Annecy or Bordeaux?

Neither city is on the sea, and they end up about even, but the swimming is very different. In Annecy the lake is the beach: you walk to grassy lawns with shingle and jetties at Albigny or the Marquisats and swim in clear, calm water, with more village beaches around the shore.

In Bordeaux you travel about an hour to reach real sand, either the wild Atlantic surf beaches at Lacanau and along the Médoc or the sheltered basin at Arcachon, which is better for small children. In both places swimming is a high-summer pleasure only.

Bordeaux is much the better place to eat and drink. Its strength is wine, from Médoc and Saint-Émilion to sweet Sauternes poured by the glass, along with entrecôte grilled over vine cuttings, Landes duck, Arcachon oysters and canelés in every bakery.

Annecy's Savoyard table of fondue, tartiflette and lake fish is hearty and good on a cold evening. But the old-town terraces repeat the same menu, the best cooking is out in the lake villages, and the market mornings are the real highlight.

Bordeaux has far more to see. Its whole eighteenth-century centre is a UNESCO site, with the Place de la Bourse, the Grand Théâtre and Gothic churches such as Saint-Michel. The Musée d'Aquitaine, the Beaux-Arts and the CAPC give you three or four days of sightseeing.

Annecy's heritage is a lovely canal-side old town, the island Palais de l'Isle and the château museum, and one unhurried day covers it all.

Bordeaux gives you a proper night out. Wine bars and terraces fill around Saint-Pierre, students crowd Place de la Victoire, and the warehouse clubs of the Quai de Paludate stay open until morning.

Annecy's evenings are a drink by a canal or the lake, a few late bars and one or two small clubs. Outside summer the town is asleep by midnight, and anyone wanting more heads to Geneva or Lyon.

This is where Annecy pulls far ahead. Mountains climb straight from the lakeshore, so you can hike Mont Baron or the Semnoz, watch paragliders over the Col de la Forclaz, paddle or sail on the lake, and reach the Aravis ski slopes and Mont Blanc for a day.

Bordeaux's landscapes are flat and gentle: vineyards, the Landes pine forest and long greenways for cycling. Its standout sights, the Dune du Pilat and the surf coast, are about an hour away, and there is no real hiking terrain nearby.

Both make good bases for day trips, and Bordeaux has slightly more to offer. Saint-Émilion is forty minutes by train, and the châteaux of Margaux, Pauillac and Sauternes, the seaside villas of Arcachon and the brandy houses of Cognac are all within reach. Most of its trips revolve around wine.

Annecy's trips are more varied. You can visit Geneva's museums, ducal Chambéry, the spa town of Aix-les-Bains, mountain-climbing Chamonix and the medieval village of Yvoire on Lake Geneva.

Both are easy with children without having much built for them. Annecy's appeal is summer outdoors: pedal boats, lake beaches, the shore cycle path, Alpine toboggan runs and treetop courses.

Bordeaux keeps children busy in town, with the Miroir d'eau as a paddling pool, the carousel and puppets in the Jardin Public and the hands-on Cap Sciences. The best family days there are climbing the Dune du Pilat.

Bordeaux is the easier place to manage without a car. Its flat, largely pedestrianised centre is linked by a simple tram network, and trains reach Saint-Émilion and Arcachon. You only need wheels for the Médoc and Sauternes estates.

Annecy's compact centre is just as walkable, and bikes and summer lake boats work well along the shore. But trailheads, mountain passes and Chamonix are much simpler with a hired car, and summer traffic around the lake can be slow.

What you carry home from Annecy is mostly edible: Reblochon and Tomme from the market stalls, Savoyard sausages, génépi and local honey. Around Rue Sainte-Claire, independent boutiques, cutlery and kitchenware shops and outdoor gear sit among the souvenirs, but there is no luxury or design street, and serious shoppers go to Geneva.

Bordeaux gives a shopper far more ground to cover. Its wine cellars sell everything from everyday bottles to rare old vintages and will ship them abroad. Rue Sainte-Catherine runs for more than a kilometre of chains and a department store, the Triangle d'Or holds the luxury labels, and Rue Notre-Dame in Chartrons is lined with antique dealers.

Neither is cheap, but Bordeaux is the gentler on the wallet. It costs what a prosperous French city does, set lunches are good value, and the money mostly goes on tastings and good bottles.

Annecy charges resort rates in summer and stays pricey all year because Geneva is so close. Its saving grace is that the lake, the beaches and the mountain trails cost nothing, and staying in the shoulder seasons or a self-catering apartment helps a lot.

Bordeaux has the stronger stage. Opera and ballet companies perform in the gilded 1780 Grand Théâtre, and there is a national orchestra, a hall for jazz and world music and an arena for touring acts, though the seasons pause in high summer.

Annecy's performing arts centre on Bonlieu, its lakeside national stage, which puts on theatre, dance and circus, plus a summer classical festival and the Fête du Lac fireworks. For opera or a major orchestra you would go to Geneva or Lyon.

In Annecy the calm comes from the water and the pace. In summer you can swim before breakfast, take a long lunch in a lake village and spend an evening with nothing planned. The town has no public baths of its own, but the old thermal resort of Aix-les-Bains is a short trip south. The main thing that breaks the peace is the high-season crowds of July and August.

Bordeaux's version of a spa day is grape-seed and vine-extract treatments at a few spa hotels in the vineyards outside town. In the city itself, resting means shaded benches in the Jardin Public and evening walks along the quays. The nearest thermal waters are at Dax, about an hour and a half away, so a quiet, restorative week comes more easily by the lake.