Antibes or Girona?

In Antibes the beach is part of the town. There is long, gently shelving sand at Juan-les-Pins and La Salis, and around the cape you swim from rocky coves into very clear water. Private clubs take much of the sand, but there are public stretches between them.

Girona has no beach of its own. The Costa Brava, from Sant Feliu de Guíxols and Tossa to the coves around Begur, is about 40 minutes away and very beautiful, but it is a day out. Without a car, the bus timetables limit how far along the coast you can get.

Girona is the better place to eat. Its Catalan cooking ranges from botifarra with white beans and mar i muntanya dishes in old taverns to tasting-menu kitchens with an international name. Empordà wine and a weekend vermouth go with it, and the pastry shops sell xuixos.

Antibes eats well in a simpler way: the morning market on Cours Masséna, socca and pissaladière, and grilled fish with rosé. The choice is what you would expect in a coastal town, and the streets near the port lean on tourist menus, so it pays to choose carefully. Few people would travel there for the food alone.

Girona has the richer historic centre. The Barri Vell climbs from the Onyar to the cathedral and takes in the Call, the Arab Baths and the cloister of Sant Pere de Galligants. You can also walk most of the medieval walls, which look out towards the Pyrenees.

Antibes has less to see. The Picasso Museum in the Château Grimaldi is the high point, with Fort Carré, the sea ramparts and Villa Eilenroc nearby. It makes a fine pairing of art and sea views, but it is not a historic city you explore for days.

Neither is a nightlife town, and anyone wanting a big night goes to Nice or Barcelona. Antibes has the edge in high summer. Juan-les-Pins then has beach bars, lounges and clubs open into the early hours, and yacht crews fill the pubs near Port Vauban, though much of this closes out of season.

Girona's evenings are about terraces and late dinners. In term time there are student bars around Plaça de la Independència, and a few small clubs open at weekends.

Both have good outdoor country, but Girona has more of it close to town. Road cyclists come from around the world for its quiet lanes and climbs, and greenways run flat to Olot and down to the sea. The Gavarres hills start at the edge of the city, and the Garrotxa volcanoes and the Pyrenees are within reach.

Antibes is more about the water: the coastal path round the cape, snorkelling and diving in very clear sea, and sailing and paddleboarding in the bay. For proper hiking you go to the Esterel or the hills above Grasse, because the land around the town is flat and built up.

Both are excellent bases, but the trips are different. From Antibes, the coastal railway links a string of Riviera towns: Nice, Cannes, Monaco and Menton. Boats go to the Lérins Islands, and hill villages such as Saint-Paul-de-Vence and Eze are inland.

From Girona the trips are more varied and more rural. Barcelona is a short fast-train ride away, Dalí is in Figueres and Cadaqués, and there are medieval Besalú and Peratallada, the ruins of Empúries and the Empordà wineries. Most of these are far easier with a car.

Antibes is the easier choice for families because the beach is right there, sandy and gently shelving, which suits small children. The town is also small and easy to manage. Little else is built for children, though, and August brings heat and full beaches.

Girona is calm and welcomes children in its squares well into the evening, and walking the walls feels like an adventure. But the stairs and cobbles of the Barri Vell are hard going with a pushchair, and every beach day means a trip out.

Both are walkable at the centre and have a railway for longer trips, with buses that become sparse further out. In Antibes, the old town and the port are flat, Juan-les-Pins is a half-hour walk away, and the coastal trains reach the main Riviera towns. The problem is summer traffic and parking on the coast road.

Girona's Barri Vell is steep and full of stairs. Its fast trains to Barcelona and Figueres are its strength. A hired car opens up the villages and coves, and a bike works well for local trips.

Neither is a shopping destination. Fashion shoppers go to a bigger neighbour, Cannes and Nice from Antibes or Barcelona from Girona.

What you bring home is different. In Antibes it is Provençal linens, olive oil, soaps and herbs from the covered market, with Biot glass and Vallauris pottery a short drive away. In Girona it is Empordà cheeses, sausages and wine from the Mercat del Lleó, finds from the independent shoe shops and bookshops on the Rambla, and cycling kit.

Antibes is the dearer of the two. In July and August, rooms near the sand at Juan-les-Pins and on the cape are priced like a luxury resort, and beach-club loungers and seafront terraces are costly as well. The old town has some cheaper places to eat, and a stay built on the public beaches and the coastal trains costs much less than one built around the cape.

Girona costs less, though it sits around the middle for Western Europe rather than being cheap, and it undercuts the big Spanish cities, so basing yourself there for a day in Barcelona saves money. Rooms are the main expense, because the old town has few and they climb in summer, at the spring flower festival and in the cycling season. A hire car for the villages and coves adds to the budget.

Both have a modest programme lifted by one standout festival, but in different seasons. Antibes has Jazz à Juan, one of Europe's oldest jazz festivals, held each July under the pines at Juan-les-Pins. For the rest of the year there is the Anthéa theatre.

Girona's high point comes in autumn with Temporada Alta and its international theatre and dance, and the Auditori brings in touring concerts. Many plays there are in Catalan. In short, summer favours Antibes and autumn favours Girona.

Neither has a tradition of public baths, so relaxing in either is mostly about pace. Antibes has a thalassotherapy centre and the grand-hotel spas on the cape. It is restful in May, June and September, but much less so in the crowds of high summer.

Girona is an unhurried city of quiet stone lanes and evening walks by the river. For real bathing, the thermal pools of Caldes de Malavella are about 20 minutes south.