Arles or Saint-Tropez?

Saint-Tropez is the beach destination of the two. Pampelonne gives about 5km of fine, pale sand, with beach clubs and public stretches in between. Quieter coves lie further down the peninsula, all a short ride from the port.

Arles has no beach of its own. The Camargue strands at Saintes-Maries, Piémanson and Beauduc are huge, flat and wild, with room to spare even in August. But they mean a 40km drive, little shade and mosquitoes, so they make an outing rather than the centre of a stay.

Both towns cook Provençal food, and both hold their main market under the name des Lices, but the flavour differs. Arles cooks the Camargue: gardiane bull stew, red rice, tellines and saucisson d'Arles, eaten over long lunches on the Place du Forum at provincial prices.

Saint-Tropez looks to the sea and to polish, with grilled fish, bouillabaisse, rosé on the sand, strong hotel dining rooms and its own cream-filled tarte tropézienne. Its weak spot is the everyday meal, because many quayside places charge for the view more than for the cooking.

Here Arles is in another league. The arena, the antique theatre, the cryptoporticus and the Alyscamps form a UNESCO-listed Roman group within a short walk. Around them are the Romanesque cloister of Saint-Trophime, a museum holding a Roman barge raised from the Rhône, and Gehry's tower at Luma.

Saint-Tropez's heritage is smaller and centres on painting rather than stone. The Annonciade's pointillist and Fauvist canvases recall the years when Signac painted the harbour. The citadel and the lanes of La Ponche are pleasant, but a single day covers them.

In summer Saint-Tropez is the place to go out. Afternoons at the Pampelonne beach clubs lead to champagne on the harbour and then to famous clubs that run until dawn, all in a moneyed style with table service and a dress code.

Arles winds down after dinner on the square and stays up late only during the Easter and September ferias, when bodegas fill the streets. Out of season the two are much alike: a drink at a café table and an early night.

Both have fine country on the doorstep, of very different kinds. Arles opens onto the flat Camargue delta, which you explore on horseback or by bike along the dykes, among flamingos, white horses and migrating birds. The Alpilles add hill walking.

Saint-Tropez is about rock and water. The coastal path runs past pine-backed coves to Camarat and Taillat, the cork-oak forests of the Maures lie inland, there is sailing and diving in the gulf, and the national-park islands of Port-Cros and Porquerolles are within reach. Spring and autumn suit both best.

Arles sits among some of the best-known towns in southern France. Avignon is about twenty minutes by train and Nîmes about half an hour, and the Pont du Gard, Les Baux and Saint-Rémy are a short drive away. Few bases in Provence put so much Roman and medieval history within an hour.

Saint-Tropez's outings are gentler: the hilltop villages of Ramatuelle and Gassin, Grimaud's castle, the canals of Port Grimaud by boat, and wine tastings around the peninsula. They are pretty rather than important, and summer traffic can turn a short trip into a long one.

Neither town is built around children, and each suits a different kind of family. Arles works for older children who like history and animals, with the towers of the arena, the dark cryptoporticus, pony rides at the ranches and flamingos near Saintes-Maries.

Saint-Tropez's draw is the gently shelving sand at Pampelonne and Gigaro, which suits small children. Against it count the adult harbour scene, the prices and the summer traffic, and many families stay across the gulf in Sainte-Maxime instead.

Both centres are small enough to walk, but Arles is much better connected. Its station is a short walk from the old town, with regular trains to Avignon, Nîmes, Marseille and Montpellier, and a free shuttle loops the centre. The Camargue still needs a car or a bike.

Saint-Tropez has no railway at all, its main beaches are several kilometres out of town, and in summer the single road along the gulf jams for hours. The passenger boats from Sainte-Maxime and Port Grimaud are the most pleasant way in.

Saint-Tropez is the shopping town of the two. Big fashion houses open summer shops in the lanes behind the port, alongside resort wear and jewellery, and the town has its own hand-stitched leather sandals, made in small workshops in the old town.

Arles keeps to Provençal crafts and books: printed cottons, santons, gardian shirts, Camargue salt and rice from the Saturday market, and good bookshops full of photography titles, since it is a publishing town. Anyone in Arles who wants fashion goes to Aix or Marseille.

Arles costs about what any French provincial town does, with lunch menus, market food, mid-range hotels and a combined pass for the sights. The main extras are a hire car and higher room rates in July and during the festivals.

Saint-Tropez is among the most expensive places on the Mediterranean, from rooms and beach loungers to a coffee on the port, and you pay for taxis or parking on top. Many visitors stay inland or across the gulf and come in for the day.

Neither town has much of a stage year round, but Arles offers more. In summer there are concerts in the Roman theatre and arena and the Les Suds world-music festival each July. The ferias bring brass bands, the course camarguaise, where the bull is not killed, runs through the warm months, and the town theatre has a modest season.

Saint-Tropez has open-air classical and jazz evenings in gardens and on the citadel, live sets at the beach clubs, and the Bravade, a costumed procession with muskets each May. Outside summer, serious audiences travel from Arles to Avignon or Nîmes, and from Saint-Tropez to Toulon or Nice.

Saint-Tropez has the edge for pampering, with polished spas in its luxury hotels and villas. In May, June and September the town slows to an easy rhythm of morning walks to the citadel and pétanque under the plane trees, though high summer there is crowded and loud.

Arles has only a few hotel spas and offers calm instead: shaded squares, siestas through the heat, evenings by the Rhône, and converted farmhouses in the Camargue and the Alpilles run as quiet retreats with pools.