Arles or Nice?

In Nice you swim from the city itself. A pebble shore runs about 7km below the Promenade des Anglais, and the sandier coves at Villefranche, Beaulieu and Cap Ferrat are a short train or bus ride east. Beach-club loungers and water shoes make the stones easier.

Arles has no beach of its own. The sand is out in the Camargue, at Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer about 40km away or on the wide, wild strands of Piémanson and Beauduc. They have more space and softer ground underfoot, but little shade, few services and a drive each way. That makes a good day at the sea, while Nice is the place to swim every day.

Both cities cook in a Provençal style, but Nice offers more. Its cooking leans towards Liguria: socca from wood ovens, pissaladière and stuffed vegetables, eaten in modest family places in Vieux Nice and around the port. The small Bellet vineyards in the hills supply a wine you rarely find elsewhere.

Arles has a narrower range: gardiane of Camargue bull, red rice, tellines and the long Saturday market on the Boulevard des Lices, and many restaurants close in winter. It is good for market picnics and long lunches, less so for a week of varied dinners.

Arles has more in a smaller space. The arena, the Roman theatre, the underground cryptoporticus, the Alyscamps and the cloister of Saint-Trophime make up one UNESCO-listed group you can cover on foot. The Roman barge in the Museum of Ancient Arles and the summer photography festival add more. Two full days cover it well.

The strength of Nice is modern art rather than antiquity: Matisse and Chagall up in Cimiez, Yves Klein at MAMAC, with the Belle Époque villas and the Russian cathedral around them. Pick Arles for Rome and the Middle Ages, and Nice for twentieth-century painting.

Neither city is good for clubbing, but Nice does have evenings out. The lanes of Vieux Nice fill with pubs, wine bars and cocktail bars, the port has a few quieter bars, and in summer the beach clubs keep the promenade busy late.

Arles winds down after a late dinner on the Place du Forum. It only comes alive at night during the Easter and September ferias, when bodegas take over the streets. The rest of the year, people who want a night out drive to Montpellier or Marseille.

Both cities give access to striking country, but of very different kinds. Arles opens onto the flat delta of the Camargue: lagoons, salt flats and rice fields with flamingos, white horses and herons, best seen on horseback or by bike along the dykes. The Alpilles to the north-east add hill walks.

Nice has more variety and more height. There are coastal paths round Cap Ferrat, road cycling on the corniches, the red rocks of the Esterel, and diving and kayaking offshore. The high lakes and ibex of the Mercantour are about two hours inland, with skiing there in winter. Arles is the place for birdlife, and Nice for range.

Both make excellent bases, but for different kinds of outing. From Arles, most trips are inland and Roman: Avignon and Nîmes by train, the Pont du Gard, Les Baux, Saint-Rémy and the walled town of Aigues-Mortes. You really need a car for the villages.

From Nice, the trips run along the Riviera coast: Monaco, Menton, Èze, Antibes, Cannes and the Lérins islands. Inland you can reach Grasse and Saint-Paul-de-Vence, and across the border Sanremo in Italy. You can get to all of them by train or bus.

Nice is easier with children. The flat promenade suits pushchairs, the Promenade du Paillon has playgrounds and water jets, and Parc Phoenix and the Oceanographic Museum in Monaco are easy half-day outings. The pebble beaches are the main drawback for small feet.

Arles suits older children who like history and animals. They can climb the towers of the arena, ride ponies at the Camargue ranches and see the flamingos near Saintes-Maries. Cobbled streets, mosquitoes, summer heat and the need for a car make it harder work with toddlers.

Both have small centres you can cover on foot. The difference shows once you leave them. In Nice, trams run across the city from the airport, and coastal trains and buses reach most of the Riviera, so you only need a car for the mountains.

In Arles the station is a short walk from the old town, with trains to Avignon, Nîmes and Marseille. Buses into the Camargue and the Alpilles are infrequent, though, so most visitors staying several days hire a car.

Arles is the smaller and more specialised of the two. Its shops sell printed Provençal cottons, santons, gardian shirts, and Camargue salt and rice, and its bookshops are full of photography titles. For fashion, people go on to Aix or Marseille.

Nice has more to browse, though neither is worth the trip for shopping alone. Avenue Jean Médecin has the high-street chains and the streets around rue Paradis have the luxury labels. On Mondays the Cours Saleya becomes a flea and antiques market.

Arles is the easier city on a budget. Rooms, lunch menus and market food cost what they do in any French provincial town, and one combined pass covers most of the sights. Hiring a car and visiting in festival weeks both add to the bill.

Nice is dearer, above all for rooms near the sea in summer and for beach-club loungers. Cheap trams, cheap coastal trains and socca lunches help keep costs down, and spring and late autumn are easier on the budget.

Nice has a regular season. The Opéra de Nice stages opera, ballet and concerts by the Nice Philharmonic, and the Théâtre National puts on drama. There is also a long-running jazz festival every July and the Carnival in February.

In Arles, performances are mostly seasonal and outdoors: summer concerts in the Roman theatre and the arena, world music at Les Suds in July, and brass bands and the course camarguaise around the ferias. Outside summer there is little on, and the town has no opera or orchestra.

Neither city has a tradition of baths or spas, but Nice has more you can book. There are treatment rooms in the larger seafront hotels and thalassotherapy centres along the coast towards Monaco and Antibes. Early swims and evening walks on the promenade are restful too, though the crowds of high summer are not.

What Arles offers is a slow pace: shaded squares, siestas in the heat and quiet evenings by the Rhône. Some converted farmhouses in the Camargue and the Alpilles are run as quiet retreats with pools.