Biarritz or Saint-Malo?

Biarritz is the better beach town. The Grande Plage, the Côte des Basques and the sandy run up through Anglet give kilometres of sand, the Port Vieux cove offers a calm dip, and the sea warms enough in late summer for real swimming, though the Atlantic surf and currents keep you between the flags.

Saint-Malo's Sillon beach is long and the low-tide flats are spectacular, with a walk out to the island forts as a bonus. The water is the problem: the Channel stays cold, so most people paddle, use the Bon-Secours tidal pool and spend more time on the sand than in the sea.

Biarritz eats better and more sociably. Les Halles is the hub, with Bayonne ham, sheep's cheese and Espelette pepper, and pintxo bars around it from mid-morning, plus a Basque repertoire of piperade, axoa and gâteau basque.

Saint-Malo's strengths are narrower: galettes with cider, salted-butter sweets and Cancale oysters eaten by the harbour wall. Inside the walls many places cater to day visitors, so the better meals mean heading out to Saint-Servan or Cancale.

Saint-Malo gives more to see. The complete ring of ramparts, the granite town rebuilt after 1944, the cathedral, the castle keep, Chateaubriand's grave on the Grand Bé and the shipowners' malouinières tell a corsair and seafaring story you can walk through in a full day.

Biarritz's heritage is the resort itself: the imperial villa, the Art Deco casino, Belle Époque villas and the Rocher de la Vierge. Add the aquarium and the Cité de l'Océan and you have covered it, so history lovers lean on Bayonne and San Sebastián.

Neither is a party town, but Biarritz has more going on. Summer evenings fill the streets around Les Halles with wine and pintxos, surfers take sundowners above the Côte des Basques, and a few clubs and the casino run late, with Bayonne and San Sebastián near enough for a bigger night.

Saint-Malo offers pubs and wine bars inside the walls and little else, and anyone wanting a club has to go to Rennes.

Biarritz has the edge for outdoor variety. It is a classic surf town with beginner breaks and reef waves down the coast, and within half an hour the green Pyrenean foothills begin, with La Rhune and the hills around Sare for walking and cycling.

Saint-Malo is about the tides, some of the largest in Europe, and the GR34 path towards Pointe du Grouin and Cap Fréhel. Kayaking on the Rance and kitesurfing are good, but the land behind is flat farmland, with no mountains to match the Basque hinterland.

Both are excellent bases, and the difference is in the kind of trip. From Biarritz you cross a border: San Sebastián's old town and bay, Hondarribia and Bilbao's Guggenheim in Spain, plus Bayonne and Basque villages such as Espelette and Ainhoa.

Saint-Malo's days out are medieval and maritime: Mont-Saint-Michel, half-timbered Dinan, the boat to Dinard, oysters at Cancale and summer ferries to Jersey. In both places a car opens up the most.

Both are safe, easy seaside towns for children, with an aquarium for a wet day. Biarritz adds surf lessons and the sheltered Port Vieux cove, though big waves and steep streets demand care. Saint-Malo trades on ramparts, pirate stories, the sea pool and walks to the forts, but the fast tides need watching and the water is cold for small swimmers.

Getting around is about as easy in each, but on different terrain. Biarritz is walkable yet hilly, with steps between cliffs and seafront, buses to Anglet and Bayonne, an airport at the edge of town and coastal trains towards the Spanish border.

Saint-Malo's walled centre is flat and pedestrian, a seafront promenade links it to the beaches, and direct high-speed trains run to Rennes and Paris. In both, the villages and sights further out are easiest by car.

Biarritz is the slightly better browse, with fashion boutiques and surf shops around the Place Clemenceau, striped Basque linen, espadrilles and chocolatiers. Saint-Malo sticks more to Breton souvenirs: sailor tops, oilskins, salted-butter caramels and faience. Neither has department stores, so serious shoppers look to Bayonne or Rennes.

Saint-Malo is the cheaper of two expensive resorts. Galettes and cider and fair set lunches keep meals affordable, and walking and local buses keep transport costs down.

Biarritz charges fashionable resort prices, above all in July and August, and seafront tables add up. Pintxos at the market bars and staying in Anglet or Bayonne help, and in both towns spring and autumn are the better-value seasons.

Biarritz has the more regular stage life, thanks to its national choreographic centre and ballet company at the Gare du Midi and an autumn dance festival. Saint-Malo has a modest theatre season and leans on festivals such as La Route du Rock, Étonnants Voyageurs and Quai des Bulles, with little on most nights outside those dates.

Both are traditional thalassotherapy towns, but Biarritz is more fully built around it, with several large seawater spas on the seafront offering multi-day cures, plus headland walks and long lunches out of season.

Saint-Malo has one big thalasso centre on the Sillon beach and the same tradition across the water in Dinard. Its restful version is low-tide walks on empty sand and cold morning swims, best outside August, when the walls are packed.