Arles or Bern?

Neither is a beach destination, but Arles at least has the Mediterranean within reach. Across the Camargue are the long, wild sands of Saintes-Maries, Piémanson and Beauduc, shallow and warm in high summer. You need a car to get there, though, and there is little shade.

Bern swaps the sea for the Aare. Floating down the cold, fast current from the Marzili past the Federal Palace is memorable, but only for strong swimmers. The calmer option is Lake Thun by train. Swimming here is a summer pleasure, not a reason to come.

Arles eats better, mostly because of the local produce: Camargue rice, tellines, slow-cooked bull stew and olive oil from the Alpilles. The long Saturday market on the Boulevard des Lices is the centre of it all, followed by rosé on the terraces of the Place du Forum. The choice of restaurants is narrow, though, and many close in winter.

Bern's cooking is heavier and more Alpine: Berner Platte, rösti and fondue in old guildhalls and vaulted cellars, with chocolate as its real treat. There is a little more international choice, but eating out is costly and rarely surprising.

Both are compact, UNESCO-listed towns that two days will cover, but Arles packs in more. The Roman arena, theatre, cryptoporticus and Alyscamps, the Romanesque cloister of Saint-Trophime and the links to Van Gogh give it a depth of history rare in a town this size. The Rencontres photography festival adds to it every summer.

Bern's main sight is the medieval old town as a whole: the arcades, the painted fountains, the Zytglogge and the Minster. Its museums lean towards the modern, with the Zentrum Paul Klee, the Kunstmuseum and Einstein's old flat on Kramgasse.

Neither is a place for clubbing, but Bern gives you more to do after dinner. Cellar bars under the arcades, Aarbergergasse at weekends, riverside terraces in summer and late parties at the Reitschule add up to a modest but real night out.

In Arles you get dinner on a square, a last drink on the Place du Forum, and then silence. The exception is the Easter and September ferias, when bodegas fill the streets for a few days.

Bern has the bigger outdoors. The Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau are about an hour away by train, with cable cars, high-mountain hiking and skiing in winter. Lake Thun, the Gurten and the paths along the Aare are right on the doorstep.

Arles offers a flatter, wilder kind of nature. The Camargue's lagoons, flamingos, white horses and black bulls are best seen on horseback or by bike, and the Alpilles have proper walking. Spring and autumn are excellent for birdwatching, but summer brings heat, mosquitoes and the mistral.

Both make outstanding bases, and the difference is in how you travel. From Arles, Avignon and Nîmes are short train rides away, but the real prizes, Les Baux, Saint-Rémy, the Pont du Gard and Aigues-Mortes, are far easier with a car. The trips here are steeped in Roman and Provençal history.

From Bern the trains do everything. Lucerne, Basel and Zurich are about an hour away, and Fribourg, Murten, Thun and Solothurn are closer still, all without a car. The mix here is lakes, castles and Alpine scenery rather than ruins.

For children, the best of Arles lies just outside town. Pony and horse rides at the Camargue ranches, the flamingos at the ornithological park near Saintes-Maries and the shallow, gentle sea off the delta beaches make good days out. Back in town, climbing the arena towers and exploring the dark galleries of the cryptoporticus usually go down well. Most of these outings need a car, though, and nothing is built for children, so Arles suits older ones who like animals and history.

Bern makes family days easier to run, with more to do close at hand. The bear park and the Dählhölzli zoo are both beside the Aare, the Natural History Museum's dioramas fill a rainy morning, and the funicular up the Gurten leads to a big playground. The Marzili has shallow pools for little ones, which matters because the river itself is only for strong swimmers. There is no theme park or big aquarium, so many families add a few days in the mountains.

Arles is easy on foot within its old centre, where everything is about fifteen minutes apart, and it has a free shuttle and a station close by. Beyond that, buses to the villages and the Camargue are sparse, and most visitors who stay a few days end up hiring a car.

Bern is in another league. It has punctual trams and buses on a single fare system, funiculars down to the river, and arcades that keep you dry in the rain. The main station sits at the top of the old town, so you never need a car.

Arles shopping is small and local: Provençal cottons, santons, gardian shirts, Camargue salt and photography books. The Saturday market is the best place to browse all week.

Bern has more range, though neither is a shopping destination. Its long arcaded streets have watch and chocolate shops, a department store and the Swiss chains. Antiques, design and books are in the cellar shops of Gerechtigkeitsgasse, reached by steep steps down from the pavement.

This is the sharpest difference between the two. Arles costs what any French provincial town does, with lunch menus, market food and mid-range hotels at sensible levels. Hiring a car and visiting during festival weeks add to the bill.

Bern is very expensive across the board, from a guesthouse room to a beer on a terrace. Free pleasures such as the bear park, the river paths and the old town help, as do the tram pass hotels give out and supermarket lunches. Even so, it costs a great deal more.

Bern has a year-round programme that Arles lacks. The Stadttheater stages opera, ballet and drama in German, the Bern Symphony Orchestra plays at the Casino, and the Dampfzentrale puts on new dance. Add a spring jazz festival and the Gurtenfestival in July.

In Arles, live performance mostly happens in the warm months. There are concerts in the Roman theatre and arena, the Les Suds world music week in July, and the ferias with their brass bands and the course camarguaise. Out of season there is little beyond a modest town theatre.

Arles relaxes you through its pace rather than through spas. You get shaded squares, summer siestas and quiet evenings by the Rhône, and a few converted farmhouses in the Camargue and the Alpilles are run as restful retreats with pools.

Neither town has a bathing tradition, but Bern has more real spa time. There is a large thermal and wellness complex on the western edge, a hammam-style spa in the old town and several hotel spas, with mountain spa hotels in the Oberland not far away.