Annecy or Saint-Tropez?

Annecy has no sea beach, but it has summer lake bathing. You swim in clear green-blue water from the lawns and jetties at Albigny and Marquisats, or from small village beaches around the shore at Talloires and Doussard. It is pleasant and fresh, but the season only lasts from late June to early September, and there is no sand to speak of.

Saint-Tropez has the real beach vacation. Pampelonne has about 5km of fine sand with beach clubs and public stretches, and quieter coves at Escalet, Cap Taillat and Gigaro are a drive or a coastal walk away. Its swimming season is also longer than Annecy's.

The two eat about equally well, but the cooking could hardly be more different. Annecy's is Alpine and cheese-based, with tartiflette, fondue, raclette and lake féra served with Savoie whites. It is best in the colder months, and the most rewarding meals are found at the morning market and in the lakeside villages rather than on the canal-side terraces.

Saint-Tropez cooks lighter Provençal food: grilled fish, bouillabaisse and aïoli, with rosé from the surrounding vineyards and a tarte tropézienne on the side. Its top tables are polished, but simple meals at fair prices are rarer than in Annecy.

Neither town is a major cultural destination, and each can be seen in a day. Annecy's heritage is its townscape: canals, arcaded streets, the island prison of the Palais de l'Isle and the château of the Counts of Geneva above them.

Saint-Tropez has less to look at in its streets but more on its walls. The Musée de l'Annonciade holds pointillist and Fauvist paintings from the years when Signac painted the harbour, and the citadel adds a maritime museum.

Saint-Tropez is far stronger for going out, at least in high summer. Afternoon beach-club parties at Pampelonne carry on into champagne evenings on the harbour and a few famous clubs that stay open until dawn. Expect table service and a dress code rather than bar-hopping.

Annecy's nights are gentler: a glass of wine on a canal-side terrace, a handful of pubs and cocktail bars kept going by students, and little else after midnight outside summer. Both towns go quiet in winter, but Saint-Tropez changes more sharply between seasons.

This is where Annecy is strongest. Trails climb from town to Mont Veyrier and Mont Baron, and longer hikes lead up the Semnoz, the Parmelan and the Tournette. Paragliders launch from the Col de la Forclaz, and the lake is ideal for kayaking, rowing and sailing. In winter the Aravis ski resorts are under an hour away.

Saint-Tropez's outdoors are coastal and more limited. The Sentier du Littoral runs past coves to the capes of Camarat and Taillat, there are cork-oak forests in the Maures, and the rocky points are good for snorkelling. The national park islands of Port-Cros and Porquerolles are within reach. In summer, heat and fire risk close some trails.

Annecy has the better range of outings. Geneva is under an hour away, Chamonix sits beneath Mont Blanc, Chambéry and Aix-les-Bains are short train rides, and Lyon makes a long but rewarding food day. Yvoire and Évian on Lake Geneva add gentler options.

Saint-Tropez's trips are smaller in scale: the hilltop villages of Ramatuelle and Gassin, the canals of Port Grimaud by passenger boat, and wine tastings on the peninsula, with Porquerolles and Bormes-les-Mimosas for a fuller day. In July and August the jammed roads limit how far you will want to go.

Annecy is the easier town for children. Pushchairs manage most of the flat old town, Le Pâquier gives children space to run, and summer brings pedal boats, lake cruises and the shore cycle path. In the hills there are toboggan runs and treetop courses. It has no zoo or theme park, though.

Saint-Tropez does have gently shelving sand at Pampelonne and Gigaro, which is ideal for small children. Beyond the beach, the town is built around adult pleasures, and the costs and summer traffic make a family stay hard work. Many families stay across the gulf instead and come over by boat.

Annecy is much simpler to get around. The station, old town and lakefront are a short walk apart, local buses and summer lake boats link the shore villages, and a bike path runs down the western shore. A car mainly helps for trailheads and mountain passes.

Saint-Tropez is tiny on foot but awkward to reach and to leave. It has no railway, the regional buses are slow, the main beaches are several kilometres out, and the single road along the gulf jams for hours in summer. The passenger boats from Sainte-Maxime and Port Grimaud are often the quickest way in.

Saint-Tropez is the better place to shop, and the main reason is luxury. Big fashion houses keep summer shops in the lanes behind the port, and resort-wear, swimwear and the handmade leather Tropézienne sandal fill the old town. The Place des Lices market adds linen, baskets and pottery.

Annecy's shopping is mostly edible: Savoyard cheeses, sausages, génépi and honey from the markets, plus cutlery and outdoor-gear shops around Rue Sainte-Claire. Keen shoppers go to Geneva.

Neither town is cheap, but Annecy is much easier on the wallet. Its rooms and restaurants charge prosperous-resort prices, yet the lake beaches, parks, cycle path and mountain trails cost nothing, and shoulder seasons bring real relief.

Saint-Tropez is in another league. In summer, rooms, beach loungers, harbourside meals and even a coffee on the port are priced for the yachting crowd, and taxis or parking add to the bill. Staying across the gulf and picnicking from the market is the usual way to keep costs down.

Annecy has the stronger programme because it runs all year. Bonlieu, the national stage by the lake, puts on contemporary theatre, dance, circus and concerts. Summer adds a classical festival, and in August the Fête du Lac ends with fireworks over the water.

Saint-Tropez offers little beyond open-air classical and jazz concerts on the citadel in summer, though it has the centuries-old Bravade procession in May. For opera or larger stages, both towns send you elsewhere: Annecy to Geneva or Lyon, Saint-Tropez to Toulon or Nice.

Annecy is the better place to unwind, partly because its calm costs nothing. The lake sets a slow pace for most of the year. For proper bathing rather than a hotel treatment room, the historic thermal baths of Aix-les-Bains are a short trip south, and Saint-Gervais is about an hour away at the foot of Mont Blanc. Only July and August, when the lawns and the old town fill up, break the rhythm.

Saint-Tropez has no thermal tradition to match. Its spas belong to luxury hotels and villas, so they mainly suit people staying in one. Its quiet also depends more on the season than Annecy's does. High summer is far louder and more crowded than anything around Lake Annecy, so for a restful stay come in late spring or September. Then the town slows to a village pace that can rival the lake's.