Antibes or Colmar?

This is the widest gap between the two. Antibes has proper sand at Juan-les-Pins and La Salis, plus rocky coves and flat swimming rocks around Cap d'Antibes, and the summer sea is warm enough for long swims. Private beach clubs take much of the sand, though, and the free stretches fill early in August.

Colmar lies inland on the Alsace plain, so swimming means a municipal pool or a small lake up in the Vosges valleys. If your trip depends on the water, choose Antibes.

Colmar is the better place to eat, because it has a whole regional cuisine to explore. Winstubs serve baeckeoffe, choucroute and tarte flambée with munster cheese from the valleys. Riesling and Gewurztraminer come from the slopes just outside town, with cellar tastings a short drive away.

Antibes eats well around its covered market on Cours Masséna, with socca, pissaladière and grilled fish, but the choice is that of a seaside town and the streets by the port lean on tourist menus. The busiest streets in both towns have tired menus, so choose with care in either.

Colmar has much more to see. Its old town of painted half-timbered houses, the Maison Pfister and the canals of Petite Venise has survived as a whole. The Unterlinden Museum's Isenheim Altarpiece is a painting people travel specifically to see, and Schongauer's Madonna in the Dominican church is a second reason to come.

Antibes has one outstanding sight, the Picasso Museum in the Château Grimaldi on the sea wall, along with Fort Carré and the old town ramparts. These make a good morning or two between swims, but they are not the reason for the trip.

Neither is a place for a big night out, but Antibes has more going on. In July and August, Juan-les-Pins keeps its beach bars and a few clubs open into the early hours, and yacht crews fill the pubs and wine bars near Port Vauban.

In Colmar the evening ends with dinner and a glass of wine in a winstub or on a terrace by the canal, and the streets go quiet early. For a real night out you take the train in both cases, to Nice from Antibes and to Strasbourg from Colmar.

Both have fine country close by, but of very different kinds. Around Antibes it is sea and limestone: the coastal path round the cape, clear water for snorkelling and diving, and sailing in the bay. For proper hiking there are the red cliffs of the Esterel and the Gorges du Loup.

Colmar's outdoors is green and hilly: marked paths through the vines between wine villages, then the forested Vosges with their glacial lakes, the Route des Crêtes over the Grand Ballon and some modest winter skiing. Colmar is the better place for cycling and walking. Antibes is the place to get into the water.

From Antibes, the day trips run along the coast. Nice and Cannes are minutes away by train, and the same line carries on to Villefranche, Monaco and Menton, while boats cross to the fort and monastery on the Lérins Islands. Inland, Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Eze and the perfume houses of Grasse make a very different day, and Sanremo across the Italian border is within reach.

From Colmar, the trips go to wine villages and over borders. Riquewihr, Eguisheim and Kaysersberg lie a few kilometres apart on the Route des Vins, and Haut-Koenigsbourg looks down from its ridge. Strasbourg's cathedral is half an hour away by train, and Basel and Freiburg make easy days in Switzerland and Germany. Choose Antibes for a string of seaside towns, and Colmar for vineyard villages and the old cities of the upper Rhine.

Colmar has more for children overall. In town there are boat rides through Petite Venise, a little tourist train and storks on the rooftops. A drive away are the stork and otter park at Hunawihr, the macaques of the Montagne des Singes, Haut-Koenigsbourg castle and Europa-Park across the Rhine.

Antibes has something Colmar cannot offer: a sandy, gently shelving beach that suits small children. Beyond that the town has little built for kids, and the heat and crowds of August take some planning.

The two work in much the same way. Each has a compact centre best seen on foot, and a railway line that makes the bigger neighbours easy: Nice and Cannes along the coast from Antibes, Strasbourg and Mulhouse from Colmar.

The difference lies further out. Around Antibes the trouble is summer traffic and parking on the coast road, with slow buses to Cap d'Antibes and the hill villages. Around Colmar, buses between the wine villages are few, but the quiet vineyard roads make a bicycle a real alternative to a car.

Neither town is a shopping destination. Fashion buyers go elsewhere, to Cannes or Nice from Antibes. What differs is what you bring home. In Antibes that means Provençal goods from the covered market and the old town boutiques, such as olive oil, herbs, soaps and linens, with Biot glass and Vallauris pottery in nearby villages.

Colmar sells Alsace: wine straight from the producer, kougelhopf moulds, Soufflenheim pottery, printed table linen and gingerbread. Its Christmas markets make December the high point of the shopping year.

Colmar is the cheaper of the two, with the prices of a provincial French town rather than a Riviera resort. Set lunches, regional wine and village tastings cost little. Rooms are where the cost bites, in summer and during the Christmas markets.

Antibes is expensive, especially in July and August, when rooms near the beaches and on Cap d'Antibes, and loungers at the beach clubs, cost resort rates. Visiting in spring or autumn, self-catering from the market and taking the coastal trains all bring the cost down.

Both are festival towns rather than places with a year-round stage, but Antibes has the bigger name. Jazz à Juan, held under the pines by the sea since 1960, is one of Europe's oldest jazz festivals, and the Anthéa theatre puts on plays and dance through the rest of the year.

Colmar's small Italian-style theatre hosts touring productions from the Opéra national du Rhin. Its year peaks with a classical music festival in early July and a jazz festival in autumn. For serious opera or orchestral music, you go to Nice from Antibes and to Strasbourg or Basel from Colmar.

Antibes has more on offer for pampering: a seawater thalassotherapy centre and the grand hotel spas on Cap d'Antibes, which non-guests can often book. It is most restful in May, June and September, since high summer brings crowds.

Colmar has only hotel spas. Rest comes easily there all the same, with quiet evenings by the canals and slow walks through the vines once the day-trippers have gone. Neither town has thermal baths.