Avignon or Girona?

Neither city has a beach, but the gap between them is real. In Avignon the realistic summer swim is in the Gardon below the Pont du Gard. The Camargue sands and Le Grau-du-Roi are well over an hour south, so the sea is an outing rather than a daily habit.

From Girona the Costa Brava is about 40 minutes away, with far more choice: long sandy bays at Platja d'Aro, pine-backed coves near Begur, and some of the clearest water on the Spanish coast. A car helps, and in high summer the best-known coves fill early.

Both cities eat from their own countryside, Avignon from Provence and Girona from the Empordà. Avignon's strengths are Provençal braises and vegetables and, above all, Rhône wine, with Châteauneuf-du-Pape almost on the doorstep and lunch at the counters of Les Halles on Place Pie.

Girona goes a step further. Alongside Catalan home cooking and mar i muntanya dishes, it has serious tasting-menu kitchens with an international reputation, plus xuixos from the pastry shops and vermouth before lunch. In both towns the better tables are away from the busiest squares.

Avignon's heritage is on a grander scale. The Palais des Papes, the largest Gothic palace in Europe, is the centre of a UNESCO-listed group with the broken bridge and nearly 4km of ramparts. The Petit Palais and the Collection Lambert are collections worth seeing in their own right.

Girona's Barri Vell is a beautiful climb of lanes and stairs. It leads up to a cathedral with an enormous Gothic nave, past the Arab Baths and the Call, one of Europe's best-preserved Jewish quarters. Its museums are smaller, though, and both towns can be seen in about two unhurried days.

Neither town is the place for a big night out, but their quiet evenings differ in rhythm. Avignon goes out for an aperitif on Place Pie and is mostly asleep by midnight. July is the exception, when the festival keeps the old town awake into the small hours.

Girona keeps later Spanish hours all year, with student bars around Plaça de la Independència and a few small clubs at weekends. For anything more, Barcelona is a short train ride away.

Both are fine bases for the outdoors, but Girona's countryside starts closer to the door. Cyclists ride straight out of town to the climbs of Rocacorba and Els Àngels, and greenways run free of traffic to Olot and the coast. Within about an hour are volcanic beech forest, the Cap de Creus and cliff-top coast paths with snorkelling below.

Avignon's landscapes are famous too: Mont Ventoux, the Luberon's ochre trails, the Alpilles, and the flamingos and white horses of the Camargue. Most of them need a car, and there is no rocky coast for kayaking. Spring and autumn suit both towns best.

Avignon's day trips sit unusually close together, and that gives it the edge. Within about half an hour are the arenas of Nîmes and Arles, the Roman theatre at Orange with its stage wall still standing, and the Pont du Gard. Les Baux, Saint-Rémy, the Luberon villages and the vineyards of Châteauneuf-du-Pape are not much further.

Girona's trips are spread more widely and vary more. You can spend a full day in Barcelona by fast train, see Dalí's museum in Figueres and his house at Portlligat, or visit medieval Besalú, the Greek ruins at Empúries and even Perpignan over the border. You can cover more ground from Girona, but no single direction is as packed as Avignon's circle of Roman sites.

In both towns little is built for children, and each works best as a calm base for days out. Avignon has the tablet tour of the Palais and the bridge from the song, with family outings at the Pont du Gard and in the Camargue.

Children tend to find Girona's wall walk an adventure, and they are welcome in the squares late into the evening. Its real advantage, though, is the beaches within an easy drive. Pushchairs struggle on Avignon's cobbles, and even more on Girona's stairs.

Both are walking towns at heart, with almost everything within twenty minutes on foot. The difference is the ground. Avignon's centre is flat inside the ramparts, while Girona's Barri Vell is steep and full of stairs.

By rail, Avignon has regional trains to Arles, Nîmes and Marseille and a TGV station outside the walls. Girona's fast line puts Barcelona and Figueres within easy reach. For the hill villages, you need a car in either.

Avignon's shops are mostly Provençal crafts: printed cottons, lavender and olive-wood in the lanes off Rue des Marchands and Rue Joseph Vernet, with the chains along Rue de la République. Antiques hunters drive out to L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue instead.

Girona's small shopping scene is independent fashion, bookshops and delicatessens around the Rambla, plus a lot of cycling kit for visiting riders. In each town the best things to take home come from the market: tapenade and Rhône wine from Les Halles, or Empordà cheese and olive oil from the Mercat del Lleó. For a serious shopping day, Girona has Barcelona close at hand.

Girona is somewhat easier on the budget. Its prices are around the Western European middle and below those of the big Spanish cities, and the weekday set lunches are good value. Avignon has the prices of provincial France with extra for being a tourist town: bistro lunches and wine from the producers are fair value, but it is not a bargain.

In both, rooms are the biggest cost. Avignon's go up sharply in July for the festival, and Girona's in summer, during the spring flower festival and in the cycling season. A hire car adds to the bill in either.

Here Avignon is in a different league. In July the Festival d'Avignon stages major productions in the Cour d'honneur of the Palais des Papes, and the Off fringe adds well over a thousand shows a day. The Opéra Grand Avignon and the small theatres keep a programme going all year.

Girona has the Auditori, the Teatre Municipal and Temporada Alta in autumn, a festival worth timing a trip around. For much of the year, though, the programme is thin, there is no resident opera or orchestra, and many plays are in Catalan.

The two towns offer different kinds of calm, and only Girona has somewhere nearby to bathe. Avignon slows down with long lunches in shaded squares and late afternoons in the Rocher des Doms garden, and its spas are mostly in the better hotels. Many people who come here to unwind stay out among the vineyards in a farmhouse with a pool, because July and long spells of mistral make the town itself far from restful.

Girona is unhurried all year, with quiet lanes in the morning and evening walks along the Onyar. Its real advantage is Caldes de Malavella, a thermal-spring town about 20 minutes south with a Roman past. Its hotels offer spring-water pools and treatments.