Antibes or Zurich?

Antibes has the sand that most of the Riviera lacks: long, gently shelving beaches at Juan-les-Pins and La Salis, with rocky coves such as La Garoupe around the cape for clearer water. The swimming season runs from June into early October, though private clubs take much of the sand and the free stretches fill early in high summer.

Zurich swims in a different way, from wooden bathing houses and lawned lidos along the lake, or by drifting down the Limmat from the Letten river baths. It makes a lovely dip after a day in the city, but the season is short and there is no sand, so it is no substitute for a beach vacation.

The two are broadly level for food, but they eat very differently. In Antibes the meal starts at the covered market on Cours Masséna and carries on outdoors: socca, pissaladière, grilled fish and rosé. You need to steer clear of the tourist menus near the port.

Zurich is richer, more alpine and more often indoors. You'll find veal in cream sauce with rösti, fondue in wood-panelled guild houses, and chocolate and Luxemburgerli on Paradeplatz, with the international places clustered in Kreis 4 and 5. It has none of Antibes's market life, and every meal costs noticeably more.

Antibes's culture centres on the Picasso Museum in the Château Grimaldi, with the ramparts, Fort Carré and a couple of small museums around it. It makes a charming couple of days rather than a reason to travel.

Zurich has more depth and variety. The Kunsthaus runs from Swiss painters to Monet and Giacometti, the National Museum tells the country's story, and the Rietberg covers art from beyond Europe. Add the Grossmünster, where the Swiss Reformation began, and the Chagall windows of the Fraumünster, and Zurich easily fills an extra day or two.

Zurich is the stronger night out by a clear margin. Clubs in Kreis 4 and 5 and the old industrial halls of Zurich West run until morning at weekends all year, Langstrasse stays busy late, and the August Street Parade draws techno fans from across Europe. The catch is the cost of every round.

In Antibes, nightlife is mostly a July and August affair: beach bars and a few clubs in Juan-les-Pins, plus pubs near Port Vauban full of yacht crews. Out of season it goes quiet, and anyone wanting more takes the train to Nice.

Zurich has the bigger landscapes. There are walks along the lake, forest trails on the Uetliberg a short train ride away, and Rigi, Pilatus and the Glarus valleys within about an hour, with ski slopes close enough for a winter day trip.

Antibes's outdoors is about the sea: the coastal path over the limestone of Cap d'Antibes, snorkelling in clear water, and sailing and paddleboarding in the bay. The red cliffs of the Esterel and the Gorges du Loup offer real hiking, but you need to travel to reach them, as the land around town is built up.

Both are excellent bases, but the outings are of a different kind. From Antibes, the coastal railway strings together short hops to Nice, Cannes, Monaco and Menton, and boats cross to the Lérins Islands. The perched villages, Grasse and the glassblowers of Biot are close by, and Italy is an easy longer day.

From Zurich, trips go further and take you to a different country's worth of places. Lucerne, Bern, Basel and St Gallen are each about an hour by train, and the Rhine Falls and Stein am Rhein make a good pair. Every one of them is easy without a car.

Zurich is the easier city with children. The zoo, with its Madagascar rainforest hall and elephant park, is a full day out, the lake lidos have shallow areas and lawns, and the Technorama in Winterthur and Lucerne's Transport Museum are short train rides away. Clean streets and buggy-friendly trams help too.

Antibes's strength is its sandy, gently shelving shore, which suits toddlers better than the pebble beaches elsewhere on the coast. Beyond the beach, boats in the harbour and the Lérins crossing, it has little made for children, and August heat means long indoor lunches.

Zurich is about as easy as cities get. Trams, S-Bahn trains, funiculars and even lake boats share one ticket, the airport is a short train ride from the main station, and a car is more trouble than it is worth.

Antibes works well on foot between the old town, the market and Port Vauban, and its two stations put the coast within easy reach. Inland is another matter: buses to the hill villages and the cape are slow, Grasse and the Esterel really call for a car, and summer traffic and parking on the coast road are hard work.

For serious shopping, Zurich wins. Bahnhofstrasse runs from the station to the lake past watchmakers, jewellers and long-established department stores, the Altstadt lanes hold antique shops, and the viaduct arches of Zurich West house design shops.

Antibes keeps things small and Provençal: olive oil, soaps and herbs from the covered market, plus linen and ceramics in old-town boutiques. Fashion means a trip to Cannes or Nice, and Biot glass and Vallauris pottery are best bought in the villages where they are made.

Neither is cheap, but Antibes is far easier on the budget. Summer rooms near the beaches carry resort prices, but in spring and autumn rates fall sharply, regional trains are good value, and market self-catering saves a lot.

Zurich is among the most expensive cities anywhere, from simple hotel rooms to a casual lunch. Supermarket picnics by the lake, free lidos and the visitor card bundling transport with museums help a little, but the gap with Antibes remains wide.

Antibes has one great moment, Jazz à Juan. It is one of Europe's oldest jazz festivals, with concerts under the pines of the Pinède Gould each July. For the rest of the year there is the Anthéa theatre's regional programme, and opera means going to Nice.

Zurich offers far more, and all year round. The Opernhaus stages opera and ballet on the lake shore, the Tonhalle Orchestra plays in its restored nineteenth-century hall, and the old Rote Fabrik factory and venues around Langstrasse host jazz, indie and electronic acts. Theatre at the Schauspielhaus is excellent but mostly in German.

Zurich has more to offer for a proper soak. The thermal pools in the stone vaults of the old Hürlimann brewery end on a rooftop pool, the lake bathing houses become saunas in winter with cold dips between sessions, and Roman-era Baden is twenty minutes away.

Antibes relaxes in a different way, more through pace than through bathing. Its options are a thalassotherapy centre and the grand hotel spas on Cap d'Antibes. Its calmest moments come in May, June and September, with slow market mornings and evening walks on the ramparts, as July and August crowds make it far less restful.