Arles or Cannes?

Cannes is a proper beach town and Arles is not. In Cannes the sand runs along the Croisette in front of the hotels, with free public stretches between the private concessions and the wider Plage du Midi west of the port. For clearer water there are rocky swimming spots on the Lérins islands, and the red coves of the Esterel are a short drive away.

From Arles, the beach means a day out across the Camargue to Saintes-Maries or to the huge, wild strands of Piémanson and Beauduc. These beaches have plenty of space, but little shade, no services and some mosquitoes, and you need a car to get there.

The two are close on food, but they eat differently. Arles cooks from the delta: bull stew (gardiane), red Camargue rice, tiny tellines clams and saucisson d'Arles. Its great food event is the long Saturday market on the Boulevard des Lices. Its restaurant choice is narrow, though, and many places close in winter.

Cannes leans towards the sea, with bouillabaisse, grilled fish and socca around Le Suquet and the Forville market. It also has a fine-dining tier in the palace hotels and up towards Mougins that Arles cannot match. Along the Croisette, however, the food is often tired and overpriced.

Here Arles is far ahead. It has an arena still in use, a Roman theatre, the underground cryptoporticus, the tomb-lined Alyscamps painted by Van Gogh and Gauguin, and some of the finest Romanesque carving in Provence. Add the Roman barge in the archaeology museum and Gehry's tower at Luma, and two full days are well spent.

Cannes offers a pleasant walk instead: the castle museum and church on Le Suquet, the Belle Époque villas and palace hotels, and the red-carpet steps of the Palais des Festivals. It all fits into a morning.

Cannes has the livelier nights, at least from June to September and during its festivals. Beach clubs on the Croisette turn into evening venues, a few clubs stay open until dawn, and the streets behind the old port fill with cocktail bars. The mood is champagne and dressing up, and out of season the town turns in early.

Arles is a dinner-on-the-square town that goes quiet afterwards. The exception is the ferias at Easter and in September, when bodegas spill into the streets for a few late nights.

Both have fine landscapes close by, but very different ones. Arles opens onto the flat, watery Camargue, with lagoons, salt flats and rice fields full of flamingos, herons, black bulls and white horses. You explore it on horseback, by bike along the dykes or on foot, and the limestone Alpilles add hill walking to the north-east.

Cannes looks to rock and sea. The volcanic red Esterel has summit trails above jagged inlets, and there are pine paths on Sainte-Marguerite and the shore path around Cap d'Antibes. Sailing, kayaking and diving round the islands are easy, and in winter there is skiing in the Alpes-Maritimes.

Both make superb bases, but each opens a different part of the south. From Arles you reach Roman and papal Provence: Avignon and Nîmes are a short train ride away, the Pont du Gard is under an hour's drive, and Les Baux, Saint-Rémy and walled Aigues-Mortes are close. For the villages you will want a car.

From Cannes the Riviera unrolls along a single railway line, through Antibes, Nice, Villefranche, Monaco and Menton. Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Èze and Grasse are short bus or car rides inland.

Cannes is the easier town with young children. The beaches are gently sloping sand on calm water, the flat Croisette suits pushchairs and scooters and has carousels along it, and the boat to the Lérins islands makes a simple outing. The midsummer heat and crowds still need planning around.

Arles works better for older children who like animals and history. They can climb the arena towers, explore the dark cryptoporticus, ride ponies at Camargue ranches and watch the flamingos. The cobbles are hard on buggies, though, and most outings mean a drive.

Both centres are walkable, but Cannes makes it easier to get out of town without a car. Its central station sits on the coastal line to Antibes, Nice and Monaco, and ferries to the islands leave from the old port. You only need a car for the hill villages and the Esterel, where traffic and parking are a nuisance in summer.

Arles is compact, with every sight within about fifteen minutes' walk, a free shuttle and trains to the big towns. Its buses into the countryside are infrequent, however, and the Camargue really calls for a hire car or a bike.

Cannes is the place for shopping. The big Paris fashion and jewellery houses face the sea along the Croisette, Rue d'Antibes behind it has more than a kilometre of mid-range French fashion and chocolatiers, and Rue Meynadier sells olive oil and fabrics.

Arles stays small and local. It has the Saturday market, printed Provençal cottons, santons, gardian shirts and good bookshops full of photography titles, which suits a publishing town, but no fashion to speak of.

Arles is clearly the cheaper base. It costs about what any provincial French town does, and much less than the smart villages of the Alpilles, although a hire car and the July festival weeks push the bill up.

Cannes is expensive near the waterfront, from hotel rooms to loungers and cocktails, and dearer still during the film festival and the trade fairs. Backstreet lunch menus, the free beaches, the cheap coastal trains and the quieter spring and autumn weeks bring it down towards normal levels.

Neither town is a big stage outside summer, and they differ mainly in setting. Arles puts its shows in Roman spaces, with concerts in the antique theatre and the arena, a week of world music at Les Suds in July, and brass bands and the bloodless course camarguaise around the ferias.

Cannes has a little more spread across the year. The Palais des Festivals hosts touring shows, the regional philharmonic plays a season and there is a respected dance festival. The film festival itself is closed to the public apart from the free beach screenings.

Cannes has more for anyone who wants pampering. The palace hotels on the Croisette run polished spas, and there are thalassotherapy centres along the coast. Its calm seafront in spring and autumn is restful too, but August and the festival weeks are not.

Arles offers pace rather than treatments. Think shaded squares, siestas, evenings by the Rhône and a few converted mas in the Camargue run as quiet retreats with pools.