Antibes or Como?

Antibes has much the better beaches. Juan-les-Pins and La Salis have real sand that shelves gently, the coves of Cap d'Antibes add clear water for swimming off flat rocks, and the season runs from June into early October.

Como offers a swim rather than a beach. People bathe at lidos with lawns and pontoons, such as the one beside Villa Olmo, or from the pebble strands and jetties of Cernobbio and Moltrasio. The lake season is also shorter and ends in early September.

Neither is a place people visit just to eat, but the two kitchens are quite different. Antibes cooks in the Niçoise style, with socca, pissaladière, stuffed vegetables and grilled fish around the Cours Masséna market. Como's Lombard table means risotto with perch, missoltini and polenta, with aperitivo on the squares by the cathedral.

In both towns the setting can cost more than the cooking: tourist menus near Port Vauban, terraces priced for the view on Como's lakefront. The better meals tend to be in the old-town bistros of Antibes and in family-run places up the lake from Como.

Como has more to see, and the sights carry more weight. Its marble cathedral, the Romanesque churches of San Fedele and Sant'Abbondio and Terragni's Casa del Fascio give it architecture of real note, and the Tempio Voltiano and the silk museum add local history.

Antibes has one outstanding sight in the Picasso Museum at the Château Grimaldi, along with Fort Carré, the sea ramparts and Villa Eilenroc on the cape. Either town can be seen in a day or two, but Como gives that time more substance.

Antibes has the livelier nights, at least in summer. In July and August Juan-les-Pins keeps its beach bars, lounges and a few clubs going into the early hours, and yacht crews fill the pubs and wine bars near Port Vauban.

Como is an aperitivo-and-dinner town, with a few cocktail bars around Piazza Duomo and no club scene. In both places the bigger night out is a train ride away, in Nice or in Milan.

Como's setting is the more dramatic. Steep wooded mountains rise straight from the lake. You can walk from the funicular stop at Brunate, follow the Via dei Monti Lariani or head for the views from Monte Bisbino, and road cyclists climb to the Madonna del Ghisallo.

Antibes offers sea rather than slopes: the coastal path round the cape, snorkelling and diving in clear water, and sailing in the bay. The land around the town is flat and built up, so proper hiking in the Esterel or above Grasse means a drive.

Both are excellent bases, and the difference is in the kind of outing. From Antibes, coastal trains reach Nice, Cannes, Monaco and Menton, boats cross to the Lérins Islands, and the hill villages of Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Eze and Grasse lie inland.

From Como, ferries carry you to the lake villas and gardens of Bellagio, Varenna and Tremezzo. Trains bring Milan, Lugano and Bergamo within easy reach, so lakeside days mix with big cities and a second country.

Antibes suits families better, mainly because its sandy, gently shelving beaches are kinder to small children than Como's pebble strands and lidos. The boats in Port Vauban, the walk round Fort Carré and the crossing to the Lérins Islands help fill the time between swims.

Como is just as calm, and children enjoy the funicular, the ferry rides and the gardens of Villa Olmo. Beyond those, little is aimed at them, and the swimming season is short.

Both have compact, flat centres best seen on foot, and both suffer from summer traffic on their shore roads. Antibes relies on the coastal railway, which links the Riviera towns quickly. Como's railway lines run to Milan and Lugano, and its ferries reach every lake village, but they are slow over longer distances.

In both places a car helps for the hinterland: Grasse and the Esterel from Antibes, the mountain villages from Como.

Como has an obvious thing to buy: silk. Scarves, ties and fabric come from specialist shops in the old town and from mill outlets on the city's edge, and Via Vittorio Emanuele II has a short run of Italian boutiques.

In Antibes, shopping means olive oil, herbs and soaps from the covered market, and Provençal linens and ceramics in the old-town lanes. For serious fashion, both send people elsewhere: Antibes to Cannes or Nice, Como to Milan.

Both are expensive, especially in July and August, when rooms on Cap d'Antibes or beside the lake are priced for a luxury crowd. The ways to save differ. In Antibes, self-catering from the market and the cheap coastal trains help most. In Como, look for rooms back from the water, old-town trattorias and the inexpensive ferries. Spring and autumn are cheaper in both.

Neither has a large programme, but each has its own highlight. Antibes has Jazz à Juan, one of Europe's oldest jazz festivals, held each July under the pines by the sea, and the Anthéa theatre puts on plays and concerts the rest of the year.

Como has the Teatro Sociale, a neoclassical opera house staging opera, ballet and concerts, plus summer chamber music in churches and villas. Jazz lovers will lean towards Antibes and opera-goers towards Como, with Nice and Milan's La Scala close by for more.

Neither town has a bathing tradition, so the difference is in the kind of calm each one offers. Antibes suits travellers who unwind by the sea: a course of seawater treatments at the thalassotherapy centre or a hotel spa on the cape, an unhurried swim, then a slow stroll on the ramparts as the evening cools. It is most restful in late spring and September, before or after the summer rush.

Como is for those who find rest in a view rather than a treatment. The lake does most of the work: a long ferry ride with nothing to do but watch the shore, an afternoon among the flowerbeds of a lakeside villa, then dinner in a quiet village and an early night. Its pampering is mostly in the grand lakeside hotels, and in both towns the crowds of July and August take away much of the peace.