Annecy or Paris?

Annecy does far better here, even though neither city has a sea. Lake Annecy is clear and clean enough to swim in, and in July the surface water reaches the low twenties. There are grassy lawns at Albigny and the Marquisats in town, and village beaches around the shore at Talloires and Sevrier.

The Paris version is sand laid along the Seine, a canal basin and some handsome Art Deco pools. They are fine for a cool-off but are not a reason to go. Real bathing means a two-hour train to the cool Channel at Deauville.

Paris is one of the world's great places to eat, with daily markets like the Marché d'Aligre, bistros, wine bars, haute cuisine and the immigrant kitchens of Belleville and the 13th. You could eat somewhere different every meal for weeks.

Annecy's cooking is narrower. It is Savoyard cheese dishes, lake fish such as féra and a glass of Apremont. Its morning markets are the high point, and the best tables are out in Talloires and Veyrier, not on the canal-side terraces of the old town.

There is no real contest. Paris has the Louvre, Orsay, the Pompidou, Notre-Dame and the Sainte-Chapelle, and the cityscape itself, from Haussmann's boulevards to the Marais townhouses, is a sight. Even its smaller museums would headline elsewhere.

Annecy's heritage is pretty but compact. Its canals, the island Palais de l'Isle and the château museum above the town make a lovely day of wandering rather than a week of sightseeing.

Paris offers a full night out. Evenings start on a terrace and move on to the bars of Oberkampf, Belleville or South Pigalle, then to house and techno clubs and summer river barges until dawn. Expect a chic crowd and selective doors.

Annecy's evenings are gentler. You get a drink by the canals or the lake, a few late bars helped by the students and one or two small clubs. Outside summer it goes quiet early, and locals wanting more head to Geneva or Lyon.

This is where Annecy wins clearly. Mountains rise straight out of the lake, so you can walk from town up Mont Baron, spend a full day on the Semnoz or the Tournette, launch a paraglider from the Col de la Forclaz, or paddle and sail on the water. In winter the Aravis ski slopes are less than an hour away.

Paris offers green space rather than landscape. Its options are the Luxembourg and Buttes-Chaumont parks, the big woods at Boulogne and Vincennes, and the sandstone boulders of Fontainebleau for climbers and gentle hikers.

Both are good bases, but Paris has the longer and grander list. Versailles, Fontainebleau and Chartres are within an hour, and fast trains reach Reims, Rouen, the Loire and even Brussels.

Annecy's outings are more Alpine. You can reach Geneva and Chamonix under Mont Blanc, the lakes at Aix-les-Bains and Yvoire, and Lyon for a long day. Several of them are much easier with a car.

Paris has more to keep children busy: Disneyland and Parc Astérix, the hands-on Cité des Sciences, a zoo, an aquarium, and puppet shows and toy boats in the Luxembourg. The trade-off is a harder daily routine, with stairs-only metro stations, small hotel rooms and long queues.

Annecy is calmer and easier to manage, with flat streets, lakeside lawns, pedal boats and mountain toboggan runs. It has no big attractions built for children, though, and it loses much of its appeal once summer is over.

Paris is easier without a car. Its centre is a pleasure to walk, and a dense metro and RER network take you on to Versailles and the airports, though expect stairs, crowded lines at rush hour and pickpockets.

Annecy's centre is a short walk end to end, and the shore cycle path and summer boats are pleasant ways to get about. Trailheads, passes and Chamonix are far simpler by car, however, so many visitors hire one and then sit in lakeside summer traffic.

Paris is a shopping destination in its own right. It has luxury flagships on Avenue Montaigne, Galeries Lafayette and Le Bon Marché, designers in the Marais, the covered passages, and the Saint-Ouen flea market for antiques.

Annecy's shopping is mostly about things to eat. Cheese, sausage, génépi and honey from the markets are the souvenirs to carry home, and the shops around Rue Sainte-Claire add kitchenware and outdoor gear. For anything more serious, people go to Geneva.

Neither is cheap, but Annecy is a little easier on the wallet. Rooms and meals there cost what they do in a wealthy resort, yet the lake beaches, trails and cycle path cost nothing, and self-catering or a shoulder-season visit help a lot.

Paris is harder on the budget, with small, costly rooms, paid museums and expensive terrace drinks. Picnics by the Seine, bakeries, free city museums and a base in the outer arrondissements are how visitors keep spending in check.

Paris has a full cultural calendar. Ballet at the Palais Garnier, opera at the Bastille and orchestras at the Philharmonie are joined by chamber music in the Sainte-Chapelle, Molière at the Comédie-Française, jazz cellars and Pigalle cabaret.

Annecy relies on Bonlieu, its lakeside stage, for theatre, dance and circus, plus a summer classical festival and the big August fireworks of the Fête du Lac. For opera or a major orchestra you have to go to Geneva or Lyon.

Annecy is the better place to slow down, and the reason is the setting more than any particular facility. Days by the lake, an afternoon in a hotel spa on the quiet eastern shore around Talloires, and a trip out to the thermal waters of Aix-les-Bains or Saint-Gervais make a real restful break. The exception is the peak of summer, when the crowds wear away some of that calm.

In Paris, rest comes in short pauses between sightseeing rather than as the point of the trip. Instead of spa waters the city has hammams, best of all the tiled steam rooms of the Grande Mosquée, and luxury day spas for massage, but the noise and pace of the streets are never far away. It suits a city trip with a restful afternoon or two, not a vacation built around unwinding.