Antibes or Interlaken?

This is Antibes' strongest card. It has real sand on this mostly pebbly coast, at Juan-les-Pins and La Salis, plus rocky swimming spots around Cap d'Antibes and a sea that stays warm from early summer into autumn. Expect to share it with beach clubs and summer crowds.

Interlaken's lakes are beautiful but no substitute. Lake Thun warms up enough for a swim at the Neuhaus lido in high summer, and glacial Lake Brienz stays cold. A dip there is something to do after a hike, not the reason for the trip.

Antibes eats better. Mornings at the covered market on Cours Masséna, socca and pissaladière in the old town and grilled fish with rosé make for a pleasant Riviera table, as long as you avoid the tourist menus near the port.

Interlaken's own restaurants serve dependable fondue, rösti and international dishes without much character. The good food is up in the mountains: dairy cheese, a hut lunch above Grindelwald or a glass of Lake Thun white wine.

Antibes gives you a couple of days of real sightseeing. There is the Picasso Museum in the Château Grimaldi, the ramparted old town and cathedral, Fort Carré above Port Vauban and the villas and chapel on the cape.

Interlaken has almost nothing to see in town apart from its row of grand hotels and the timber houses of Unterseen. If you want castles and old towns, take the train to Thun or Bern.

Neither is a party town, but Antibes has more going on, at least in summer. Juan-les-Pins keeps its beach bars and clubs open until the early hours, and the yacht crews fill the pubs and wine bars near the port. Nice is close for anything bigger.

In Interlaken, nights out mean backpacker pubs, a few basement clubs and the casino in the Kursaal. Most visitors are in bed early, ready for the morning train up the mountain.

Interlaken is one of the great mountain bases in Europe. The Jungfraujoch railway, the waterfalls of the Lauterbrunnen valley and the ridge walks at Schynige Platte and Grindelwald First are all within an hour. On top of that come paragliding, canyoning and rafting, and skiing in winter.

Antibes has good outdoor options of its own, mostly by the sea. You can walk the coastal path around the cape, snorkel and dive in clear water, and hike the red Esterel or the gorges above Grasse. But the land around town is built up and nothing matches the scale of the Bernese Oberland.

Both make good bases, and Antibes is the slightly richer one. Nice, Cannes, Monaco and Menton lie along a single coastal line, and the Lérins Islands, Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Eze and Grasse are close, so there is a different town for every day of a week.

Interlaken's outings mix towns and scenery. Bern's arcaded old town, Thun's castle, the steamer stops at Spiez and Oberhofen, Ballenberg and Lucerne are all easy by train, but they are spread further apart.

Interlaken works better with children of most ages. The transport itself is half the fun, and the summit stations add playgrounds, cliff walks and summer toboggan runs, with the St Beatus caves and Ballenberg's farm animals for variety. Rainy days and very high altitudes are the weak spots.

Antibes comes down to the beach. Its shallow sand suits toddlers better than most of the Riviera, and the town is small and safe. Beyond the beach, boats in the harbour and a trip to the islands are about all there is.

Interlaken is the easier place to go without a car. Mainline trains, the Bernese Oberland railways, cog lines, gondolas and lake steamers connect smoothly across the whole Jungfrau region, and two resorts are car-free anyway.

Antibes is easy on foot in the old town and along the coastal railway, but the cape and the hill villages are poorly served by slow buses. A car makes inland trips simpler, though summer traffic and parking spoil that too.

Antibes is the more enjoyable place to browse. Its covered market sells olive oil, herbs and soap, and the old town lanes have independent shops with Provençal linen and ceramics. Biot glass and Vallauris pottery are a short drive away.

Interlaken's Höheweg is all watches, army knives, cuckoo clocks and chocolate for passing tour groups. Brienz woodcarving is the only local craft worth going out of your way for.

Neither is cheap, but Interlaken costs more. Swiss prices apply to every room and meal, and the mountain railways that make the trip worthwhile add a large extra cost on top. Picnics and transport passes help only a little.

Antibes is costly in July and August, especially near the beaches and on the cape. Spring and autumn rates, cheap regional trains and food from the market bring it down to a more manageable level.

Antibes has the bigger name. Jazz à Juan, one of the oldest jazz festivals in Europe, plays under the pines by the sea each July, and the Anthéa theatre has a regional programme the rest of the year.

Interlaken offers the open-air William Tell play staged by local amateurs, folklore evenings with alphorns and occasional concerts in the Kursaal. For a full theatre or orchestra, Bern is the place to go.

The two are about level, and neither has a bathing tradition, so it comes down to what kind of rest you want. In Antibes it means thalassotherapy, hotel spas on the cape and slow market mornings in May, June or September.

In Interlaken it means hotel spas on the Höheweg, steamer crossings and the quiet of Wengen or Mürren rather than the busy town centre.