Annecy or Antibes?

Annecy swims in a lake rather than the sea. The water is clean and green-blue, the beaches at Albigny and the Marquisats are grassy lawns, and there are small village beaches round the shore. All of it works from late June to early September and is cold the rest of the year.

Antibes is the better choice for the beach. It has real sand at Juan-les-Pins and La Salis, clear coves for snorkelling around the cape and a sea that stays swimmable well into autumn. Private clubs take much of the sand at Juan-les-Pins, but there are free stretches between them.

The two eat equally well. What differs is the kind of cooking. Annecy cooks for the mountains, with tartiflette, fondue, raclette, lake fish such as féra and Savoie white wines, which can feel heavy in July. Antibes cooks the Niçoise way, with socca, stuffed vegetables, grilled fish and rosé outdoors, which suits a hot day better.

In both towns the morning market is the high point: the arcaded old-town market in Annecy and the covered market on Cours Masséna in Antibes. Both have tourist menus in their busiest streets, and the better tables are out at Talloires or on Cap d'Antibes.

Both have compact old towns that a day or two covers, and neither is a city of great museums. In Annecy the appeal is the townscape itself: canals, arcades, the island Palais de l'Isle and the château above, plus a well-known animation film festival. Antibes has the one stronger single sight, the Picasso Museum in the Château Grimaldi on the sea wall, with Fort Carré and the villa and chapel on the cape to round it out.

Neither is a party town, but Antibes offers more in summer. Through July and August, Juan-les-Pins keeps beach bars, lounges and clubs going into the early hours, and the yacht-crew pubs near Port Vauban stay busy. Nice is close by for a bigger night out.

In Annecy an evening means a drink on a canal-side terrace or a glass of wine by the lake, with a few bars and small clubs. Outside summer the town is asleep by midnight.

This is where Annecy is strongest. The mountains rise straight from the lake, so hikes up Mont Baron or the Tournette, paragliding from the Col de la Forclaz and paddling on the water all start close to town. The Bauges park and the Aravis ski resorts are nearby.

The outdoors in Antibes is gentler: the coastal path round the cape, snorkelling and diving in clear water, and sailing on the bay. The land around town is built up, so serious hiking means driving to the Esterel or the hills above Grasse.

Both make good bases, but Antibes has far more within easy reach. The coastal railway takes you to Nice, Cannes, Monaco and Menton without a car, boats cross to the Lérins Islands, and Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Eze and Grasse sit in the hills behind.

From Annecy, Geneva, Chambéry and Aix-les-Bains are easy trips, and Chamonix and Lyon make fuller days. There is less to choose from, though, and the mountain outings work best with a car.

Both towns are small, safe and easy with children, and neither has a zoo or theme park. Annecy offers more variety, with pedal boats, lake cruises, the flat cycle path along the shore, and toboggan runs and treetop courses in the hills in summer. Antibes relies mostly on its gently shelving sand, which is better for toddlers than a lake lawn, with snorkelling and the island boats for older children.

Getting around works much the same way in both. You walk the centre, things get harder once you leave it, and summer traffic is a nuisance. The difference is the train.

Antibes sits on the coastal railway, so the main Riviera towns need no car. In Annecy, bikes and the summer lake boats cover the shore, but the trailheads, the mountain passes and Chamonix are far easier with a hire car.

Shopping is modest in both towns and runs to food and local crafts rather than fashion. In Annecy the things to take home are Savoyard cheeses, génépi, honey and kitchen knives. Antibes has olive oil, soaps and Provençal linens, with Biot glass and Vallauris pottery in the villages next door. Keen shoppers leave either town, for Geneva from one and Cannes or Nice from the other.

Neither is cheap, and there is little between them. Annecy stays expensive all year because wealthy Geneva is so close, but much of what you come for costs nothing: the lake beaches, the trails and the cycle path. Antibes is at its most expensive in July and August, when Juan-les-Pins and the cape charge luxury rates and beach-club loungers add up.

In both towns, the biggest savings come from going in spring or autumn and renting a self-catering flat stocked from the market. In Antibes, the good-value coastal trains help too.

Neither town has its own opera or orchestra, so you go to Geneva or Lyon from Annecy and to Nice from Antibes. Annecy has the steadier programme through the year at Bonlieu, its national stage by the lake, plus a summer classical festival and the August fireworks of the Fête du Lac. Antibes has one famous event, Jazz à Juan, held each July under the pines at Juan-les-Pins since 1960, and the Anthéa theatre for the rest of the year.

Annecy is the more restful of the two. Its pace is slow, there are quiet hotel spas by the lake at Talloires and Veyrier, and real thermal baths are within reach at Aix-les-Bains and Saint-Gervais.

Antibes offers seawater thalassotherapy and the grand hotel spas on the cape, and it slows to a gentle pace in May, June and September. In July and August, crowds make both towns much less calm.