Antibes or Rome?

Antibes is built around its beaches, Rome is not. Juan-les-Pins and La Salis give soft, gently shelving sand looking across to the ramparts, and the rocky shore of Cap d'Antibes adds small coves and very clear water for swimming off the rocks.

From Rome the sea means a half-hour train to Ostia's dark volcanic sand, mostly given over to paid lidos and rarely clear. Pretty water lies far south at Sperlonga, which turns a swim into a whole day.

Rome is one of Europe's great eating cities, with a cuisine of its own: the four Roman pastas, Jewish-style artichokes in the Ghetto, offal in Testaccio, and serious street food from supplì to pizza sold by weight. The rule is to walk away from the big sights to Trastevere, Monti or Testaccio.

Antibes eats pleasantly rather than memorably. The Provençal market on Cours Masséna, socca, pissaladière and grilled fish with rosé make good meals, but the range is that of a coastal town, and the lanes near the port lean on tourist menus.

There is little contest here. Rome stacks ancient monuments, early Christian mosaics, Renaissance palaces and Bernini's Baroque in one city, with the Vatican Museums and the Borghese Gallery on top, and a week leaves much unseen.

Antibes has one sight of real stature, the Picasso Museum in the Château Grimaldi, where he worked in 1946. The old town, Fort Carré and the cape's villas round out a visit that takes two days.

Rome's evenings run all year and happen mostly outdoors: aperitivo, then wine bars and piazzas in Trastevere, smaller cocktail bars in Monti, student bars in San Lorenzo. Clubbing is a minor part of it, centred on Testaccio and Ostiense.

Antibes goes out mainly in July and August, when Juan-les-Pins has beach bars and a few late clubs, and the lanes by Port Vauban fill with yacht crews in English-speaking pubs. Out of season it closes early, and people take the train to Nice for more.

Antibes puts better outdoor country on the doorstep. The coastal path around the cape runs over carved limestone past pines, the water is clear enough for snorkelling and diving, and the red cliffs of the Esterel and the Gorges du Loup are within an hour or so.

Rome's green is mostly parkland and history: the villa gardens of Borghese and Pamphili, and the Appian Way, where a cycle ride passes tombs and aqueducts. Real hiking means the Alban Hills or the Apennines, about ninety minutes out.

Both are excellent bases, but for different kinds of day. From Antibes the trips are short and similar in flavour: a coastal train to Nice, Cannes, Monaco or Menton, a boat to the Lérins Islands, or hill villages such as Saint-Paul-de-Vence and Eze.

Rome's excursions reach further and vary more, from Ostia Antica and Hadrian's Villa close in to Etruscan tombs at Tarquinia, cliff-top Orvieto and Assisi. High-speed trains make Florence or Naples, and even Pompeii, possible in a day.

Neither is designed around children, but the days look very different. In Antibes the gently shelving sand of Juan-les-Pins does the work, the town is small and easy, and boats in the port fill the gaps, though there is little else built for children.

Rome offers gladiators, catacombs, the Bioparco and rowing boats in Villa Borghese, with pizza and gelato to keep spirits up. Queues, heat and cobbles that are hard on pushchairs make it a more tiring trip.

Walking Antibes is easy. The market, the ramparts and Port Vauban are minutes apart, and Juan-les-Pins is a flat half-hour stroll away. Its real asset is the coastal railway, with two stations that put Nice, Cannes and Monaco within easy reach. The cape and the hill villages are slow by bus, though, and summer traffic is heavy.

Rome asks much more of the feet. The walk from the Colosseum past the Pantheon to Trastevere is the best way to see the city, but it means cobbles, scooters and summer heat. The metro barely touches the centre and buses stall in traffic, so there is little else to rely on.

Rome is a real shopping city. The big Italian fashion houses line Via Condotti and the streets below the Spanish Steps, Monti has independent designers and vintage, and Via dei Coronari keeps its antique dealers, with Porta Portese's Sunday flea market for rummaging.

Antibes is small-scale: olive oil, soaps and herbs at the covered market, Provençal linen and ceramics in the old town lanes. For fashion, people go to Cannes or Nice.

Neither is cheap, but Rome is easier on the budget. Rooms in the centre and entry to the big museums cost a lot, yet standing espresso, pizza al taglio, trattoria lunches, free fountain water and churches full of art keep daily spending in check.

Antibes in July and August prices its rooms like a luxury resort, and beach-club loungers add up. Spring and autumn, self-catering from the market and the cheap coastal trains bring it down.

Rome has a full classical calendar: the Teatro dell'Opera through winter, summer opera in the Baths of Caracalla, the Santa Cecilia orchestra at the Auditorium Parco della Musica, and frequent concerts in churches and jazz clubs.

Antibes has one great moment, Jazz à Juan each July under the pines by the sea, one of Europe's oldest jazz festivals. Beyond that the Anthéa theatre carries a regional programme, and opera means Nice.

Antibes uses seawater rather than hot springs. There is a thalassotherapy centre near the coast, and the grand hotels on Cap d'Antibes have spas where non-guests can often book treatments. The calm here depends on the season. In May, June and September the days slow to market mornings, shaded lunches and evening walks on the ramparts, but the crowds and traffic of July and August take much of that away.

Rome has no seawater cures, but it has something Antibes lacks: real thermal water within reach. The sulphurous Acque Albule pools at Bagni di Tivoli are close to the city, and the free open-air hot springs around Viterbo are about ninety minutes north. The centre itself is loud with scooters and crowds, so finding quiet means the villa gardens, the Aventine or a long Roman lunch.