Antibes or Bern?

Antibes has one of the few sandy shorelines on this part of the Riviera. You can choose between the long, easy beaches of Juan-les-Pins, the town beach at La Salis facing the ramparts, and clear-water coves like La Garoupe on the cape. Expect private beach clubs on much of the sand and crowded free stretches in high summer.

Bern's version of a swim is upriver at the Marzili, a jump into the Aare and a float back on the cold, green current. It is exhilarating but only for strong swimmers. For gentler water you go out to Lake Thun, and the season is shorter.

Antibes eats a little better. The covered market on Cours Masséna and the Niçoise kitchen of socca, stuffed vegetables, grilled fish and rosé make meals feel like part of the trip, though you need to avoid the tourist menus by the port.

Bern's cooking is hearty Alpine fare: the Berner Platte, rösti and fondue served in guildhall rooms and arcade cellars. Its chocolate is excellent, but the overall range is narrow.

Bern has much more to see. The whole loop of old town is the sight, with its arcades, painted fountains, the Zytglogge and the Minster tower. On top of that come the Paul Klee collection, Switzerland's oldest art museum and the Einstein rooms on Kramgasse.

Antibes has one standout, the Picasso Museum in the Château Grimaldi on the sea wall. Beyond it are the star-shaped Fort Carré, the ramparts and a handful of small museums, and a couple of unhurried days is enough for all of it.

Neither is a place for a big night out, and they are quiet in different ways. Antibes comes alive only in July and August, with beach bars and a few clubs at Juan-les-Pins and yacht-crew pubs near Port Vauban. Out of season, nights are early. Bern stays much the same all year, with cellar bars under the arcades busy at weekends, riverside terraces in summer and the Reitschule for late, rougher parties.

Bern has the bigger landscapes. The Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau are about an hour away by train, with real high-mountain hiking and winter skiing. Closer in are Lake Thun, the Gurten hill and wooded paths along the Aare.

Antibes is more about the sea. The rocky coastal path around the cape, snorkelling and paddleboarding fill the days, and the red Esterel cliffs and the Gorges du Loup are the nearest proper hiking, best reached by car.

Both make excellent bases. Antibes looks along one coastline: Nice, Cannes, Monaco and Menton by train, the Lérins Islands by boat, and the hill villages of Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Eze and Grasse inland.

Bern has a whole country around it. Lucerne, Basel and Zurich are each about an hour away, and smaller towns such as Fribourg, Murten, Thun and Gruyères are closer. Every trip runs smoothly by rail, whereas the Riviera hill villages are easier with a car.

Bern does more for children. There are the bears by the river, the wooded Dählhölzli zoo, the dioramas at the Natural History Museum and the playground at the top of the Gurten funicular. The Aare itself is too strong for young swimmers, though, so stay in the Marzili's shallow pools.

Antibes has one big advantage for toddlers: soft, gently shelving sand instead of the Riviera's usual pebbles. Beyond the beach and the boats in Port Vauban, there is little aimed at children.

Bern is far easier. You can walk the centre in about twenty minutes under the arcades, punctual trams and funiculars fill the gaps, and the station sits at the top of the old town, so leaving on day trips takes no effort.

Antibes is fine on foot between the old town, the market and the port, and the coastal railway handles the Riviera towns. Further out the buses are slow, inland trips really need a car, and summer traffic on the coast road is heavy.

Antibes is a place for picking up a few things rather than for going shopping. The market and the old-town lanes are good for Provençal food, soap and table linen to take home, and the glass of Biot and the pottery of Vallauris are only a short trip away. For any real browsing, though, you take the train to Cannes or Nice.

Bern gives you more to do, mostly because its main shopping streets run as one continuous arcade from the station down through the old town, so you stay dry whatever the weather. Swiss watches and chocolate are the obvious buys, and the quieter lower end adds antiques, books and design in its old cellars. Neither city is much use for luxury or fashion, so Bern wins on variety and ease rather than glamour.

Neither is cheap, but Antibes is the more manageable of the two. Rooms near the beaches cost resort prices in high summer, yet they fall sharply in spring and autumn, and the coastal trains and market food are good value.

In Bern, almost everything costs a lot, from plain guesthouses to a beer on a terrace. The best savings come from the free pleasures, such as the bear park, the river paths and Federal Palace tours, and from supermarket lunches.

Antibes has one famous summer event, Jazz à Juan, held every July under the pines at Juan-les-Pins since 1960 and among the oldest jazz festivals in Europe. For the rest of the year there is a regional programme at the Anthéa theatre, and for opera you go to Nice.

Bern keeps a programme going all year, so on an ordinary evening it is the better bet. The Stadttheater stages opera and ballet, the symphony orchestra plays in the Casino above the Aare, and the Dampfzentrale puts on contemporary dance. On top of that come a jazz festival in spring and the Gurtenfestival in July.

Bern is the easier place to slow down. Its quiet Sundays and riverside lunches set a gentle pace, and a large thermal bath complex on the city's edge has warm pools and saunas. In Antibes, wellness means thalassotherapy and the grand hotel spas on the cape, and the town is only really restful in May, June and September, before or after the summer crowds.