs and rope courses in summer, a park with Pyrenean animals and the family pools at Caldea for a wet day, though the main street is busy with heavy traffic.

Nice suits an easier seaside pace. The flat promenade works for pushchairs, and the Promenade du Paillon and Parc Phoenix have water jets and playgrounds. Against that, the pebbles are hard on small feet and summers are crowded and hot.

Nice is the easier place to manage without a car. The old town, port and promenade are all within a flat walk of each other, trams run from the airport to the centre, and regional trains cover the coast.

Andorra la Vella has a compact centre, though the old quarter is steep, and buses link the parishes. There is no train in the country, so arriving means a long drive from airports in Spain or France. The valley road clogs at weekends and in ski season, and many trailheads are easier to reach with a car.

The two are about even but serve different shoppers. Andorra la Vella is a long low-tax strip running into Escaldes-Engordany, with department stores and shop after shop of ski gear, electronics, perfume and spirits. It is good for practical stocking-up but has little character.

Nice is better for browsing. Avenue Jean Médecin has the high-street chains, rue Paradis has the luxury labels, and Vieux Nice sells olive oil, soaps and Provençal fabrics. On Mondays the Cours Saleya becomes a flea market.

Andorra la Vella is the cheaper stay, at least outside the peak ski weeks. Rooms are fair value, lunch menus are reasonable, and low taxes keep spirits and shopping cheap. Lift passes, equipment hire and the thermal spa bring costs back up to normal mountain-resort levels.

Nice is expensive, above all from June to September, when sea-view rooms and beach loungers add up fast. Cheap trams and trains, low museum entry and socca or market picnics help keep costs down, and spring and late autumn are noticeably easier on the budget.

Nice has a real performing arts season, if a regional one. The nineteenth-century Opéra puts on opera, ballet and the Nice Philharmonic, and the Théâtre National stages drama, mostly in French. The Nice Jazz Festival comes every July, and Carnival takes over in February.

Andorra la Vella has a small national orchestra but comes alive mainly in summer, with the jazz festival in Escaldes-Engordany and classical concerts in Ordino. The rest of the year there is usually little on.

Andorra la Vella has the stronger offer, thanks to a single place. Caldea, the hot-spring complex in Escaldes-Engordany, has lagoons, saunas and an adults-only section, a natural fit for tired legs after skiing or hiking. The town itself is busy with traffic, so real quiet means the stone villages of the side valleys.

Nice has no bathing tradition of its own, only hotel spas and thalassotherapy centres along the coast. Rest there means the Riviera routine of an early swim and a slow evening walk on the promenade, which works best outside the crowded summer.