Antibes or Toulouse?

Here the two cities are not really comparable. Antibes has some of the only sandy beaches on this part of the Riviera, wide and gently shelving at Juan-les-Pins and La Salis, plus rocky coves around the cape such as La Garoupe for snorkelling off flat rocks. The catch is that private beach clubs take much of the sand and the free stretches fill early in high summer.

Toulouse is a river city, and the sea at Gruissan or Narbonne makes a long day out. Swimming there means the supervised leisure lakes at Sesquières or La Ramée, or a hotel pool.

Toulouse is the better place to travel for food. Its cooking is rich and wintry: cassoulet, duck confit, foie gras and garbure, with Fronton and Gaillac wines and Armagnac to follow. Lunch at the counters above the Victor Hugo market is a local ritual, and the set lunch menu keeps good eating within reach.

Antibes cooks lighter, Niçoise food such as socca, pissaladière, stuffed vegetables and grilled fish with rosé, and its covered market on Cours Masséna is a pleasure each morning. Beyond a few good bistros and the serious tables on the cape, though, the range is narrow, and the streets by the port lean on tourist menus.

Toulouse has much more to see. Saint-Sernin is among Europe's largest Romanesque churches, the Jacobins has its palm-tree vault, and the Capitole state rooms, the Augustins cloister and the Hôtel d'Assézat add depth. The aerospace museums give it a modern side few cities can match.

Antibes has one outstanding sight, the Picasso Museum in the Château Grimaldi on the sea wall, along with ramparts, old-town lanes and the star-shaped Fort Carré. It is a pleasant town to wander rather than a place with a full programme of sightseeing.

Toulouse goes out more, and for more of the year. Its students fill the terraces and cheap bars of Place Saint-Pierre along the quays, while Carmes and the Daurade have wine and cocktail bars for an older crowd. It does quieten in July and August.

That is exactly when Antibes wakes up. Juan-les-Pins runs beach bars, lounges and a few clubs into the early hours in high summer, and yacht crews keep the pubs near Port Vauban busy. Out of season much of it shuts, and a bigger night means going to Nice.

Antibes has its best outdoors on the doorstep. The path around Cap d'Antibes crosses wind-carved limestone above clear water that is good for snorkelling and diving, and sailing and paddleboarding fill the bay. The red cliffs of the Esterel and the Gorges du Loup are within an hour or so.

Toulouse sits on a flat farming plain, so its everyday green is the Garonne banks and the long towpaths of the Canal du Midi, which are ideal for cycling. Its big asset is the Pyrenees, with high hiking and winter skiing, but they are a trip of an hour and a half or more.

Antibes is hard to beat as a base. One coastal railway puts Cannes and Nice within minutes and Monaco, Villefranche and Menton a little further on, boats cross to the Lérins Islands, and the hill villages of Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Eze and Grasse are close, as are Biot and Vallauris. Even Sanremo in Italy makes an easy day.

Toulouse has fewer places within reach, but they are big names. Carcassonne's walled Cité and brick Albi are each about an hour by train, and Moissac's cloister is a quieter extra. Cordes-sur-Ciel, Foix and Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges are easier with a car.

Toulouse gives children more to do. The Cité de l'espace, with its Ariane rocket and Mir module, fills a whole day. Families can walk inside a Concorde at the aircraft museum, and the giant mechanical creatures in Montaudran, the natural history museum and a safari park add more.

Antibes has one strong card, a sandy, gently shelving beach that suits toddlers far better than the Riviera's pebbles. Beyond the beach, boats in the port and the boat to the Lérins Islands, there is little made for children.

Both centres are easy on foot, but Toulouse has the fuller network. Two automated metro lines, trams, buses and a public bike scheme cover the city, though the space centre and the Pyrenees still need a bus ride or a car.

Antibes works on foot and by train. The old town, market and port are close together, and two stations on the coastal line make Nice, Cannes and Monaco simple. Buses to the cape and the hill villages are slow, and summer traffic and parking on the coast road are a real nuisance.

Toulouse is the better place for ordinary shopping. Rue d'Alsace-Lorraine has the chains and a department store, Saint-Étienne and Rue des Filatiers have independent boutiques and antiques, and the edible souvenirs are excellent: violet sweets, duck confit, cassoulet in jars and Armagnac.

Antibes is about small local buys, such as olive oil, herbs and soaps from the covered market and Provençal linens in the old-town lanes. For fashion, people go to Cannes or Nice, and the best glass and pottery are sold in Biot and Vallauris.

Toulouse is the gentler on the wallet. Hotels cost far less than on the Riviera, the set lunch is a cheap way to eat well, and the student quarters keep drinks and simple meals cheap. A good dinner with wine still adds up.

Antibes is expensive in July and August, when rooms near Juan-les-Pins and on the cape are priced like a luxury resort and beach loungers cost extra. Going in spring or autumn and buying food at the market brings the costs down a long way.

Toulouse has a full year of classical music. The Théâtre du Capitole stages opera and ballet with its own company, and the Orchestre National du Capitole plays in the round Halle aux Grains. A piano festival in the Jacobins cloister and the Rio Loco world-music festival on the riverbank add to the programme.

Antibes has one great moment, Jazz à Juan, which has been held under the pines by the sea each July since 1960. Outside it there is mostly the Anthéa theatre, and opera means going to Nice.

Antibes makes a more restful stay. There is seawater thalassotherapy near the shore, and the grand hotels on Cap d'Antibes have spas that outside guests can often book. In May, June and September the town settles into slow market mornings and evening walks on the ramparts.

Toulouse offers hotel spas, a few hammams and summer open-air pools, but its real calm is a long lunch or a bike ride along the canal. For proper thermal bathing you have to go to Luchon or Ax-les-Thermes in the Pyrenees, which is best done with an overnight stay.