Avignon or Chamonix?

Neither town is for a beach trip, but Avignon gets a little closer to one. The clear pools of the Gardon below the Pont du Gard are about half an hour away, and the Camargue sands and the Mediterranean are a day out to the south.

Chamonix has only mountain water. You can swim in small Lac de Passy or in Lake Annecy, over an hour away, in high summer. The town pool covers the rest.

Avignon eats better and drinks far better. Provençal cooking, with daube, tians, tapenade and fruit from the plain, centres on the Les Halles market, and the Rhône wines of Châteauneuf-du-Pape are on the doorstep. It is worth looking for tables in the side streets rather than on the main squares.

Chamonix serves hearty Savoyard cheese dishes, best eaten on a terrace at a mountain restaurant or refuge. In town, the choice is that of a resort: menus repeat, and many kitchens close between seasons.

Avignon's past is written in stone, and Chamonix's is a story of climbing. In Avignon the popes left the largest Gothic palace in Europe, part of a UNESCO-listed quarter with the cathedral and the broken bridge. Almost 4km of medieval walls still stand, and the museums run from Italian primitives to contemporary art. The charterhouse at Villeneuve is across the river.

Chamonix tells how alpinism began, with the Musée Alpin, the statues of the first Mont Blanc climbers and the climbers' cemetery. It is interesting, but half a day covers it, and the real sight is the mountains themselves.

Chamonix keeps later hours for most of the year. In winter, après-ski at the foot of the slopes leads to a lane of pubs and a couple of small clubs, with a young, mostly English-speaking crowd of guides, seasonal workers and visitors.

Avignon is quieter, with aperitifs on Place Pie and student bars, and is mostly asleep by midnight. The exception is July, when the festival keeps its squares full into the small hours.

Chamonix is in a different league. Glaciers and granite needles rise almost 4km above the valley floor, and cable cars put you in high-mountain terrain within minutes. The town offers skiing, mountaineering, via ferrata, trail running and paragliding.

Avignon's outdoors is gentler and more varied. You can ride up Mont Ventoux, walk the Luberon's ochre trails and the Alpilles, canoe the Gardon, or watch flamingos in the Camargue, best in spring and autumn.

Avignon is one of the best bases in France for day trips. The Pont du Gard, the arenas of Nîmes and Arles and the theatre at Orange are all within half an hour, and the Luberon villages, the wine villages and L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue are close by.

Chamonix's trips cross borders: Courmayeur and Roman Aosta through the tunnel, Martigny by mountain railway, Annecy and Geneva by road. After those, most of what is in reach is other resorts.

Chamonix is the better place for an active family. It has nursery slopes, sledging, a summer luge, treetop courses, the Merlet animal park and the little red train to the Mer de Glace, all in a small, safe town. Toddlers should skip the highest lifts, though.

In Avignon, children enjoy the tablet tour of the palace and the broken bridge from the song. Most other family days, such as the Pont du Gard or the Camargue horses, need a car, and July's heat and crowds are hard going.

Both centres are easy on foot, but Chamonix's valley transport goes further. Buses and the Mont Blanc Express link every hamlet and ski area, and they are free with the guest card. In winter, expect crowded ski buses.

Avignon is walkable inside the walls, and its regional trains to Arles, Nîmes and Marseille are easy to use. The hill villages and vineyards need a hire car.

Avignon has slightly more to browse. Provençal cottons, lavender and olive wood fill the lanes around Rue des Marchands, and you can take tapenade, oil and wine home from Les Halles. Serious antiques mean a trip to L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue.

Chamonix's shopping is specialist: long-established climbing and ski shops where climbers and skiers save up for their big gear purchases, plus cheese, génépi and crystals. For fashion, people go to Geneva.

Avignon is clearly kinder to the wallet. It is a provincial town with fair set lunches and a free old town to explore, and only July's festival rooms are expensive.

Chamonix is expensive across the board, with lift passes, cable cars, guides and peak-season chalets adding up. Self-catering, picnics, free buses and trails from the valley floor help, as do the shoulder seasons.

Avignon wins easily. Its July festival puts major productions in the courtyard of the Palais des Papes, and a fringe of over a thousand shows a day fills every cellar and courtyard. The rest of the year there is still an opera house and a dozen small theatres.

Chamonix has summer jazz, some of it played high in the mountains, and mountain film evenings. For an orchestra, you would go to Geneva.

Chamonix does relaxation better, as a reward after a hard day. A large thermal-style day spa has hot outdoor pools facing the glaciers, and Saint-Gervais has warm springs in a wooded gorge down the valley.

Avignon has no bathing tradition. Its version of rest is long lunches under plane trees and a stay at a farmhouse with a pool among the vineyards, ideally well away from July and the mistral.