Assisi or Cannes?

These two are about as far apart as they can be here. Assisi is an inland hill town, and its only swimming is at the small lido beaches of Lake Trasimeno, about 45 minutes away, or in a hotel pool.

Cannes is built around the beach. There is sand along the Croisette, the wide, mostly free Plage du Midi, clear rocky swimming on the Lérins islands and the red coves of the Esterel nearby. A beach vacation only works in Cannes.

Cannes has the wider table. Assisi's cooking is rural Umbrian and very good at its best, with strangozzi with black truffle, Castelluccio lentils, torta al testo, Subasio olive oil and Sagrantino from Montefalco. But the range is narrow, and the menus near the basilicas are written for tour groups.

Cannes adds the sea and a market. The Forville covered market, bouillabaisse and socca in Le Suquet, rosé on a terrace and a real fine-dining tier towards Mougins give you more choice, although the Croisette's tourist restaurants are no better than Assisi's.

Assisi is far richer. The double Basilica of San Francesco holds frescoes by Giotto's circle, Cimabue and Simone Martini. Around it are Santa Chiara, the Rocca Maggiore and the Porziuncola chapel, all in a town that is itself a World Heritage Site.

Cannes offers a pleasant stroll rather than a programme. You can see the castle museum on Le Suquet, the Belle Époque palace hotels and the red-carpet steps of the Palais des Festivals in a morning.

Assisi effectively closes after dinner. A glass of wine and a walk through empty floodlit lanes is the whole evening, and anyone wanting bars has to go to Perugia.

Cannes has a real night scene in summer and during festivals. Beach clubs on the Croisette turn into party venues, and the streets behind the old port fill with cocktail bars. It is glamorous and dressy rather than gritty, and it fades outside the season.

Both have good walking, but Cannes has more variety. Assisi's outdoors centres on Monte Subasio, where holm-oak paths lead to the Eremo delle Carceri and on to open summit meadows. There is easy valley cycling below, and the Valnerina and the Sibillini are further off.

Cannes has the volcanic red rock of the Esterel, the island paths of Sainte-Marguerite and the Cap d'Antibes shoreline. It also adds the sea for sailing, kayaking and diving, and the pre-Alps within reach inland.

Both are excellent bases, but for different kinds of excursion. From Assisi you tour hill towns and art cities: Spello, Perugia, Spoleto, Gubbio, Todi and Orvieto's cathedral, with Cortona and Montepulciano across the Tuscan border.

From Cannes the coastal train strings together Antibes, Nice, Villefranche, Monaco and Menton. Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Èze and Grasse are inland. Trips from Cannes are easier without a car, while Umbria's smaller towns really need one.

Cannes is the easier choice with children. It has gently shelving sandy beaches, a flat promenade with carousels, and a boat trip to picnic under the Lérins pines.

Assisi is safe and welcoming, but its steep, stepped streets defeat pushchairs, and frescoed churches that need silence hold little for young children. Families usually stay at a valley agriturismo with a pool and visit the town in short trips.

Cannes is simpler to get around. Its centre is mostly flat, and the station sits in the middle of town with frequent coastal trains. Assisi's centre is just as compact but climbs steeply, and its station is about 4km below in Santa Maria degli Angeli. Both need a car for the countryside behind them, though Cannes's summer traffic and parking are harder work.

Cannes is a far better place to shop. The Paris fashion and jewellery houses line the Croisette, and Rue d'Antibes is lined with mid-range French labels and chocolatiers. Rue Meynadier sells olive oil and Provençal soaps.

Assisi's streets are mostly rosaries and Franciscan souvenirs. Among them are worthwhile Assisi embroidery, Deruta ceramics, truffle products and Sagrantino, which make good things to take home but not a reason to come.

Assisi is clearly cheaper. The basilicas are free, convent guesthouses offer simple rooms at low cost, and you only pay a premium at the restaurants beside the basilicas or around Easter.

Cannes is expensive near the waterfront, and costs rise further in summer and during the film festival and trade fairs. Market picnics, public beaches and cheap coastal trains help, as does staying in a neighbouring town. Spring and autumn are much kinder to the budget.

Neither is a performance destination, but Cannes has more on. The Palais des Festivals hosts concerts and touring shows, the regional philharmonic plays through the season, and summer brings classical concerts in the Le Suquet castle courtyard, with the Juan-les-Pins jazz festival nearby.

In Assisi, live performance is sacred and seasonal: organ and choral concerts in the basilicas, and the medieval pageantry of Calendimaggio in spring. For opera or jazz you go to Perugia.

Neither has a bathing tradition, and both are restful for different reasons. Assisi's calm is spiritual. It comes from convent retreats, silent walks to the Eremo delle Carceri and empty lanes after the tour groups leave.

Cannes offers polished palace-hotel spas and seawater thalassotherapy, with slow mornings on a seafront terrace in spring and autumn. Avoid festival weeks and August if you are going there to unwind.