Antibes or Siena?

This is where the two places differ most. Antibes has some of the only real sand on this part of the coast, at Juan-les-Pins and La Salis, plus rocky coves and flat swimming rocks around Cap d'Antibes. Expect private beach clubs and crowded free stretches in high summer.

Siena is an inland hill town, and for most visitors swimming means a hotel or agriturismo pool. The Maremma beaches are a full day's round trip by car, so anyone who wants the sea should book a few nights on the coast.

Siena eats better. Hand-rolled pici, ribollita, cinta senese pork and a baking tradition of panforte and ricciarelli give it a strong local table. Chianti Classico, Brunello and Vino Nobile are poured by the glass, and the best meals come from family osterie in the contrade.

Antibes has its pleasures: the morning market on Cours Masséna, socca, pissaladière and grilled fish with rosé outdoors. Outside a few good bistros and the restaurants on the cape, though, the streets by the port lean on tourist menus, and few people choose the town for its food.

Siena is in another league here. The whole medieval centre is a sight in itself, from the sloping Campo and the Palazzo Pubblico to the Duomo's inlaid floor, the Museo dell'Opera and the vast Santa Maria della Scala. Two or three full days are well spent.

Antibes offers one outstanding visit, the Picasso Museum in the Château Grimaldi, along with the old ramparts, Fort Carré and Villa Eilenroc on the cape. It is pleasant sightseeing between swims rather than the reason for a trip.

Antibes gives you more of a night out, but mostly in July and August. Juan-les-Pins then has beach bars, lounges and clubs open into the early hours, and the lanes by Port Vauban fill with yacht crews in English-style pubs. Outside those months it closes early.

Siena's evenings are dinner, wine on the Campo and a stroll, with a few student pubs and almost no clubs. The Palio nights are the lively exception.

Antibes looks to the sea and Siena to farmland, and that decides what you do outdoors. Around Antibes it means the coastal path over the wind-carved limestone of Cap d'Antibes, snorkelling and diving in clear water and sailing in the bay. The land by the town is flat and built up, so proper hiking means heading to the red cliffs of the Esterel or the gorges and pre-Alps above Grasse.

Siena sits in classic Tuscan farmland, with the bare clay hills of the Crete Senesi and the UNESCO-listed Val d'Orcia to the south. Cycling the white gravel strade bianche is the signature activity, and walkers can follow stretches of the Via Francigena, but there is no coast and there are no high mountains.

Both are superb bases, and Siena edges ahead on sheer depth. Florence, San Gimignano, Volterra, the Chianti villages, Pienza, Montalcino and abbeys such as San Galgano and Sant'Antimo all lie within a day. Reaching most of them, though, means hiring a car.

Antibes wins on ease. Nice, Cannes, Monaco and Menton are short train rides along the coast, boats cross to the Lérins Islands, and Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Eze and Grasse sit just inland. Most of these places, and even Italy, are easy to reach without driving.

Antibes suits children better, mostly because of its sandy, shallow beaches, which are kinder to toddlers than the pebbles found elsewhere on the coast. Boats in the port, ice cream on the ramparts and snorkelling for older children fill the days, though August heat calls for early starts.

Siena is safe and almost free of cars, and older children enjoy climbing the Torre del Mangia. Its steep, stepped streets and lack of child-focused attractions mean families usually stay at a countryside farmhouse with a pool.

Both centres are best on foot, and both need a car for the countryside. Antibes is flat between the old town, the port and Juan-les-Pins, and its coastal railway links the main Riviera towns, though summer traffic and parking are a trial.

Siena's three ridges mean steep climbs, and escalators lift you from the station in the valley. Trains are slow, so buses do the run to Florence.

Neither is a shopping destination, but the souvenirs differ. Antibes offers Provençal linens, olive oil and soaps from its covered market, with Biot glass and Vallauris pottery close by and the fashion streets of Cannes and Nice a short ride away. Siena has Italian shoes and leather on Banchi di Sopra, hand-painted majolica, contrada scarves and panforte to take home, plus a big weekly market by the Fortezza.

Siena is the easier place on the wallet, though neither is cheap. Its osteria lunches with house wine are good value, and staying in an agriturismo outside the walls cuts costs. Rooms climb around the Palio, and museum entry fees add up.

Antibes in July and August prices beach hotels and loungers like a luxury resort. Spring and autumn, self-catering from the market and the inexpensive coastal trains bring it within reach.

The two are level, but they offer different music. Antibes has one famous event, Jazz à Juan, held each July under the pines by the sea since 1960, and the Anthéa theatre for the rest of the year.

Siena's strength is classical: the Accademia Chigiana's summer concerts in palaces and churches, alongside Siena Jazz and winter seasons at the Rinnovati and Rozzi theatres. Opera lovers head to Nice or Florence.

Siena is the better choice for unwinding, thanks to the warm springs around it. Rapolano Terme's travertine pools, the steaming medieval bath at Bagno Vignoni and the free limestone pools of Bagni San Filippo pair well with a stay at a rural farmhouse.

Antibes offers thalassotherapy and grand hotel spas on the cape. It is at its most restful in May, June and September, when market mornings and evening walks on the ramparts are unhurried.