Antibes or Verona?

Antibes wins easily here. It has some of the rare sand on this coast, long and shallow at Juan-les-Pins and facing the ramparts at La Salis. Around Cap d'Antibes there are rocky coves and flat rocks to swim from. Private beach clubs take a good share of the sand, but you can be in the sea a few minutes after leaving your room.

Verona has no shore of its own. Swimming means Lake Garda, about half an hour away, with lidos, lawns and Sirmione's limestone shelves in calm water without tides. It makes a pleasant afternoon, but it is no reason to base yourself in the city.

Antibes eats simply and well around its covered market on Cours Masséna. Expect Niçoise dishes such as socca, pissaladière and grilled fish, rosé on a terrace, and some serious dining out on the cape. Beyond that the choice is that of a coastal town, and the streets near the port lean on tourist menus.

Verona gives food lovers more to work with. Its osterie around Piazza delle Erbe and in Veronetta serve Amarone risotto, bigoli with duck and bollito with pearà. Valpolicella, Soave and Bardolino are all made within a short drive, so an evening glass at a counter becomes part of the trip. Tired tourist cooking clusters around the Arena, much as it does by the port in Antibes.

Verona is in a different league for sightseeing. Its UNESCO-listed centre fits a Roman amphitheatre, a Roman theatre, the Scaliger tombs, San Zeno's bronze doors and Carlo Scarpa's Castelvecchio museum into a loop of the Adige that you can walk. That is enough for two or three full days.

Antibes has one strong card, the Picasso Museum in the Château Grimaldi on the sea wall, which still holds the work he made there in 1946. Fort Carré, the ramparts, the old town lanes and Villa Eilenroc complete a list that fits easily between swims.

Neither is a place for big nights out, but their evenings feel different. Antibes comes alive mainly in July and August, when Juan-les-Pins has beach bars and clubs running into the early hours and yacht crews fill the pubs near Port Vauban. Out of season much of it shuts.

Verona's evenings revolve around aperitivo in Piazza delle Erbe and cheaper student wine bars in Veronetta. There is no dance scene in the centre, though the opera crowd fills the streets near midnight in summer. Choose Antibes for dancing in high summer and Verona for long glasses of wine at any time of year.

Both have good country close by, but of different kinds. Antibes is about the sea: the coastal path over limestone around the cape, clear water for snorkelling and diving, and sailing in the bay. The red cliffs of the Esterel are under an hour west, and the pre-Alps above Grasse offer proper hiking.

Verona looks to hills and lake. You can walk and cycle through the Valpolicella vineyards or follow the long Adige valley cycle route north. Monte Baldo's ridges rise above Lake Garda, with reliable wind for windsurfing at the lake's northern end, and the Lessinia plateau has beech woods and gorges.

Both are excellent bases, offering very different days out. From Antibes the coastal railway reaches Nice, Cannes, Monaco and Menton, and boats cross to the Lérins Islands. Inland lie the hill villages of Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Eze and Grasse, so a week mixes seaside towns with villages high on the hills.

Verona offers great art cities instead. Venice, Padua with Giotto's chapel, Vicenza with its Palladio buildings and Mantua are all within about an hour by train. Garda's harbours and the Soave and Valpolicella wineries are closer still.

Verona gives families more to do. Gardaland, the lakeside water parks and the safari section of Parco Natura Viva are within easy reach, and the Arena tends to grip a child's imagination. Most of the attractions outside town are easier with a car.

Antibes has a narrower strength, but a real one: gently shelving sand that suits toddlers far better than the pebbles elsewhere on the Riviera, in a small town that is easy to manage. Once the beach is done, there is little beyond boats in the port and the Lérins crossing.

Verona is slightly the easier place to get about. Everything inside the river loop, from the Arena to Castelvecchio and the Roman theatre, is a short, flat walk along mostly car-free streets. Fast trains run to Venice, Milan and Peschiera, and only the wine villages and the Lessinia really need a car.

Antibes is walkable too, with the old town, market and port close together and Juan-les-Pins half an hour away on foot, and its two stations make the Riviera simple. The gap shows inland, where slow buses and summer traffic on the coast road make Grasse or the Esterel hard work without a car.

Verona has the stronger shopping, though neither city is a reason to travel for it. Via Mazzini's marble-paved stretch carries Italian fashion labels, the side streets add jewellers and shoe shops, and Amarone and pandoro make good things to bring home.

Antibes keeps things small and local. The covered market sells olive oil, herbs and soaps, the old town has Provençal linen and ceramics, and there is no luxury street at all. People go to Cannes or Nice for fashion, and Biot glass and Vallauris pottery are best bought in those villages.

Verona is gentler on the wallet, though neither is cheap. Its big expense is rooms in the historic centre, especially on opera nights and during trade fairs. Eating in Veronetta's student osterie and at the wine counters stays fair, and the walkable centre keeps transport costs low.

Antibes in July and August is priced like a luxury resort, and beach-club loungers and seafront terraces add to the bill. Hotel rates drop sharply in spring and autumn, and picnics from the market and the regional trains help.

Verona wins clearly. On most summer evenings Verdi and Puccini play to thousands on the stone tiers of the Roman Arena, which is reason enough to come. The Roman theatre's summer festival and the Teatro Filarmonico's season in the cooler months fill out the rest of the year.

Antibes has one great annual event, Jazz à Juan, held each July under the pines at Juan-les-Pins and among Europe's oldest jazz festivals. Beyond that, the Anthéa theatre's regional programme is the main offer, and for opera you go to Nice.

Verona has the edge, thanks to warm springs nearby. Sirmione's thermal pools face Lake Garda, a spring-fed lake near Lazise sits in an old villa garden, and the springs at Caldiero have been used since Roman times. In town, river walks and the terraces of the Giardino Giusti keep the pace slow away from the Arena crowds.

Antibes offers thalassotherapy and grand-hotel spas on the cape rather than hot springs. It is most restful in May, June and September, when market mornings and walks on the ramparts set the pace. High summer crowds work against it.