Antibes or Montpellier?

In Antibes the sea is part of the town. The sandy, gently shelving beaches at La Salis and Juan-les-Pins are a walk from the old town, and the rocky coves of Cap d'Antibes add very clear water off flat rocks. The catch is that private beach clubs take much of the sand at Juan-les-Pins.

Montpellier's beaches start about 11km away at Palavas and Carnon, and from there one long, flat strip of sand runs east to the dunes of l'Espiguette. The water is shallow and easy, but there are no coves or clear rocky water, and you go to the beach as a day out from the city rather than living beside it.

Both towns eat best from their markets, but Montpellier has more to work with. The Languedoc vineyards begin at the city's edge, oysters come from the Thau lagoon, and specialities such as tielle from Sète turn up everywhere. The student crowd keeps casual places plentiful and cheap.

Antibes cooks in the Niçoise way: socca, pissaladière, stuffed vegetables and grilled fish with rosé, all built around the Cours Masséna market. It is pleasant if you choose carefully, because the lanes near the port lean on tourist menus.

Montpellier gives you a city's worth of sights. There is the car-free Écusson with its courtyard mansions, the Peyrou terrace and its aqueduct, a medical faculty dating from the Middle Ages and France's oldest botanical garden. The Musée Fabre covers European painting from the Flemish masters to Soulages, and Bofill's Antigone district adds twentieth-century architecture.

Antibes has one outstanding sight, the Picasso Museum in the Château Grimaldi on the sea wall. The ramparts, Fort Carré and the villas of the cape make a lovely setting, but the town offers a few good visits rather than a full programme.

Montpellier is the livelier of the two all year. Its students fill the bars around Place Jean-Jaurès and the squares of the Écusson on weeknights as well as weekends, and the night carries on at clubs towards Lattes. Antibes goes out mainly in July and August, at the beach lounges and few clubs of Juan-les-Pins and the yacht-crew pubs by Port Vauban. Out of season much of it shuts, and Nice is where people go for a bigger night.

Both have fine outdoors close by, but of different kinds. Antibes faces the sea, with the coastal path over the limestone of the cape, clear water for snorkelling and diving, and sailing in the bay. The red cliffs of the Esterel and the Gorges du Loup are further afield.

Montpellier looks to lagoon and hills. Flamingos feed on the étangs, the Camargue is about an hour away, and you can climb Pic Saint-Loup or canoe in the Hérault gorges. Its flat, windy coast suits kitesurfing and cycling far better than snorkelling.

Antibes sends you along the Riviera and up into its hill villages. Nice is about twenty minutes by train and Cannes is closer still, and the same coastal line runs on to Villefranche, Monaco and Menton. Boats cross to the fort and monastery of the Lérins Islands, while Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Eze and the perfume houses of Grasse sit inland, and Sanremo over the Italian border makes a longer day.

Montpellier's trips lead back into Roman and medieval Provence and Languedoc. Nîmes, with its arena and temple, is about half an hour by train, and the Pont du Gard is just beyond it. Arles and Avignon are each about an hour away, and Carcassonne's walled citadel lies further west. The fishing port of Sète and the walled town of Aigues-Mortes in the salt marshes suit shorter days.

Montpellier gives children more to do. There is the zoo in its wooded park, the aquarium and planetarium at Odysseum, and a largely pedestrian centre with trams that are easy with a pushchair. Gentle beaches are close by for swimming days.

Antibes has sand right by town, which is rare on this coast, and it is small and easy to manage. Beyond the beach, the boats in Port Vauban and the walk round Fort Carré, though, little is built for children.

Montpellier is easier to get around. Its tram links the station, the old town, Antigone and Odysseum, bike-share helps on the flat, and fast trains run to Nîmes, Avignon and Carcassonne. Antibes is walkable at its core and sits on the coastal railway, so Riviera towns are easy, but slow buses and summer traffic make the cape and the hill villages hard going without a car.

Neither is a shopping destination, but Montpellier has more range. Boutiques, bookshops and wine shops fill the Écusson lanes, the Polygone mall sits by the Comédie, and the big brands are at Odysseum. Antibes shops on a small, local scale: the Provençal market, linens and ceramics, with Biot glass and Vallauris pottery in the neighbouring villages and Cannes or Nice for fashion.

Montpellier is the easier place on a budget. Central hotels are moderately priced for most of the year, and student bars, market halls and lunch menus keep daily costs down. Antibes is expensive, and in summer rooms near Juan-les-Pins and on the cape are priced like a luxury resort, with beach-club loungers on top.

Both cost more in July and August. In Antibes, spring and autumn bring the sharpest drop in hotel rates while the sea is still warm enough to swim.

Montpellier has a real stage for a city of its size. The Opéra Comédie and the Corum share a season of opera, ballet and its national orchestra. Contemporary dance is its specialism through the Montpellier Danse festival, and in summer the Radio France festival puts on many free concerts.

Antibes has one great event, Jazz à Juan, held each July under the pines by the sea since 1960. The rest of the year it relies on the Anthéa theatre, and you go to Nice for opera.

Neither city has a bathing tradition, so in both, wellness means spas. Antibes offers seawater thalassotherapy and the grand hotel spas on Cap d'Antibes, while Montpellier is half an hour from real thermal water at Balaruc-les-Bains on the Thau lagoon. Antibes is most restful in May, June and September, while Montpellier's student-filled centre stays lively rather than quiet.