Annecy or Monaco?

Neither city is a classic beach destination. In Annecy you swim in the lake, from the grassy lawns at Albigny and the Marquisats or from small village beaches around the shore. The season is short, from late June to early September.

Monaco has the sea, which is warmer and good for swimming into early October. Larvotto is its only real public beach, small and enclosed by breakwaters, and the rest is private clubs and rocky platforms. Its advantage is that the coves at Cap d'Ail and the long beaches of Menton and Nice are close by, so a week of sea bathing is easier to plan from here.

Monaco eats better, mainly at the top end. It has starred hotel dining rooms cooking Riviera and Ligurian food built on olive oil, fish and herbs, and the Condamine market sells barbagiuan and socca. The catch is that casual or cheap meals are hard to find.

Annecy's cooking is made for cold evenings: fondue, tartiflette and lake fish pan-fried in butter. Its old-town markets are the best of it. The canal-side terraces vary in quality, and the finer meals are out in Talloires and Veyrier, so expect hearty regional food rather than variety.

Monaco has more to see, and a wider mix of it. The Rock has the Prince's Palace with its guard ceremony, the cathedral where Grace Kelly is buried and the Oceanographic Museum on its cliff. Across the harbour are the Casino and the villas of contemporary art. Even so, a day or two covers it.

In Annecy the main sight is the old town itself: canals, arcades and the Palais de l'Isle, with the château museum above. It is lovely but smaller again, and one unhurried day is enough.

Monaco offers the bigger night out, though only of one kind. It means dressed-up hotel bars around the Casino square and glossy clubs at Larvotto and the port, busiest in summer and on Grand Prix weekend. There are almost no casual pubs and no underground scene.

An evening in Annecy is a drink on a canal-side terrace or a glass of wine by the lake, with a few later bars thanks to the students. Outside summer the town is quiet by midnight, and real clubbing means a trip to Geneva or Lyon.

This is where Annecy is strongest. Mountains rise straight from the lake and hikes start at the edge of town. The Col de la Forclaz is one of Europe's great paragliding launches, the lake is good for kayaking, rowing and sailing, and in winter the Aravis slopes are under an hour away.

Monaco's scenery is dramatic, but you reach it from the edges of town: the view from the Tête de Chien, the old mule path up to Èze and the coastal walks around Cap Martin. What it has that Annecy cannot match is clear sea for diving and snorkelling.

Both are good bases, but Monaco has more close by, and almost all of it is reachable by train or bus. Villefranche, Nice, Menton and Èze are all near. Further out are Antibes, Saint-Paul-de-Vence and Grasse, and across the Italian border Sanremo and Dolceacqua.

Annecy has a good list too: Geneva is under an hour away, Chambéry and Aix-les-Bains are a short train ride, and Chamonix sits under Mont Blanc. The difference is that its best mountain outings are much easier with a car.

Both are safe and easy with children, in different ways. Annecy is an outdoor summer place for families, with lakefront parks, pedal boats, the flat cycle path along the shore and toboggan runs in the hills. It has no zoo or aquarium, though, and the lake loses much of its appeal for children outside summer.

Monaco has the one big attraction Annecy lacks, the aquarium in the Oceanographic Museum, plus calm water at Larvotto and the palace guard ceremony. Beyond those it is formal and made for adults, so families staying longer often spend some days elsewhere on the coast.

Monaco is easier to get around. It is only about 3km end to end, free public lifts and escalators take much of the strain out of the steep climbs, and the station puts the whole Riviera within reach without a car.

Annecy's centre is just as walkable, and the cycle path along the shore is a pleasure. The mountains it is known for, though, are far simpler to reach in a hire car, and summer traffic around the lake is heavy.

Annecy has no luxury street or design scene, and the best things to take home are edible: Reblochon and Tomme from the market stalls, Savoyard sausages, génépi and local honey. Around Rue Sainte-Claire, independent boutiques, kitchenware shops and outdoor gear shops sit among the souvenir stalls, and keen shoppers make the trip to Geneva.

Monaco gives a serious shopper more, though nearly all of it is luxury. The Carré d'Or around the Casino gardens packs the big fashion houses, high jewellers and watchmakers into a quarter-hour walk, and window-shopping there on a summer evening is part of the scene. Beyond a small covered mall there is little for an ordinary budget, so people who want high-street variety go to Nice.

Neither city is cheap, but Annecy is much easier on the budget. It charges resort rates in summer and nearby Geneva keeps prices high all year. Even so, a stay is manageable in the shoulder seasons or in a self-catering apartment, and the lake, the trails and the cycle path cost nothing.

Monaco is in a different league as one of the most expensive places in the world to visit, and cheap meals barely exist. Many visitors stay in Nice, Menton or Beausoleil and come in for the day.

Monaco is far ahead here. The Monte-Carlo Opera in the Salle Garnier, the Philharmonic and Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo give the principality a real season from winter to spring. It also has the Printemps des Arts festival, summer shows by the sea and an autumn jazz festival.

Annecy relies on Bonlieu, its lakeside national stage, for contemporary theatre, dance and circus, which is the kind of spoken theatre Monaco largely lacks. Add a summer classical festival and the Fête du Lac fireworks, but for opera or a major orchestra you need to go to Geneva or Lyon.

Monaco has the more developed spa offer. There is the large thalassotherapy centre beside the Casino with its heated seawater pools, the spas of the grand hotels, and quiet mornings in the Japanese Garden.

In Annecy the calm comes from the pace: slow mornings by the lake and long lunches in the villages, with hotel spas around Talloires and Veyrier. For thermal bathing, Aix-les-Bains is a short trip south and Saint-Gervais about an hour away, a kind of bathing Monaco does not have.