Basel or Cannes?

Basel's swimming is a river ritual. You walk upstream along the Kleinbasel bank, stuff your clothes into a waterproof bag and float back past the Münster. It is a memorable summer afternoon, but it is only for confident swimmers and lasts only a few warm months.

Cannes offers the real thing. There is sand along the Croisette and a wider, mostly free stretch at Plage du Midi, and the water is calm enough for small children. The clearer coves of the Lérins islands and the Esterel are close by, and the season runs into October.

Cannes has the edge because it has a sense of place: the Forville market, bouillabaisse and grilled fish in Le Suquet, socca and rosé on a terrace. Its range is narrow, though, and much of the seafront food is overpriced.

Basel cooks well but borrows its menu, with Alsatian tarte flambée, Baden wines and Swiss-German comfort food. Its own specialities are few, Läckerli biscuits being the best known. Both places reward you for leaving the centre, Basel for the wine villages over the border and Cannes for the hill villages around Mougins.

This is Basel's clearest advantage. The Kunstmuseum, the Fondation Beyeler in Riehen, the Museum Tinguely and the Vitra Design Museum could fill several days. Around them sit the sandstone Münster, the painted Rathaus and a medieval gate, alongside buildings by Herzog & de Meuron.

Cannes offers a pleasant morning instead: the castle museum and church on Le Suquet, the Belle Époque palace hotels and the red-carpet steps of the Palais des Festivals. Serious art lovers on the Riviera end up in Antibes or Saint-Paul-de-Vence.

Neither is a party destination, and the difference is in tone. Basel is relaxed and local: summer drinks on the river steps at the Kleinbasel buvettes, bars around the Kaserne, and electronic nights in old harbour buildings. Once a year comes Fasnacht, three days of drums and lanterns that start at four in the morning.

Cannes is about champagne and dressing up. Its beach clubs turn into party venues in summer and during the festivals, but it goes quiet off-season, when those wanting more head to Nice.

Cannes has the more striking landscape. The volcanic red rock of the Esterel drops into the sea twenty minutes away, there are pine-shaded paths on the Lérins islands, and you can sail, kayak and dive around them. In high summer, though, fire risk can close forest trails.

Basel's countryside is gentler. You can walk in the Jura, the Black Forest and the Vosges, or cycle the flat Rhine paths into two neighbouring countries. It suits walkers and cyclists, but the scenery is wooded hills rather than coast.

Both are excellent bases, and the difference lies in what you reach. From Basel, fast trains run into three countries: Colmar and the Alsace wine villages, Freiburg, Strasbourg, then Lucerne, Bern and Zurich, each a different culture an hour or so away.

From Cannes, the trips stay on one sunny coast. Antibes, Nice and Monaco are on the coastal line, the perched villages and Grasse lie behind, and the island monastery is a short ferry ride away. Those inland villages are easier by car than by train.

Basel has a little more to do with children. The Zolli is one of Europe's best zoos and a short walk from the station, and there are rainy-day museums and current-drawn ferries, with Europa-Park an hour away. The Rhine is too strong for small swimmers, though.

Cannes reverses that. Its gently sloping sand and calm sea suit young children, and the flat Croisette has carousels along the way. Beyond the beach, though, the town is aimed at adults, and midsummer heat shapes the day.

Basel is about as easy as a city gets. The old town and both riverbanks are walkable, green trams reach the suburbs and cross into Germany and France, and hotel guests travel on them free.

Cannes's centre is compact and flat, apart from the steep climb up Le Suquet, and coastal trains make the Riviera simple. Inland villages and the Esterel corniche really call for a car, which means heavy summer traffic and scarce parking.

Cannes is the better place to shop. The great fashion and jewellery houses line the Croisette, Rue d'Antibes has over a kilometre of French high-street and mid-range shops, and Rue Meynadier sells olive oil and fabrics. Grasse for perfume is close by.

Basel's Freie Strasse and Gerbergasse are tidy but limited, with watches, chocolate and chains, plus small design shops on Spalenberg. Its Christmas market around the Münster is the main seasonal draw.

Neither is cheap, but Basel is the harder on a budget, with Swiss prices for rooms, meals, drinks and museums alike. The free transport card helps, and so does a tram ride into Germany or France for cheaper meals.

Cannes is expensive on the waterfront and during the festivals. Away from the Croisette, though, costs fall to ordinary French levels. Market picnics, public beaches, backstreet lunch menus and cheap coastal trains keep a spring or autumn stay reasonable.

Basel has the stronger stage. Theater Basel puts on opera, ballet and drama known well beyond Switzerland, the Stadtcasino is home to two orchestras, and early-music concerts add something unusual from autumn to early summer.

Cannes's famous film festival is closed to most visitors apart from free beach screenings. What remains is a regional orchestra, a respected dance festival, and summer concerts in the castle courtyard on Le Suquet. Jazz fans go to the festival at Juan-les-Pins nearby.

Basel offers more for a spa day. The saline thermal baths at Rheinfelden are twenty minutes away, and the German spa towns of Badenweiler and Bad Krozingen are close over the border. Its quiet Sundays and slow riverside add to the calm.

Cannes has polished palace-hotel spas and seawater thalassotherapy, but no public baths or springs. Its restful side is the bay itself on a calm spring or autumn morning. In August and during festival weeks it is too crowded to unwind.