Avignon or Carcassonne?

Neither town is a beach destination, but swimming is easier from Carcassonne. The Lac de la Cavayère is a short drive from the Cité and has sandy shores and lifeguards in summer, so an afternoon swim fits in around sightseeing.

Avignon's best swim is in the Gardon below the Pont du Gard, about half an hour away. It is wilder, with rocky banks rather than a managed beach. The sea is a drive of an hour or more from either town: the Camargue's open sands from Avignon, the shallow beaches of Gruissan from Carcassonne.

Avignon eats better and with more variety. Its Provençal cooking runs from daube and tians to tapenade and fruit from the plain, the counters at Les Halles cook lunch from the market stalls, and Châteauneuf-du-Pape and the Côtes du Rhône villages supply the wine.

Carcassonne's cooking centres on one great dish, cassoulet, with good-value Corbières, Minervois and Limoux wines to go with it. Where you eat matters: the set menus in the Cité are uneven, so the meals worth having are down in the Bastide around Place Carnot.

Both are two-day towns built around one great medieval site, but Avignon has more beyond its centrepiece. Alongside the Palais des Papes are the cathedral, the broken bridge and three serious museums covering everything from Italian primitives to contemporary art, with Villeneuve-lès-Avignon just across the river.

Carcassonne's draw is La Cité itself: the double walls and towers, the rampart walk of the Château Comtal and the stained glass of Saint-Nazaire. The Bastide and the Canal du Midi add a second layer, but the museums are few and small.

Neither is a town for a big night out, though Avignon stays up later. Its squares, wine terraces and student bars give the evenings some life, and in July the festival keeps the old town busy into the small hours.

Carcassonne goes quiet once the day visitors leave the Cité, so the highlight of the evening is a walk on the floodlit walls. Locals drink in the bars around Place Carnot, and anyone after clubs goes to Toulouse.

Avignon has the more famous landscapes close by: Mont Ventoux, the ochre cliffs of the Luberon, the Dentelles de Montmirail, the Alpilles and the Camargue's flamingos and white horses. Flat cycling on the Île de la Barthelasse starts just over the bridge.

Carcassonne's countryside is wilder and less well known. It has the forests of the Montagne Noire, Corbières ridges topped with castle ruins and rafting in the gorges of the upper Aude. The easiest outing, the shaded towpath of the Canal du Midi, starts in town, but most of the rest needs a car.

Avignon is one of the best bases in France for day trips. Nîmes, Arles, Orange and the Pont du Gard put Roman arenas, a theatre and an aqueduct within half an hour, and the Luberon villages, Châteauneuf-du-Pape and L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue could fill the rest of a week.

Carcassonne's outings are good but more spread out. The Cathar castles of Peyrepertuse and Quéribus are dramatic, and Toulouse and Narbonne are easy by train, but some of the best places, Albi and Collioure among them, are closer to two hours away.

Carcassonne has more for children in the town itself. The Cité is a castle they can walk round on the walls, with jousting and falconry in summer, and the lake beach, water park and animal park are all close by.

Avignon has fewer set pieces: the tablet tour of the palace, the bridge from the song and the playground on the Rocher des Doms. Its family days out, such as canoeing at the Pont du Gard or seeing the Camargue's horses, are further away. Both towns are cobbled and hard going with a pushchair, and both are best avoided with children in crowded July.

Avignon is the easier town without a car. Its sights are a short walk from the central station, and regional trains run to Arles, Nîmes, Orange and Marseille. The high-speed TGV station is a few kilometres south of the walls, a short shuttle-train ride away.

Carcassonne is split in two: the flat Bastide by the station, and the Cité, twenty-five minutes away on foot up a steady climb. Trains serve Toulouse and Narbonne well, but most other outings depend on a hire car, as the country villages do from both towns.

Avignon has the better shops to browse. The lanes off Rue Joseph Vernet sell Provençal cottons, lavender and olive-wood, there are a few independent boutiques, and the antiques dealers of L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue are nearby.

In Carcassonne, the shops in the Cité lanes are mostly toy swords and knight costumes, and the Bastide has a plain provincial high street. In both towns the best things to buy are edible: tapenade and Châteauneuf in Avignon, tinned cassoulet and Limoux blanquette in Carcassonne.

Carcassonne is the cheaper stay. Rooms in the Bastide and by the canal are moderately priced, local wine costs little and the compact town keeps transport costs down. Only the hotels and restaurants inside the Cité charge a premium.

Avignon costs a step more, as a provincial town with a big tourist trade, and its rooms inside the walls are steep during the July festival. In both towns spring and autumn are kinder on the budget, and a hire car is the usual extra cost.

This is where the two differ most. In July Avignon is one of the world's leading theatre towns, with the Festival d'Avignon in the Cour d'honneur of the papal palace and an enormous fringe in every cellar and courtyard. For the rest of the year it keeps an opera house, a dozen small theatres and a jazz club busy.

Carcassonne's July festival makes a fine evening out, with headline concerts in the open-air theatre inside the Cité and fireworks over the walls on Bastille Day. Outside summer its programme is thin, and opera means a trip to Toulouse.

The difference is in the setting, because in both towns relaxing means slow lunches and shade rather than spas. Avignon's version is a farmhouse guesthouse with a pool among the vineyards and lavender, or a late afternoon in the Rocher des Doms garden. When the mistral blows for days, though, it can wear on the nerves.

Carcassonne has the plane-shaded Canal du Midi for gentle walks, and the old, modest spa villages of Rennes-les-Bains and Alet-les-Bains within an hour. Both towns are least restful in high summer.