Avignon or Lugano?

Neither has a beach on the doorstep, but Lugano can at least offer a proper swim in town. Its lidos have lawns, decks and ladders into the lake, with smaller bathing spots along the shore and in villages you reach by boat, from June to early September.

In Avignon the Rhône is not for swimming. The nearest natural swim is in the Gardon pools below the Pont du Gard, a drive away. The Camargue sands and Le Grau-du-Roi make an occasional sea day rather than a daily habit.

Avignon eats better. Les Halles shows off Provençal produce and cooks lunch from its stalls. Daube, tians and lamb with herbs come with Châteauneuf-du-Pape and Côtes du Rhône wines poured by the glass, and the best tables are tucked into the lanes off Rue des Teinturiers.

Lugano's great pleasure is the grotto, where you eat polenta, braised meats and Ticino Merlot at stone tables under chestnut trees. Beyond that the choice is thin and expensive, and many visitors save their big meals for a trip into Italy.

Avignon is well ahead on culture. The popes left it the largest Gothic palace in Europe, at the heart of a UNESCO-listed quarter with the cathedral, the Rocher des Doms and the broken bridge, all inside medieval ramparts that still ring the town. The Petit Palais, the Musée Calvet and the Collection Lambert cover Italian primitives to contemporary art, and Villeneuve across the river adds a charterhouse and a fort.

Lugano is pleasant rather than weighty. It has arcaded Lombard streets, San Lorenzo cathedral above the lake, Luini's fine Passion fresco in Santa Maria degli Angioli and an art museum split between LAC and Palazzo Reali. A single day takes in the main sights without hurrying.

Both are quiet after dark, and anyone after a big night heads to a larger city, Marseille or Montpellier from Avignon and Milan from Lugano. The difference is in the style. Avignon has café terraces, wine and a few student bars, and in July the festival keeps the squares full until the small hours. Lugano has a smarter lakeside aperitivo, a few lounge and cocktail bars and one or two clubs, all at Swiss prices.

Lugano's scenery is right on the doorstep. Funiculars climb Monte Brè and San Salvatore from the edge of town, the lakeside path runs to Gandria, and the Verzasca and Maggia valleys are about an hour away.

Avignon's landscapes are celebrated, among them Mont Ventoux, the Luberon cliffs, the Alpilles and the Camargue's flamingos and white horses, but most of them are a drive away. In town you get flat cycling on the Île de la Barthelasse, and summer heat and the mistral limit the season.

Both make excellent bases, and Avignon is the stronger one. Within about half an hour lie the Pont du Gard and the Roman monuments of Nîmes, Arles and Orange, then the Luberon villages, Châteauneuf-du-Pape and L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue. Several of them need a car.

Lugano's day trips cross a border instead. Milan and The Last Supper, Como, the castles of Bellinzona and the Borromean Islands are all easy by train or boat, though the destinations are fewer and more spread out.

Lugano is easier with children. In one stay they can swim and use the slides at the lidos, ride boats and funiculars and visit Swissminiatur at Melide, and Parco Ciani has playgrounds. Both towns are hilly or cobbled enough to make a pushchair hard work.

In Avignon the palace's tablet tour, the famous bridge and the Rocher des Doms playground fill a day. The best family outings, such as canoeing at the Pont du Gard or seeing the Camargue's wildlife, need a car, and July's heat and crowds are hard on young children.

Lugano is easier to get around without a car. The Swiss trains reach Bellinzona, Locarno, Como and Milan, lake boats serve the villages, mountain railways do the climbing, and a short funicular links the station with the old town.

Avignon's walled centre is flat and walkable, and regional trains run to Arles, Nîmes and Marseille. The hill villages, vineyards and Ventoux have sparse buses, though, so a hire car or a tour is part of most plans.

Neither is a shopping destination, but Lugano has a little more. Via Nassa has Swiss watchmakers and Italian fashion under its arcades, and there is a designer outlet near Mendrisio.

Avignon's appeal is homelier: Provençal cottons, lavender and olive-wood in the lanes off Rue des Marchands, and tapenade, oil and wine from Les Halles. For antiques, people head to L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue.

Avignon is far cheaper. It is no bargain, and rooms inside the walls are expensive in July. Still, set lunches, producers' wine and a free old town make spring and autumn stays reasonable, and the main extra cost is a hire car.

Lugano is expensive at every step, from lakeside hotels to boat trips and mountain railways. The free regional transport that comes with most hotel stays helps a little, and grotti are the gentlest way to eat.

Avignon is far ahead, above all in July. The Festival d'Avignon fills the Cour d'honneur of the papal palace, and the Off puts on well over a thousand shows a day across town. For the rest of the year there are the opera house, a dozen small theatres and a jazz club.

Lugano's stage life centres on LAC, home to the Orchestra della Svizzera italiana and a mainly Italian-language theatre programme. In summer Estival Jazz brings free open-air concerts to Piazza della Riforma.

Neither has a bathing tradition, but Lugano is the more restful town. You can spend afternoons at a lido or in Parco Ciani, there are spas in the big lakeside hotels, and the indoor pool and sauna complex near Rivera is close by.

Avignon's calm is found at long lunches under the plane trees, or outside town in a vineyard guesthouse with a pool. July's festival crowds and days of mistral work against rest within the walls.