Arles or Dijon?

Arles has a real seaside within reach. A drive across the Camargue brings you to the sand and dunes at Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer or the huge empty strands of Piémanson and Beauduc, with shallow, warm water in high summer, though you will need a car and should expect little shade, the mistral and mosquitoes.

Dijon is several hours from any coast. Its only bathing is the supervised lawn-and-sand area at Lac Kir and the town pools, fine for a hot afternoon but not a reason to come.

Dijon eats better. Burgundian classics such as boeuf bourguignon, coq au vin and jambon persillé, the city's own mustard, pain d'épices and cassis, and the iron market hall of Les Halles add up to a serious food town. With the Côte de Nuits on its doorstep, wine bars pour village Burgundies by the glass, and there is a proper fine-dining tier.

Arles has its own character in gardiane bull stew, Camargue rice and tellines, and its Saturday market on the Boulevard des Lices is a great sight. Beyond that, though, the restaurant choice is thin and many places close in winter.

The two are close, but Arles has the edge for sights. Its arena, antique theatre, cryptoporticus, Alyscamps and the carved portal of Saint-Trophime make up a UNESCO-listed Roman and Romanesque ensemble within a short walk, and the Van Gogh links, the Luma tower and the summer photography festival add modern layers.

Dijon is medieval and Renaissance rather than Roman. The Palace of the Dukes of Burgundy, the ducal tombs in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Notre-Dame's gargoyles and owl, and Sluter's Well of Moses fill two or three rewarding days in a city of half-timbered streets.

In Arles the meal is the evening. You eat late on the Place du Forum or one of the small squares, maybe have one more glass, and that is the night done. There are only a handful of bars and the occasional gig, and anyone who wants to dance has to drive to Montpellier or Marseille. The ferias at Easter and in September are the only exception, when street bodegas keep the whole town up for a few nights.

Dijon gives you more places to choose from and keeps going later. Its students keep a whole street of small bars and pubs busy on Rue Berbisey, and the terraces of the market quarter and the main squares add to it, so you can move on after dinner instead of heading home. It is still a night of wine, beer and conversation rather than clubbing, and it is liveliest in term time and on summer weekends. At other times it winds down well before the small hours.

Arles offers far more in the outdoors. The Camargue begins at the edge of town, a wide delta of lagoons, salt flats and reed beds with flamingos, white horses and black bulls, best explored on horseback, by bike along the dykes or on foot in the bird reserve. The limestone Alpilles add proper walking and cycling among olives and pines.

Dijon's countryside is gentler. There are walks and climbing cliffs in the combes west of town, flat cycling on the Burgundy Canal towpath and through the vineyards towards Beaune, and the Morvan hills further out, but no landscape as distinctive as the delta.

Both are excellent bases, and Arles is slightly the richer one. Avignon and Nîmes are short train rides away, and the Pont du Gard, Les Baux, Saint-Rémy, Aigues-Mortes, Aix and Marseille all fit into a day, mixing Roman monuments, hill villages and walled towns.

Dijon's excursions centre on wine. The Route des Grands Crus leads through Gevrey-Chambertin and Vougeot to Beaune, and the Cistercian abbey of Fontenay, Semur-en-Auxois and Vézelay give a quieter, monastic counterpoint.

Both work for families without being built for them. In Arles the fun is mostly outdoors and needs a car: pony rides at Camargue ranches, flamingos at the bird park and shallow delta beaches, plus clambering round the arena, with summer heat and mosquitoes to manage.

Dijon is easier day to day, with a pedestrian centre, the planetarium and natural history museum at the Jardin de l'Arquebuse, play areas in the Parc de la Colombière and paddling at Lac Kir. Its wine tastings, though, are for parents.

Dijon is simpler to get around. Its centre is walkable, two tram lines reach the outskirts and Lac Kir, regional trains run to Beaune, and the TGV links to Paris quickly, so you can manage without a car for much of a stay.

Arles is just as walkable inside the old town, with a free shuttle and good trains to Avignon, Nîmes and Marseille. Its countryside is another story: buses to the Camargue and the Alpilles are infrequent, and most people staying a few days hire a car.

Neither is a fashion destination, and both are best for local goods. Arles leans towards Provençal crafts: printed cottons, santons, gardian shirts, Camargue salt and rice from the Saturday market, and good bookshops and photography prints.

Dijon is about the larder and the cellar, with mustards, cassis, pain d'épices, cheese around Les Halles and plenty of wine merchants, plus a department store and chains on Rue de la Liberté.

Dijon is a little easier on the budget. Moderate hotels, fair set lunches, cheap wine by the glass and a city you can walk or tram around keep the basics down, though tastings, wine tours and good bottles soon add up.

Arles is reasonable by Provençal standards, but the car most visitors hire adds to the cost, and rooms grow scarce and dearer in July and around the ferias and photography festival.

Dijon has the steadier programme. The Opéra de Dijon stages opera, concerts and dance in the Grand Théâtre and the acoustically admired Auditorium, alongside a national drama centre, all running through the academic year.

Arles comes alive on stage mainly in summer and outdoors: concerts in the Roman theatre and arena, the Les Suds world music festival in July, and bullfights and brass bands at the ferias. Outside that season, there is little beyond a modest town theatre.

Here they are level. Neither has a thermal or bathing tradition, and spa treatments are limited to a few hotels. What differs is the setting for slowing down: in Arles it is summer siestas, shaded squares and pool-side retreats in old farmhouses in the Camargue and Alpilles, while Dijon offers slow afternoons in the vineyards and, in some village hotels, grape-based treatments.