Avignon or Lille?

Neither city is a beach destination, and the difference is in what a hot day looks like. From Avignon, you can swim in the clear green pools of the Gardon below the Pont du Gard, and the warm Mediterranean sands of the Camargue are about an hour and a quarter away.

Lille's nearest sea is the windy North Sea at Dunkirk. The water there stays cold even in August, so it's a bracing walk on the sand rather than a swim.

The two are evenly matched at the table but very different in style. Avignon cooks Provençal: daube, tians, tapenade and summer fruit, best seen at Les Halles. The local Rhône wines, including Châteauneuf-du-Pape, are the highlight.

Lille eats like Flanders. Expect beer-braised carbonnade, potjevleesch and the welsh in wood-panelled estaminets, with Maroilles cheese in nearly everything and Belgian and northern ales in the glass. Neither city goes far beyond its regional cooking.

Avignon's culture is one papal set piece, while Lille's centres on a great museum and the streets around it. In Avignon you walk through the bare stone halls of the Palais des Papes, out to the broken arches of the Pont Saint-Bénezet and along almost 4km of ramparts, with the Petit Palais nearby for Italian primitives. It is compact enough to see in two unhurried days.

Lille is more of a museum city. The Palais des Beaux-Arts and its Flemish masters come first, with La Piscine in Roubaix and the LaM a metro or tram ride away, all set around the Flemish baroque brick of Vieux-Lille. Because its sights are spread out, it needs two or three days.

Lille is the better night out. It has a large student population, Thursday crowds on Rue Masséna and Rue Solférino, and calmer cellar bars in Vieux-Lille, with Belgian clubs nearby for later nights.

Avignon is a place for an aperitif on Place Pie and an early night, with almost no club life. The exception is July, when the festival keeps the squares full until the small hours.

Avignon is far stronger here. Mont Ventoux, the Luberon's ochre trails, the Dentelles de Montmirail and the Gardon gorges are all within about an hour, and the Camargue's flamingos and white horses lie to the south. Spring and autumn are the seasons for them.

Outdoors around Lille means level cycling along the Deûle canal, the Citadel park and short walks in the low Monts de Flandre. For real scenery you need a long day trip to the Opal Coast cliffs.

Both are excellent bases, pointing in very different directions. From Avignon, the day trips are Roman and rural: the arenas of Nîmes and Arles, the theatre at Orange, the Pont du Gard, then wine and hill villages that really need a car.

Lille's trips are mostly by fast train, to other cities. Brussels, Ghent and Bruges are in easy reach, Paris and even London can be done in a day, and the First World War battlefields lie closer to home.

Neither city is built for children, and Lille is slightly easier day to day. The Citadel park has a zoo, playgrounds and flat paths for scooters, and the science centre is reached by metro.

In Avignon, the fun is in the papal palace's tablet tour and dancing on the bridge from the song. The best family days, like canoeing at the Pont du Gard or seeing the Camargue's horses, need a car. In both cities the cobbles are hard work with a pushchair.

Lille is the easier city to manage without a car. The centre is flat, two stations stand side by side within walking distance of the old town, and an automated metro and a tram cover the wider area.

Avignon is just as walkable inside its ramparts, and regional trains reach Arles and Nîmes. The difference is that much of what draws you there, the hill villages, the vineyards and Ventoux, really needs a hire car.

Lille is the better place to shop. It has chain streets and the large Euralille mall near the stations, independent fashion and design shops in Vieux-Lille, and the September Braderie, one of Europe's great flea markets.

Avignon's shopping is small and Provençal: printed cottons, lavender and soap in the lanes off Rue des Marchands. Its best purchases are things to eat and drink, and for antiques people head out to L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue.

The cost of a stay is much the same, comfortable rather than cheap, but it varies in different ways. Avignon's room rates rise steeply during the July festival and ease off in spring and autumn, and exploring the region usually means paying for a hire car.

Lille is steadier through the year, apart from the Braderie and big trade fairs. Its cheap metro means you don't need a car.

Avignon is the stronger choice because of July. The Festival d'Avignon fills the Cour d'honneur of the papal palace, and the enormous Off fringe fills every cellar and courtyard in town. For theatre lovers, that is a reason to travel in itself.

Lille has the better all-year programme: a fine opera house, a national orchestra, the Théâtre du Nord and large rock venues. Few people plan a visit around it, though.

Neither city has a bathing culture, but Avignon is easier to unwind in. There are long lunches under plane trees, and you can stay in a farmhouse among the vineyards with a pool, as long as you avoid festival July and the days when the mistral blows.

Lille offers tea rooms and café terraces, and the nearest thermal bath is a short train ride away in Saint-Amand-les-Eaux. Its grey weather and city pace make it a poor choice for a restful trip.