Antibes or Lugano?

Antibes has sand, which is rare on this coast. There are long, gently shelving beaches at Juan-les-Pins and La Salis, and rocky coves and flat rocks around Cap d'Antibes with very clear water. Private beach clubs take much of the sand at Juan-les-Pins, though, and the free stretches fill early in high summer.

Lugano has lidos instead of beaches: lawns, wooden decks and ladders into the lake, with the largest at the mouth of the Cassarate. They are good for a hot afternoon between June and early September, but there is no sand and no surf.

Neither town is worth visiting for the food alone, and the two eat very differently. Antibes cooks the Niçoise way, with socca, pissaladière, grilled fish and rosé. Its covered market on Cours Masséna is the place to start, and the tourist menus near the port are best avoided.

Lugano's equivalent is the grotto, a rustic tavern built against cool rock cellars. Grotti serve polenta, braised meats and risotto with Ticino Merlot under chestnut trees. Beyond them there is little street food or cheap eating, and many visitors cross into Italy for a big meal.

The Picasso Museum in Château Grimaldi, on the sea wall, is what sets Antibes apart. Picasso worked there in 1946, and the work he made that autumn is still in the building. Around it are the old-town lanes and ramparts. The star-shaped Fort Carré stands across the harbour, and the Villa Eilenroc and the Garoupe chapel are out on the cape. Together they fill about two days.

Lugano is more about churches, painting and arcaded streets than fortifications. Its Lombard old town leads up to San Lorenzo cathedral and its Renaissance façade. Luini's Passion fresco in Santa Maria degli Angioli is the finest single work in town, and the art museum is split between LAC and Palazzo Reali. A day covers it all, and the Hermann Hesse museum at Montagnola is worth the trip up into the hills.

Antibes has more going on after dark, at least in summer. 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. Out of season it goes quiet, and people go to Nice for a bigger night out.

In Lugano, an evening means an aperitivo under the arcades, a long dinner and perhaps a smart bar by the lake. On most nights the town is quiet before midnight, and young people head to Milan.

Lugano is the stronger choice for the outdoors, because the mountains start at the edge of town. Funiculars climb Monte Brè and San Salvatore, and a rack railway goes up Monte Generoso. The path to Gandria and the ridge from Monte Lema to Monte Tamaro range from an easy stroll to a full day's hike.

In Antibes the outdoors is mostly about the water: snorkelling, diving and paddleboarding off the cape, plus the coastal path over wind-carved limestone. Real hiking means a trip to the Esterel or the hills above Grasse, because the land around the town is flat and built up.

Both are excellent bases, but for different kinds of day out. From Antibes the coastal railway links Nice, Cannes, Monaco and Menton. Inland are the hill villages of Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Eze and Grasse, and boats cross to the Lérins Islands.

From Lugano, day trips reach into two countries. Milan, with The Last Supper and the Brera, is just over an hour away, Como half an hour, and the castles of Bellinzona and the Borromean Islands are within reach too. Days out from Antibes stay on the same sunny coast, while from Lugano the language, the lake and the scenery all change.

Both towns are safe and small, and neither has much built for children, so the choice depends on how you want to spend the days. In Antibes the days revolve around the beach, where the sand shelves gently enough for toddlers, though August heat and crowds call for early starts.

Lugano keeps children busy with boat rides, lido slides, funiculars and the miniature Switzerland at Melide. Its steep streets are hard work with a pushchair, though.

Lugano is easier to get around. The centre is walkable and a short funicular takes care of the climb from the station. Buses, lake boats and mountain railways reach almost everything else, and hotel stays usually include free regional transport.

Antibes works well on foot and by coastal train. Buses to the cape and the hill villages are slow, though, and Grasse or the Esterel are much simpler by car, which means dealing with summer traffic and scarce parking.

Lugano has more to offer shoppers, though mostly at the top end. The arcades of Via Nassa are lined with Swiss watchmakers, jewellers and Italian fashion houses, and there is a large designer outlet near Mendrisio.

Antibes has no luxury street at all. Its strengths are the Provençal market for olive oil, herbs and soaps, small boutiques selling linen and ceramics, and Biot glass and Vallauris pottery in the villages next door.

Both are expensive, but Antibes is easier on the wallet. Summer rooms near the beaches are priced like a luxury resort, but rates drop sharply in spring and autumn. The market makes self-catering easy, and the regional trains are good value.

Lugano has Swiss prices. Lakeside hotels, meals, wine, boats and mountain railways all cost far more than across the border, and grotti and set lunches are the only real way to save.

Lugano has the fuller year-round programme, centred on LAC. The Orchestra della Svizzera italiana plays in its fine concert hall, and its theatre stages drama and dance through the season. In summer, Estival Jazz puts on free concerts in Piazza della Riforma.

Antibes has one great event, Jazz à Juan, held each July under the pines by the sea since 1960. The rest of the year there is the Anthéa theatre with regional plays and concerts. For opera, Antibes looks to Nice and Lugano to La Scala in Milan.

Neither town has a bathing tradition, so the difference is in the setting. Antibes has seawater thalassotherapy and the grand hotel spas of Cap d'Antibes, but it is truly restful only in May, June and September, outside the summer crowds.

In Lugano the calm comes from the pace of the day: coffee under the arcades, an afternoon in Parco Ciani or at a lido, and a long grotto lunch. There are also hotel spas and a large indoor complex with pools and saunas near Rivera.