Antibes or Saint-Tropez?

Both towns have real sand, which much of this coast lacks. The difference is where it is. In Antibes the sand is in town: La Salis looks across the bay to the ramparts, Juan-les-Pins is a short walk or bus ride away, and around Cap d'Antibes you can swim from flat rocks in very clear water.

Saint-Tropez's great beach is Pampelonne, a long stretch on the Ramatuelle side of the peninsula that you need transport to reach. The town itself has only small spots such as Les Graniers. What Saint-Tropez has instead is wilder coves further south, at Escalet and Cap Taillat, reached by car or along the coast path.

Neither town is worth travelling to for the food alone. In both, eating centres on a morning market and rosé outdoors. Antibes leans on Niçoise dishes such as socca, pissaladière and stuffed vegetables, found around the covered market on Cours Masséna, and its old-town bistros are good if you choose carefully.

Saint-Tropez serves Provençal cooking with more polish and higher bills: bouillabaisse, aïoli, long lunches on the sand and serious hotel dining rooms, with the tarte tropézienne as the local treat. Where it falls short is the middle range, since simple, good-value meals are scarce and many quayside places are selling the view.

Antibes has more to see. The Picasso Museum in the Château Grimaldi leads, and the sea ramparts, Fort Carré, Villa Eilenroc and the Garoupe lighthouse chapel add enough for two days. Saint-Tropez has the Musée de l'Annonciade, with a fine collection of pointillist and Fauvist paintings from Signac's time, and a maritime museum in the citadel, but you will see it all in a day. Both towns have links with painters, but an art lover will find more to do in Antibes.

Saint-Tropez is the place for a big night out, as long as it is high summer and your budget stretches to table service. Afternoon parties at the Pampelonne beach clubs lead into champagne on the harbour and a handful of famous clubs that stay open until dawn. The style is glamour rather than bar-hopping.

Antibes is smaller and more casual. Juan-les-Pins has beach bars and a few late clubs in July and August, and the lanes by Port Vauban have pubs and wine bars full of yacht crews. Both go quiet out of season, but from Antibes a bigger night in Nice is a short train ride away.

Both suit walkers, snorkellers and sailors, and each has a well-known coastal path. Antibes has the shorter circuit around Cap d'Antibes over wind-carved limestone. For real hiking you go further, to the red cliffs of the Esterel under an hour west or the gorges and pre-Alps above Grasse.

Saint-Tropez has more wild country close by. The Sentier du Littoral runs out to the capes of Camarat and Taillat, the cork-oak forests of the Massif des Maures lie inland, and the national-park islands of Port-Cros and Porquerolles are within reach. The catch is summer, when heat and fire risk can close trails.

Antibes is by far the better base for day trips. The coastal railway puts Nice, Cannes, Monaco and Menton within easy reach without a car, and boats cross to the Lérins Islands. The hill villages from Saint-Paul-de-Vence to Eze and Grasse are close by, and Biot and Vallauris are next door.

From Saint-Tropez the trips are short and pleasant: Ramatuelle, Gassin, Grimaud, the canals of Port Grimaud, wine tastings, and a full day on Porquerolles. These places are charming rather than major sights, and nearly all of them depend on roads that jam in July and August.

Antibes is the easier choice with children. The sand at La Salis is in town rather than a drive away, the town is small and safe, and the boats in Port Vauban, Fort Carré and a trip to the Lérins Islands fill the time between swims.

Saint-Tropez has equally gentle sand at Pampelonne and Gigaro, but its harbour and beach clubs are aimed at adults, summer traffic makes every outing harder, and the prices make a long family stay difficult. Many families stay in Sainte-Maxime instead and come over by boat.

Antibes is much easier without a car. The old town, market and port are all within walking distance, and two stations on the coastal line connect it to the rest of the Riviera. You only really need a car for Grasse, the gorges and the Esterel.

Saint-Tropez is just as walkable in town, but it has no railway, the buses are slow and the main beaches are several kilometres out, so most visitors rely on cars, scooters or taxis. In summer the single road along the gulf jams for hours, and the passenger boats from Sainte-Maxime and Port Grimaud are often the quickest way in.

Saint-Tropez is the better town for shopping, which is unusual for somewhere so small. The big fashion houses open summer boutiques behind the port, and the hand-made Tropézienne sandal is a local craft worth looking for. The Place des Lices market adds linen, baskets and vintage finds.

Shopping in Antibes is small-scale: olive oil and soaps from the covered market, and Provençal linens in the independent shops on Rue de la République. Anyone after fashion goes on to Cannes or Nice, though Biot glass and Vallauris pottery are close by.

Neither town is cheap, but Antibes costs noticeably less. The old town has cheaper places to eat, the regional trains keep day trips inexpensive, and the market makes self-catering easy.

Saint-Tropez is in another league. Rooms, harbour meals and even coffee on the port cost far more, and taxis or parking come on top. Budget travellers tend to sleep inland or across the gulf and visit for the day. In both towns, spring and autumn bring lower rates.

Antibes has more on, and most of it comes from Jazz à Juan. Founded in 1960, it is one of Europe's oldest jazz festivals. It is held each July under the pines of the Pinède Gould, a few steps from the sea, on a stage that has hosted Ray Charles and Miles Davis. The rest of the year the Anthéa theatre puts on a regional programme of plays, dance and concerts, though for opera you go to Nice.

Saint-Tropez has less to offer. Summer brings open-air concerts in gardens and on the citadel. In May the Bravade fills the streets with townspeople in costume carrying muskets, which is a local tradition rather than a show. Out of summer there is almost nothing to go to, and opera or theatre means a long drive to Toulon or Nice.

The two are much alike here. Neither has a bathing tradition, and both are restful only in May, June and September, when the crowds thin out.

What differs is access to spas. Antibes has a seawater thalassotherapy centre, and the hotel spas on Cap d'Antibes often take bookings from non-guests, while Saint-Tropez's polished hotel spas are aimed at their own guests. Saint-Tropez's quiet months have their own charm, with pétanque under the plane trees of the Place des Lices and morning walks up to the citadel.