Annecy or Nantes?

Neither city is on the sea, but Annecy has its swimming on the doorstep. The lake is clear and warms to the low twenties in midsummer, and you can swim from the lawns at Albigny and Marquisats or from village beaches around the shore.

From Nantes, swimming means an outing of about an hour to the sandy bay at La Baule or the coves near Pornic. The Atlantic there is wide and good for families but noticeably cooler. If you want to swim every day, Annecy makes that far easier.

Nantes eats better and more widely. Its cooking comes from the river and the coast, with fish in beurre blanc, oysters, galettes and Muscadet, and there are fairly priced bistros from Bouffay to Graslin.

Annecy's table is Savoyard mountain food, rich with Reblochon and raclette, plus lake fish such as féra. That can feel heavy in July, and the canal-side terraces vary in quality. Annecy's market mornings and the gastronomic tables at Talloires are the highlights, but for the overall range Nantes comes out ahead.

Nantes has much more to see. The moated ducal castle holds a candid museum of the city's history, and you can add the Gothic cathedral, a good art museum, the merchant façades of Ile Feydeau and the Jules Verne museum. Together they fill two or three days.

In Annecy, the old town is the sight. The canals, the Palais de l'Isle and the château museum above make a lovely setting, but an unhurried day covers them.

Nantes gives you a real night out. Students fill the medieval Bouffay lanes with pubs and terraces, and later the crowd moves to riverside bars and clubs in the old banana warehouses on the Ile de Nantes.

Annecy's evenings are a drink by a canal or the lake, and the town goes quiet by midnight outside summer. Anyone who wants to dance there ends up driving to Geneva or Lyon.

This is where Annecy pulls far ahead. Mountains rise straight from the lake, so you can hike Mont Veyrier from town, spend full days on the Parmelan or Tournette, paraglide from the Col de la Forclaz and paddle the lake, with the Aravis ski slopes and Mont Blanc close by in winter.

Nantes offers gentler, watery country. You can follow the Erdre by canoe, cycle the Loire à Vélo route, watch birds in the Brière marshes or walk the cliffs at the coast. It is pleasant, but flat, with no hills to climb.

Both cities make good bases, and the difference lies in where the outings lead. From Annecy they head into Switzerland and the high Alps. Geneva's lakefront and international museums are under an hour away, Chamonix makes a full day beneath Mont Blanc, and Chambéry, the old capital of the Dukes of Savoy, is a short train ride south. The flower-filled medieval village of Yvoire on Lake Geneva and a long, rewarding day in Lyon round out the list.

From Nantes the outings run west to the Atlantic and east into the Loire Valley. Angers and its Apocalypse Tapestry are under an hour by fast train, with Vannes and Rennes a little further. Guérande's walls above the salt marshes, Saumur's château and cave villages, and Clisson among the Muscadet vineyards fill other days. Here the trips are to historic towns and the coast, not to mountains and a foreign city.

Nantes has the edge for children because it has attractions built for them. They can ride the mechanical elephant at the Machines de l'Ile, and the safari park at Port-Saint-Père and the Puy du Fou theme park are within a drive.

Annecy is safe and easy, with pedal boats, lake beaches, toboggan runs and tree-top courses. But it has nothing like a zoo or theme park, and outside summer there is less to keep children busy.

Both centres are compact enough to walk, but Nantes is the easier place to manage without a car. Its tram lines and busway cover the city, river shuttles cross the Loire, and the central station has fast trains to Paris and the coast.

Annecy's old town and lakefront are a short stroll apart, and the shore cycle path and summer lake boats help. Its main draws are the trailheads, passes and Chamonix, though, and those are much simpler with a hire car, through heavy summer traffic.

Nantes offers more browsing. The three-level Passage Pommeraye is a pleasure in itself, Rue Crébillon has the department store and better boutiques, and independent designers and second-hand shops cluster around Bouffay and Decré.

In Annecy, shopping means market stalls, Savoyard cheese, génépi and outdoor gear along Rue Sainte-Claire, with no real fashion scene. Neither city is worth a trip just to shop.

Nantes is the easier city on the budget. Hotels are plentiful and priced like any regional French city, and the walkable centre and trams keep daily costs down.

Annecy charges resort rates in summer and stays expensive all year because it is so close to Geneva. What softens the cost is that its lake beaches, trails and cycle path are free, and shoulder seasons or a self-catering flat help more.

Nantes has a real cultural calendar. There is regional opera at the Théâtre Graslin, a national orchestra and contemporary work at the Lieu Unique. In winter, La Folle Journée fills the city with short classical concerts, and the giant street-theatre puppets bring performance out into the squares.

Annecy relies on Bonlieu, its lakeside stage for theatre, dance and circus, plus a summer music festival and the August fireworks over the lake. For opera or a regular music scene, you have to go to Geneva or Lyon.

Annecy is the more restful place, mostly because of its setting. You have quiet mornings by the water and calm hotel spas around Talloires and Veyrier, and Aix-les-Bains and Saint-Gervais offer proper thermal baths within reach.

Nantes is relaxed but not a place people go to rest. For that you head to the coast, where the seawater thalassotherapy centres at La Baule and Pornic are the region's tradition.