Antibes or San Marino?

Antibes is built around its beaches. Juan-les-Pins has long, gently shelving sand, and La Salis looks back across the bay to the ramparts. Out on the cape, coves like La Garoupe and flat rocks drop into very clear water. Private beach clubs take much of the sand, but there are free stretches between them.

San Marino has no shore of its own. You see the Adriatic from the walls and drive about half an hour down to the rows of numbered umbrellas at Rimini and Riccione. The water there is shallow and warm, but a swim is a planned outing rather than part of every day.

Antibes is the better place to eat, though neither town is a food destination. The covered market on Cours Masséna sets the tone each morning, and Niçoise cooking fills the old-town lanes: socca, pissaladière, grilled fish and rosé outdoors. Cap d'Antibes adds some serious tables.

San Marino serves honest Romagna and Montefeltro food: hand-rolled pasta, passatelli, piadina and the Tre Monti wafer cake. The summit terraces often trade on the view rather than the cooking, so the best meals mean heading down to Borgo Maggiore or across the border.

The two are broadly level, but the interest is different. In Antibes it's art: the Picasso Museum in the Château Grimaldi holds what he painted there in 1946, and the star-shaped Fort Carré, Villa Eilenroc and the old-town cathedral fill about two days.

In San Marino the main sight is the place itself and its political history. You can climb the Guaita and Cesta towers and walk the cliff path between them, then visit the Palazzo Pubblico of one of the world's oldest surviving republics. It's more dramatic than Antibes but smaller, and half a day covers most of it.

Antibes has a real night out, at least in summer. In July and August Juan-les-Pins runs beach bars and clubs into the early hours, and near Port Vauban the lanes have pubs and wine bars full of yacht crews. Off-season it goes quiet.

San Marino has almost none. When the coaches leave, the summit settles into dinner and a glass of wine, with the lights of the coast below. Anything later means driving down to Rimini.

Antibes has more outdoors on its doorstep. The path around Cap d'Antibes crosses wind-carved limestone, the water around the cape suits snorkelling and diving, and the bay is good for sailing and paddleboarding. Under an hour away are the red cliffs of the Esterel and the gorges and limestone hills above Grasse, good for proper hiking.

San Marino's landscape is the ridge of Monte Titano itself. Woodland paths link the towers and drop to Borgo Maggiore, and you get wide views across to the Apennines. The Marecchia valley adds quiet cycling roads, but there are no long trails or water sports nearby.

Both make good bases, but Antibes is better placed and easier without a car. Nice, Cannes, Monaco and Menton are all on one coastal train line, and boats cross to the Lérins Islands. Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Eze, Grasse, Biot and Vallauris are all close by.

San Marino's list is just as rich in history: the fortress of San Leo, Renaissance Urbino, the mosaics of Ravenna and the castle at Gradara. Most of these need a car, though, and Ravenna and Bologna are reached by train only once you've taken the bus down to Rimini.

Antibes is slightly better for families, mainly because the beach is right there. Gentle sand at Juan-les-Pins and La Salis suits small children, and boats in the port and the walk to Fort Carré fill the gaps between swims.

San Marino gives children battlements, cliff edges and a cable car ride. Steep streets and steps make pushchairs hard work, though. Italia in Miniatura, the waterparks and the shallow beaches are all down on the coast, so a car is needed to combine the two.

Antibes is far easier to get around, both in town and beyond it. The streets are level, the old quarter and the harbour make one short stroll, and the stations at Antibes and Juan-les-Pins put you on the coastal railway with no need to drive. A car only earns its keep for Grasse, the gorges and the Esterel, and in summer the traffic and parking make it more trouble than help.

San Marino is just as compact, but much harder on the legs. Almost every street climbs or drops, often by steps, and the cable car down to Borgo Maggiore saves you only the biggest descent. The republic has no railway, so without a car you arrive on the bus up from Rimini. Once you're on the mountain, you need a car far more than you would on the Riviera.

Neither is a shopping destination, but Antibes has a bit more character. The covered market sells olive oil, herbs and soaps, the old-town boutiques carry Provençal linens and ceramics, and Biot glass and Vallauris pottery are made just nearby.

San Marino's shops lean towards souvenirs, stamps and coins for collectors, and lower-tax perfume, watches and spirits. There's also an outlet centre on the valley floor. For fashion, people from Antibes go to Cannes or Nice, and people from San Marino go to Bologna.

San Marino is the cheaper stay. Hotels and trattorias are priced like provincial Italy, the sights cost little and lower taxes make fuel and spirits cheaper. Only the summit view terraces cost more.

Antibes in July and August is priced like a luxury resort, and beach-club loungers add up quickly. Spring and autumn bring hotel rates down a long way, and self-catering from the market and the regional trains also save money.

Antibes has one event of real standing. Jazz à Juan has run since 1960 under the pines at Juan-les-Pins, a few steps from the sea, and has hosted Ray Charles and Miles Davis. The Anthéa theatre adds plays, dance and concerts the rest of the year.

San Marino's programme is very small. Its best-known event is the summer Medieval Days festival, with costumed musicians and crossbow contests rather than concerts. For opera or orchestral music, Antibes looks to Nice, and San Marino to Bologna or Pesaro.

Antibes offers more for pampering. There's a seawater thalassotherapy centre, and the grand hotel spas on Cap d'Antibes often take non-guests. May, June and September bring slow market mornings and evening walks on the ramparts.

San Marino has only a few hotel spas, and its thermal baths are a separate trip into the valleys. What it does have is calm: once the day visitors leave, the walls are quiet for an evening walk above the plain.