Avignon or Saint-Tropez?

This is Saint-Tropez's ground. Pampelonne gives about 5km of fine pale sand with beach clubs and public stretches between them, and quieter coves such as Escalet and Cap Taillat lie further down the peninsula. Small beaches at Les Graniers and La Ponche are handy for a quick swim near town.

Avignon has nothing comparable. The Rhône is not for swimming. The best summer swim is in the green pools of the Gardon below the Pont du Gard, and the Camargue sands are a long day out. A pool at your hotel or rental is what most visitors rely on.

Avignon eats better day to day. The stalls and lunch counters at Les Halles show off the produce of the plain, and Châteauneuf-du-Pape and the Côtes du Rhône villages are on the doorstep, so local wine by the glass is easy to find in the side-street bistros.

Saint-Tropez cooks the same Provençal repertoire with more polish and more cost. It has fine hotel dining rooms, grilled fish on the sand, rosé and the cream-filled tarte tropézienne. Simple, honest meals are harder to find, many quayside tables charge for the view, and much of it closes in winter.

Avignon is in another league here. The Palais des Papes, the cathedral and the broken bridge form a UNESCO-listed papal ensemble inside almost 4km of ramparts. It adds the Italian primitives of the Petit Palais, contemporary art at the Collection Lambert and the charterhouse across the river in Villeneuve.

Saint-Tropez has one real treasure, the Musée de l'Annonciade, with the pointillist and Fauvist work of Signac's circle. The citadel's maritime museum and the lanes of La Ponche round it out, and that is a single unhurried day.

In summer, Saint-Tropez has the bigger night out by far. Beach-club afternoons at Pampelonne roll into champagne on the harbour and a few famous clubs that run till dawn, with dress codes and table service rather than casual bar-hopping.

Avignon's evenings are an aperitif on Place Pie and a quiet walk home before midnight, with July's festival crowds as the lively exception. Both towns go quiet out of season.

Both are fine bases for the outdoors, but the landscapes differ. Around Avignon the country is inland and upland: Mont Ventoux for cyclists and hikers, the Luberon's ochre trails, the Dentelles and Alpilles crags, and the Camargue's flamingos and white horses to the south.

Saint-Tropez faces the sea. The Sentier du Littoral threads pine-backed coves to the capes of Camarat and Taillat, the gulf is classic sailing water, the rocky points are good for snorkelling, and the protected islands of Port-Cros and Porquerolles are within reach.

Avignon is one of the best bases in France for day trips. Within half an hour lie the arenas of Nîmes and Arles, Orange's Roman theatre and the Pont du Gard, with Les Baux, the Luberon hill villages and Aix-en-Provence close behind. Much of it can be reached by train.

From Saint-Tropez the outings are pleasant but smaller. You can visit the hilltop villages of Ramatuelle and Gassin, take the boat to Port Grimaud, or spend a day on Porquerolles. Almost everything depends on gulf roads that clog in high summer.

Neither town is built around children, and they suit families in different ways. Avignon works through its sights: the tablet tour of the palace, dancing on the bridge from the song and the playground in the Rocher des Doms. Its best family days, such as canoeing at the Pont du Gard, need a car.

Saint-Tropez offers beach days on gently shelving sand at Pampelonne and Gigaro. Otherwise the town is aimed at adults, and the cost and summer traffic push many families to stay across the gulf.

Avignon is much easier to move around. The walled centre is walkable, the TGV station is a short shuttle away, and regional trains run to Arles, Nîmes, Orange and Marseille. Only the villages and Ventoux really call for a car.

Saint-Tropez is tiny on foot but has no railway at all, and its main beaches are several kilometres out. The single road along the gulf jams for hours in July and August, so the passenger boats from Sainte-Maxime are often the best way in.

Saint-Tropez is the better shopping stop, at least at the luxury and resort end. Big fashion houses keep summer shops behind the port, and the leather Tropézienne sandals are still hand-made in old-town workshops. The Place des Lices market adds linen, baskets and vintage finds.

Avignon is more modest. It has chains on Rue de la République and Provençal cottons, lavender and soap in the lanes around Rue des Marchands. The best buys are olive oil, calissons and wine, and serious antiques hunters head to L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue.

Avignon is clearly the cheaper stay, though not a bargain. Set lunches away from the main squares are fair, and spring and autumn rooms are reasonable. Festival July is the costly exception.

Saint-Tropez is among the dearest places on the Mediterranean. Rooms, loungers, coffee on the port and the taxis that the lack of public transport forces on you all add up. Many careful spenders sleep inland or across the gulf and picnic from the market.

Avignon matters here on a world scale. Each July the Festival d'Avignon fills the Cour d'honneur of the palace and the region's cloisters and quarries, while the Off fringe takes over every cellar and courtyard. The Opéra Grand Avignon, small theatres and a jazz club keep a programme going through the year.

Saint-Tropez offers summer concerts in gardens and at the citadel, plus the Bravade, a musket-bearing May procession centuries old. Beyond that, serious theatre or opera means driving to Toulon or Nice.

Neither has a bathing tradition, and in both wellness means hotel spas. The difference is in how you unwind. Around Avignon it is a farmhouse guesthouse among vineyards and lavender with a pool, though the mistral can wear on the nerves.

Saint-Tropez relaxes in its shoulder months, with morning walks to the citadel, long lunches and pétanque under the plane trees. Both towns are anything but restful at their summer peak.