Biarritz or Bordeaux?

Biarritz is built around its beaches. The Grande Plage sits below the casino, the Côte des Basques runs under the cliffs, and the small Port Vieux cove gives calm water for an easy swim. Miramar and Anglet's long sands carry on north of the lighthouse. The Atlantic here is cool and often rough, and the beaches are full in high summer, but you can walk to the sea in minutes.

Bordeaux is on a river, so a beach day means about an hour by train or car. You get wild surf beaches backed by pine forest at Lacanau, or the sheltered Arcachon basin, whose calm water is gentler than anything in Biarritz apart from Port Vieux. These make good day trips, but they are not a beach vacation.

Bordeaux is the better city for eating and above all for drinking. Médoc, Saint-Émilion and Sauternes are poured by the glass all over town, the Cité du Vin covers wine from every angle, and on weekend mornings Arcachon oysters are eaten at the counters of the Marché des Capucins. Entrecôte grilled over vine cuttings and canelés from every bakery round it out, and Saint-Pierre and Chartrons have serious bistros.

Biarritz's cooking is Basque and it is good: pintxos at the bars around Les Halles, Bayonne ham, Espelette pepper, chipirons and gâteau basque. There are fewer places to eat, though, and the seafront has more ordinary tourist restaurants.

There is far more to see in Bordeaux. Its 18th-century Port of the Moon is a UNESCO site of pale limestone façades running from the Place de la Bourse to the Grand Théâtre. The Cathédrale Saint-André, the Basilique Saint-Michel and the Grosse Cloche break up the streets, and the Musée d'Aquitaine and the CAPC are worth several hours.

Biarritz's heritage is the resort itself: Empress Eugénie's former villa, the Art Deco casino, the Russian Orthodox church and the footbridge out to the Rocher de la Vierge. The aquarium and the Cité de l'Océan are the main museums. For an old town, most visitors go to Bayonne.

Bordeaux has the bigger night out. It runs from wine bars on the Saint-Pierre squares and cheap student drinking at Place de la Victoire to the clubs along the Quai de Paludate, which keep going until morning, especially at weekends in term time.

Biarritz's evenings depend on the season. In summer the crowds drink and eat pintxos around Les Halles and surfers watch the sunset above the Côte des Basques. Out of season most nights end after dinner, and anyone wanting more drives to Bayonne or across to San Sebastián.

Biarritz is the better base for outdoor days. It has surf for every level, from beginner breaks at Anglet to reef waves further down the coast, and a cliff path that follows the Basque Corniche towards Spain. The Pyrenean foothills are within half an hour, and La Rhune and the hills around Sare give real walking and cycling.

Bordeaux's countryside is flat vineyards and Landes pine forest. Long greenways make it excellent for gentle cycling. Its best outdoor sights, the Dune du Pilat and the tidal flats of the Arcachon basin, are an hour away, and there is no hiking country nearby.

Both cities make excellent bases, and the difference is in the type of day out. From Biarritz you can visit two countries. San Sebastián is under an hour away, Bayonne is next door, and the Basque villages of Espelette and Ainhoa and walled Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port lead you into the mountains.

Bordeaux's day trips are mostly about wine: Saint-Émilion by train, the châteaux of Margaux and Pauillac along the estuary, and Sauternes to the south. Arcachon's oyster ports add the sea. Many of the vineyard visits need a car or a tour, as do the Basque villages inland from Biarritz.

Both cities work well with children, but in different ways. Biarritz offers beach days, surf lessons for kids, and the aquarium with its seals and sharks for a rainy afternoon. The waves on the main beaches need watching, though, and the steep streets are hard work with a pushchair.

Bordeaux is flat, largely car-free and easy with a buggy. The Miroir d'eau becomes a paddling pool on hot days, and the Jardin Public has a carousel and a puppet theatre. Its best family outings, the Dune du Pilat and Arcachon's calm water, are an hour away, and older children may find a city of wine and long lunches slow.

Bordeaux is the easier city to get around. It is flat, and pedestrian streets such as the Rue Sainte-Catherine take you between most of the sights along the left bank. Trams cover the rest, from the Cité du Vin to the station, and the riverside paths are made for cycling.

Biarritz is small enough to walk, but it is hilly, with steps and steep streets between the cliffs and the seafront. Buses and coastal trains reach Bayonne and the Spanish border, and the airport is right on the edge of town. For the inland villages and the mountains, most visitors hire a car.

Bordeaux has much more choice. It has the long Rue Sainte-Catherine with its chains and a department store, luxury labels in the Triangle d'Or, and antique dealers along Rue Notre-Dame in Chartrons. Its wine cellars, which sell everything from everyday bottles to old vintages and ship abroad, are reason enough to shop here.

Biarritz offers smart boutiques and surf shops, plus a few local crafts worth taking home: striped Basque linen, handmade espadrilles, chocolate and gâteau basque. It makes for pleasant browsing, but there is not much more than that.

Neither city is cheap, but Bordeaux is the more forgiving of the two. Set lunch menus, inexpensive trams and a centre that costs nothing to walk keep the daily spend down, and the money goes on château tastings and good bottles at dinner.

Biarritz charges resort prices, especially for rooms and seafront meals in July and August. It costs less to eat at the market bars, to visit outside summer, or to stay in Anglet or Bayonne and travel in.

Bordeaux has the stronger stage. Opera and ballet are performed in the gilded 1780 auditorium of the Grand Théâtre, the national orchestra plays nearby, and a right-bank hall hosts jazz and world music. Most of this stops in high summer, though.

Biarritz is a small town, but dance is a real strength. Its national choreographic centre has a ballet company that performs at the Gare du Midi, and the town hosts a dance festival in autumn. Beyond dance there is little more than touring shows and summer events on the seafront.

Rest has been Biarritz's business since the nineteenth century, when people came to bathe in the sea as a cure. That tradition carries on in heated seawater pools, hydrotherapy and algae wraps, and many guests build the whole stay around a cure that runs for several days. Between treatments there are walks over the headlands and long hours watching the surf from the promenade, although July and August bring more crowds than calm.

Bordeaux has no bathing culture of its own, so relaxing there is more about the pace of the city than about treatments. A handful of hotels among the vineyards use grape seeds and vine extracts, which suits a night or two away from town, and in the centre the shaded benches of the Jardin Public do most of the work. For real thermal waters you have to go to Dax, about an hour and a half south.