Arles or Lucca?

Neither town is on the sea, and the swimming they offer is about equally good but very different in feel. From Arles you drive across the Camargue, about 40km, to the sand and dunes around Saintes-Maries or the huge open strands of Piémanson and Beauduc. These beaches are wild and roomy but have little shade or service, and the mistral and mosquitoes can spoil a day there.

Lucca's coast is closer and tamer. A short train ride takes you to Viareggio's long, gently shelving sand, laid out in rows of umbrellas at beach clubs. The pine-backed dunes of the Lecciona are there if you want something freer, and the water is a little warmer.

Lucca is the better town to eat in, mainly because its trattorias, osterie and wine bars give you more choice through the year. Look for zuppa di farro, meat-filled tordelli, cecina from bakery counters and buccellato, with aperitivo and local salumi on the squares.

Arles has a strong local character in gardiane bull stew, Camargue rice and tellines, and its Saturday market is a real event. But it has fewer good tables, and many of them close in winter.

Both towns repay two full days, but they show you different pasts. Arles is Roman first: the arena, the antique theatre, the cryptoporticus galleries and the Alyscamps, with Saint-Trophime's carved portal on top. It also has museums worth your time, from the Roman barge at the Museum of Ancient Arles to the Van Gogh foundation and the Luma tower.

In Lucca the town itself is the sight. The complete Renaissance walls ring a medieval grid of towers and Romanesque façades such as San Michele in Foro, and the houses of Piazza dell'Anfiteatro still follow the curve of the old amphitheatre. Its museums are modest by comparison.

Both towns go quiet early. Evenings mean a long dinner and a drink on a square: the Place du Forum in Arles, Piazza San Michele or the oval amphitheatre piazza in Lucca. The exceptions differ. Arles stays up late for a few days at its Easter and September ferias, when bodegas fill the streets. Lucca has a student crowd in a few bars and wine bars, and in summer the discos of the Versilia coast are within reach.

Arles looks out over flat water, and Lucca looks up at mountains. The Camargue delta begins at the edge of Arles, with lagoons, salt flats and reed beds where you can ride from the ranches or cycle the dykes around the Étang de Vaccarès among flamingos and wading birds. For slopes you head north-east to the limestone ridges of the Alpilles.

From Lucca, the outdoors goes upwards. The steep peaks of the Apuan Alps, scarred by marble quarries, rise within about an hour and offer serious hiking, while the chestnut and beech woods of the Garfagnana have quieter trails. Lake Massaciuccoli gives birdwatchers a smaller taste of wetland.

Both are excellent bases, and the choice comes down to Provence or Tuscany. From Arles the trips are dense with Roman and medieval sites: Avignon's Papal Palace and Nîmes by quick train, then the Pont du Gard, Les Baux, Saint-Rémy and Aigues-Mortes, though the villages are much easier by car.

From Lucca the big names sit on the railway. Pisa is about half an hour away and Florence a little over an hour, with Pistoia and Montecatini on the same line. Closer to Lucca are the villa gardens at Marlia and Collodi, and the marble towns of Pietrasanta and Carrara.

Lucca is the more comfortable choice with children. The flat, traffic-free centre is safe for wandering, cycling round the walls makes a ready-made outing, and Pinocchio Park and the beaches are each under half an hour away.

Arles has its own appeal for older children who like history and animals, such as the towers of the arena, the dark cryptoporticus and pony rides among the Camargue flamingos. But summer heat, mosquitoes, cobbles that are hard work with a buggy and the need for a car make it more effort.

Lucca is much easier to get around. Inside the walls it is flat and largely closed to cars, bikes are rented at every gate, and regular trains leave from just outside the walls for Pisa, Viareggio and Florence. Only the villas and the Garfagnana really call for a car.

Arles is just as compact at its heart, with a free shuttle looping the centre, but the Camargue's ranches, reserves and wild beaches are hard to reach without wheels. That is why most people staying several days hire a car.

Lucca has a bit more to browse. Via Fillungo's fashion and jewellery shops sit behind old Liberty-style fronts, the surrounding lanes have delicatessens, and one of Italy's oldest antiques markets fills the streets around the cathedral one weekend a month.

Arles is about the Saturday market, printed Provençal cottons, santons and gardian shirts, plus good bookshops and photography books. Neither town has fashion or luxury shopping of any depth.

Costs are much the same, and each is a cheaper base than the famous places near it: the Luberon villages for Arles, Florence for Lucca. Where the money goes differs. In Arles, hiring a car is the extra most visitors end up paying for. In Lucca you can do without one, but rooms inside the walls are few, so staying just outside often saves money. Both get dearer in summer and during their festivals.

Lucca has far more live performance, and most of it is built around Puccini. Recitals of his arias run in a central church for most of the year, the nineteenth-century Teatro del Giglio has an opera and concert season, and in summer there is open-air opera by the lake at Torre del Lago and big concerts in Piazza Napoleone.

In Arles, performance belongs to the warm months: concerts in the Roman theatre and arena, Les Suds world music in July, and the course camarguaise and feria brass bands. Out of season there is little beyond a modest theatre programme.

Lucca is clearly the better choice for a spa day. Montecatini's belle époque baths are about half an hour away by train, and the warm cave pools of Monsummano and the steam grottoes of Bagni di Lucca are also close.

Arles has no bathing tradition at all. Relaxing there means siestas, long lunches on shaded squares, evenings by the Rhône and perhaps a stay at a converted mas with a pool.