Avignon or Biarritz?

Avignon has no beach. The nearest swim is in the green pools of the Gardon below the Pont du Gard, and the Mediterranean sands of the Camargue are more than an hour's drive away. Most visitors who want a daily swim use the pool where they are staying.

Biarritz was built as a beach resort, with the Grande Plage, the Côte des Basques and the long beaches of Anglet all within reach on foot or by a short bus ride. Bear in mind that this is the open Atlantic, with big waves and strong currents, so you swim between the lifeguard flags or in the sheltered Port Vieux cove.

The two are roughly level for food, and both have a covered market called Les Halles at the centre of local eating. Avignon serves Provençal cooking: daube, tians, tapenade and fruit from the plain. Its real strength is wine, with Châteauneuf-du-Pape and the Côtes du Rhône villages nearby.

Biarritz cooks Basque food, with Bay of Biscay fish, sheep's cheese, Bayonne ham and Espelette pepper. From mid-morning you can eat pintxos at bars around the market. In both towns the tables on the main squares and the seafront are the ones to skip, and neither offers much food from outside its own region.

Avignon is much the richer of the two. It has the largest Gothic palace in Europe, nearly 4km of medieval ramparts, cardinals' mansions and three serious museums, from Italian primitives at the Petit Palais to contemporary art at the Collection Lambert. Across the Rhône, Villeneuve-lès-Avignon adds a charterhouse and a fort.

In Biarritz the heritage is the resort itself. You see the imperial villa of Napoleon III and Eugénie, the Art Deco casino, Belle Époque villas and the Rocher de la Vierge out in the surf. Its museums are mostly about the sea, so anyone looking for older history ends up taking the train to Bayonne.

Neither town is a place for big nights out, but Biarritz has a little more going on through the year. In summer the pintxo bars around Les Halles stay busy late, there are sundowners above the Côte des Basques, and a few clubs and the casino stay open into the small hours. For a bigger night, Bayonne and San Sebastián are close.

Avignon is quieter for eleven months of the year: an aperitif on Place Pie, a few student bars, and empty streets by midnight. July is the exception, when festival crowds keep the squares full all night.

Both are excellent bases for the outdoors, but the landscapes are very different. Around Avignon the country is dry and limestone. Road cyclists ride up Mont Ventoux, there are the Luberon cliffs and ochre trails, the Dentelles de Montmirail and the Alpilles, and further south lie the lagoons and flamingos of the Camargue. Summer heat and the mistral make spring and autumn the best seasons.

Biarritz looks to the ocean. It is one of Europe's first surf towns, and there is paddleboarding and kayaking when the swell drops. Inland, the green Pyrenean foothills, La Rhune and the walking country around Sare start within half an hour. It is greener because it rains far more often.

Avignon is the stronger base, and day trips are the main reason many people stay there. Nîmes, Arles, Orange and the Pont du Gard are all within half an hour, which puts some of the best Roman remains outside Italy within easy reach. Beyond those are Les Baux, the Châteauneuf vineyards and the Luberon villages of Gordes and Roussillon, and Marseille and Aix are a short high-speed train ride away.

Biarritz offers trips in two countries. San Sebastián is under an hour away, Bayonne is next door and Saint-Jean-de-Luz is down the coast. Inland lie Espelette, Ainhoa and Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, and Bilbao's Guggenheim makes a long day out. It is a fine list, but there are fewer major sites close at hand.

Biarritz works better with children. There are beaches and surf schools for older kids, the sheltered Port Vieux cove for toddlers, and the aquarium and ocean centre for wet days. The steep streets are hard going with a pushchair, and the main beaches need watching because of the waves.

In Avignon the papal palace tablet tour and dancing on the bridge from the song make a good morning. After that, most family outings, such as canoeing at the Pont du Gard or seeing the Camargue horses, mean a drive. July heat and festival crowds make it a spring or early autumn destination for families.

The two are much alike: both centres are easy to walk, and both need a car for the villages. Avignon is flat inside its walls, though the lanes are cobbled. Regional trains to Arles, Nîmes and Orange leave from the station by the ramparts, and there is a TGV station just outside town.

Biarritz is hillier, with steps and steep streets between the cliffs and the beach. Its airport sits on the edge of town, and buses and coastal trains link it with Anglet, Bayonne and the Spanish border.

Neither is a shopping destination, but the souvenirs are different. Avignon sells Provençal printed cottons, lavender, olive wood and soap in the lanes off Rue des Marchands, and the best purchases are tapenade, olive oil and wine bought from the makers. For antiques, people go out to L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue.

Biarritz has more fashion boutiques and surf shops. Its local crafts are striped Basque linen and handmade espadrilles, and the chocolatiers and gâteau basque bakeries are good for gifts to take home.

Avignon is the cheaper stay. It has provincial French prices, fair set lunches away from the main squares and good-value wine from local producers. Outside July, rooms in the old town are reasonably priced. During the festival they become scarce and expensive.

Biarritz charges resort prices, especially for rooms and seafront meals in July and August. Pintxos at the market bars, a stay in Anglet or Bayonne, or a visit outside summer all bring the cost down. Even so, it stays the dearer option.

Avignon is far ahead here. The Festival d'Avignon, founded in 1947, stages major productions in the Cour d'honneur of the papal palace, and the Off fringe fills every cellar and courtyard with well over a thousand shows a day. The rest of the year there is still the opera house on Place de l'Horloge, a dozen small theatres and a jazz club.

Biarritz's strength is dance. A national choreographic centre and its ballet company perform at the Gare du Midi, and an autumn dance festival takes over the town's stages. Apart from that, there are mainly touring shows and Basque choirs.

In Avignon, rest is a matter of slowing to the Provençal pace rather than booking treatments. A long lunch in a square shaded by plane trees, an hour on the Rocher des Doms as the light softens over the Rhône, and a glass of Côtes du Rhône on a terrace are how most visitors unwind. Real quiet usually means sleeping out among the vineyards rather than inside the walls, because July fills the town with noise and a mistral that blows for days can fray the nerves.

Biarritz makes rest the purpose of the trip. Taking the sea as a cure goes back to the town's beginnings as a resort, and its seawater spas are designed for whole days of treatment, not a quick massage. Between sessions, the walk along the headlands and the sound of the surf from the promenade do much of the work, and the mild Atlantic air is gentler than a Provençal summer. Come outside the peak weeks if calm is the point, since the seafront is crowded in midsummer.