Arles or Milan?

Arles has the sea within reach and Milan does not. About 40km across the Camargue lie the open, sandy beaches of Saintes-Maries, Piémanson and Beauduc, with shallow, gentle water and plenty of room. They are wild, with little shade, and you need a car. They suit a day at the sea rather than a whole beach trip.

In Milan, swimming means the Idroscalo basin, the city's open-air pools, or a train ride of about an hour to the pebbly lidos and swimming platforms of Lake Como and Lake Maggiore. The Ligurian coast is too far for an afternoon.

Milan gives you far more choice. Saffron risotto, ossobuco and cotoletta sit alongside good cooking from every corner of Italy and a serious tier of fine dining, and the aperitivo ritual shapes every evening.

Arles is narrower but has a strong local identity: gardiane bull stew, Camargue rice, tellines and the long Saturday market on the Boulevard des Lices. Expect good produce and leisurely lunches on the squares, and fewer options in winter when many restaurants close.

Arles packs a remarkable amount into a small space. The arena, the antique theatre, the cryptoporticus, the Alyscamps and the cloister of Saint-Trophime form a UNESCO-listed Roman and Romanesque group you can cover in two full days, with the Luma tower and the summer photography festival adding a modern layer.

Milan's sights carry more weight and fill more days. You have the Duomo and its rooftop, Leonardo's Last Supper, the Pinacoteca di Brera, Michelangelo's Rondanini Pietà at the Castello Sforzesco and the Ambrosiana's drawings. Its heritage comes in clusters across a modern city rather than one unbroken old town.

Milan has a real night out and Arles mostly does not. In Milan, evenings run from aperitivo on the Navigli towpaths to bars in Isola and Porta Venezia, which is also the centre of the gay scene, and then on to dressy clubs around Corso Como or warehouse nights on the edges of the city.

In Arles, the night usually ends after dinner and a drink on the Place du Forum. The exception is the feria weeks at Easter and in September, when bodegas fill the streets.

Both have fine landscapes nearby, but of very different kinds. Arles opens straight onto the flat Camargue delta, with flamingos, white horses, black bulls and migrating birds, best explored on horseback or by bike along the dykes. The Alpilles ridges add hiking among olive groves.

Milan's own surroundings are flat and hazy. Steep, wooded lake shores, ferries and sailing are an hour north by train, with serious Prealps hiking above Lecco and winter skiing a long day away.

Arles's outings are short hops through Roman and medieval Provence. Avignon is about twenty minutes away by train and Nîmes about half an hour, and the Pont du Gard, Les Baux, Saint-Rémy, Aigues-Mortes and Saintes-Maries are all close. The villages are far easier with a car, though.

Milan has just as much within reach, spread over a wider area and with no need to drive. High-speed trains take you to Verona and Turin in about an hour, and Bologna is a little further. Regional trains reach Bergamo's walled upper town and Varenna on Lake Como in about the same time, and boats to the Borromean Islands and trains to Lugano across the Swiss border add a lake or a second country.

Milan is easier with children. The science and technology museum, with its submarine and hands-on labs, covers rainy days, Parco Sempione has playgrounds and the aquarium, the metro saves tired legs, and Leolandia and Gardaland are close enough for a day out.

Arles has charms of its own for older children who like history and animals: climbing the arena towers, the dark cryptoporticus, pony rides at Camargue ranches and flamingos near Saintes-Maries. But there is little made for children, the cobbles are hard on buggies, and most outings need a car.

Both centres are walkable, but Milan keeps working once you leave them. Its five metro lines, dense tram network and direct trains to the lakes mean you never need a car.

Arles is a fifteen-minute town with a free shuttle and a handy station for Avignon and Marseille. Beyond that, regional buses are infrequent, and the Camargue's ranches and wild beaches really call for a car or a bike.

Milan is a destination for shopping in its own right. It has the flagships of the Quadrilatero della Moda, the historic shops of the Galleria, La Rinascente beside the Duomo, design showrooms and vintage shops in Brera and Porta Ticinese.

Arles is small and Provençal: the Saturday market for olive oil, salt and linens, shops selling printed cottons, santons and gardian hats, and good bookshops and photography prints. Anyone after fashion heads to Aix or Marseille.

Arles is the cheaper stay. Hotels and lunch menus are priced like any French provincial town, and a combined pass covers the sights, though a hire car and the festival weeks push costs up.

Milan is Italy's most expensive city, with dear hotels, especially during trade fairs and fashion weeks, and expensive dining in Brera and the centre. Aperitivo snacks, office-worker lunch menus and a room near an outlying metro stop take some of the edge off.

Milan has La Scala, one of the world's great opera houses, with a season of opera, ballet and concerts. Around it are the Piccolo Teatro, a fine symphony orchestra, musicals at the Arcimboldi, jazz rooms and big summer concerts at San Siro.

Arles has no opera or orchestra of note, and its performance life is seasonal and outdoors. There are summer concerts in the Roman theatre and arena, the Les Suds world music week in July, and ferias with brass bands and the bloodless course camarguaise.

Milan has more to offer if you want treatments. It has a well-known thermal spa complex with outdoor pools and saunas, the restored 1930s Bagni Misteriosi pools in summer, and the quiet villas of the lakes an hour away.

Arles has no bathing tradition and only a few hotel spas. Its restfulness comes from pace instead: siestas, shaded squares, evenings by the Rhône and farmhouse retreats with pools in the Camargue and the Alpilles.