Avignon or Zermatt?

Neither is a beach destination, but Avignon at least has somewhere to swim. In summer the clear green pools of the Gardon below the Pont du Gard are a short drive away, and the Camargue sands and the beaches around Le Grau-du-Roi make a full day out.

Zermatt has no sea, no bathing lake and tarns fed by meltwater that stays painfully cold all summer. The only swim there is in a hotel pool.

Avignon eats better and more cheaply. Provençal dishes such as daube, tians and tapenade come from a fertile plain, Les Halles sells and cooks the produce, and Châteauneuf-du-Pape and the Côtes du Rhône are poured by the glass. The good tables are in the side streets, not on the main squares.

Zermatt's best meals are on the mountain, long lunches in the chalet hamlets around Findeln and Furi with the Matterhorn in view. In the village there is raclette, fondue, Valais wine and some ambitious fine dining. There is little cheap eating, though, and many kitchens close between seasons.

Avignon spent most of the 14th century as the seat of the popes, and it shows. The Palais des Papes, the cathedral, the broken bridge and almost 4km of ramparts are worth two full days, and the Petit Palais, the Musée Calvet and the Collection Lambert add serious art.

Zermatt's heritage is the story of mountaineering. There is the underground Matterhorn Museum, the cemetery of climbers who died on the surrounding peaks, and old larch-wood granaries in the Hinterdorf. It is all interesting, and it is all done in a morning.

Neither is a party town, and each one only comes alive in its own season. For most of the year Avignon is about an aperitif on Place Pie and a quiet street by midnight. In July the festival keeps the squares full until the small hours.

Zermatt's evenings belong to winter. Après-ski starts in the slope-side bars on the runs into the village, and on busy weekends a few small clubs on the main street stay open late. In summer, hikers with early starts are in bed after dinner.

Zermatt puts you in the high Alps without a drive. The Matterhorn rises over the village, and lifts climb to the Gornergrat and to glacier terrain above 3,800m. From there you can ski in summer, walk the Five Lakes trail or cross the Europaweg suspension bridge.

Avignon's countryside is fine in a gentler, scattered way: Mont Ventoux, the Luberon's ochre trails, the Alpilles and the flamingos of the Camargue. Each needs a car, and the summer heat and the mistral limit the best months to spring and autumn.

This is where Avignon pulls furthest ahead. Nîmes, Arles, Orange and the Pont du Gard are close enough for half-day trips. Beyond them are Les Baux, the Luberon hill villages, the Châteauneuf vineyards, and Marseille or Aix by fast train.

From Zermatt every outing starts with a long train ride down the valley. Sion, with its castle hills, and Brig are pleasant, and Saas-Fee is close by bus. Most visitors stay in the mountains on their spare days.

These two are close for families, and which suits you depends on how you like to spend your days. In Avignon children enjoy the tablet tour of the palace and dancing on the bridge from the song, but the best family days are out of town, canoeing at the Pont du Gard or seeing the Camargue horses, and they need a car. Cobbled lanes and July crowds make it harder work with small children.

Zermatt's car-free streets are calm and safe. In winter there are ski schools and nursery slopes, in summer marmots and easy lake walks. Rainy days are hard to fill, though, and the highest viewpoints can be too cold and thin-aired for toddlers.

Zermatt is the easier place to be without a car, because a car is not allowed. You arrive by train from Täsch, and after that the village, the cog railway, the Sunnegga funicular and the gondolas are all a walk or a short electric-taxi ride away. Only the hillside hotels are hard work with luggage.

Inside its walls Avignon is just as walkable, and regional trains reach Arles, Nîmes and Orange easily. The vineyards, hill villages and Ventoux are a different matter, as buses are sparse and a hire car is the practical answer.

Avignon is the better place to browse, though neither town is worth the trip for its shops alone. Away from the chain stores on Rue de la République, the lanes near Rue Joseph Vernet and Rue des Marchands sell Provençal fabrics, lavender and olive-wood. The most useful purchases are edible: olive oil, tapenade and calissons from Les Halles, or wine bought straight from the grower. For antiques, the real trade is out in the canal town of L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, an easy drive from town.

Zermatt has nothing like Avignon's weekend stalls of second-hand finds and flowers, and few independent shops of any kind. Its one main street mixes Swiss watch and jewellery boutiques aimed at wealthy skiers with cowbell souvenirs. Its real strength is the mountain outfitters, so if you need boots or ski gear, buy them here.

Avignon is far easier on the wallet, though not a bargain. Set lunches, wine from local producers and a walkable old town keep spending modest, and only festival-season rooms and a hire car really push the bill up.

Zermatt is among the most expensive places in the Alps. Rooms, terrace lunches and the lift passes that every visit depends on all cost well above European norms. Self-catering or sleeping in Täsch helps, but only so far.

Avignon's theatre festival is famous around the world. For three weeks every July the Festival d'Avignon stages major productions in the courtyard of the Palais des Papes, while the Off fills cellars, chapels and courtyards with shows from morning to night. The opera house on Place de l'Horloge, a dozen small theatres and a jazz club keep things going for the rest of the year.

Zermatt has no theatre or concert hall. Zermatt Unplugged brings several days of acoustic sets to tents and mountain stages in spring, and a chamber music festival fills the church in late summer. Outside those weeks, live music means a band in an après-ski bar.

Zermatt is the better place to unwind indoors. There are a great many good hotel spas, some open to day visitors, with saunas and pools that look out at the peaks. The car-free quiet adds to the calm, although peak weeks feel active rather than slow.

Avignon's relaxation is more about pace than treatments: long lunches under plane trees and the Rocher des Doms in the evening. For a real retreat, stay in a farmhouse among the vineyards rather than in town, especially in July or when the mistral blows.