Biarritz or Toulouse?

Biarritz is built around its beaches. The Grande Plage lies below the casino, the Côte des Basques runs under the cliffs, the sheltered Port Vieux cove is there for calm swims, and the long sands of Anglet stretch north. The Atlantic is cool and often rough, so you swim between the lifeguard flags, but sand and surf are a short walk from anywhere in town.

Toulouse has no sea at all. The Mediterranean around Gruissan is about two hours away, so in the city a swim means the supervised lakes at Sesquières or La Ramée, or a hotel pool.

Both cities eat well around a covered market, but the cooking is quite different. Biarritz is Basque and coastal: fish from the Bay of Biscay, chipirons, Bayonne ham and Espelette pepper, often eaten as pintxos at the bars around Les Halles with Txakoli or cider.

Toulouse cooks the rich food of the inland south-west, with cassoulet, duck confit and foie gras alongside Fronton and Gaillac wines. The set lunch, including the counters above the Victor Hugo market, is the everyday way to eat it. Neither city offers much beyond its regional kitchen.

Toulouse is much the stronger place for sightseeing. Saint-Sernin is one of the largest Romanesque churches in Europe, and the Jacobins has its palm-tree vault. Renaissance mansions such as the Hôtel d'Assézat and the Augustins cloister hold serious art collections, all within a rose-brick centre that hangs together beautifully.

Biarritz's heritage is the resort itself: the imperial villa, the Art Deco casino, Belle Époque villas and the Rocher de la Vierge on its footbridge. Its museums are the aquarium and the ocean science centre, which are enjoyable but quickly seen.

Toulouse goes out all year thanks to its huge student population. Cheap bars on Place Saint-Pierre spill onto the quays, there are wine bars around Carmes and the clubs have a solid electronic scene, and only July and August go quiet. Biarritz works the other way round. It is lively in summer around Les Halles and on the terraces above the Côte des Basques, but out of season most evenings end after dinner, and San Sebastián is the place for a bigger night.

Biarritz has the outdoors right on its doorstep. The surf runs from the beginner breaks on the Côte des Basques to the beach breaks of Anglet, a coastal path follows the Basque Corniche towards Spain, and La Rhune and the green hills around Sare are within half an hour.

Toulouse sits on a flat plain, so everyday outdoor time means cycling the Canal du Midi towpaths or walking the banks of the Garonne. The high Pyrenees, with proper hiking and skiing, are one and a half to two hours away, which makes them a full day out rather than a morning.

Both are excellent bases, but Biarritz has the edge because it reaches into two countries. San Sebastián is under an hour away, Bayonne is next door, and Saint-Jean-de-Luz, Espelette and walled Hondarribia are all close, with Bilbao's Guggenheim a full day by car.

Toulouse's outings are medieval and Romanesque rather than coastal. Carcassonne's walled Cité and brick-built Albi are each an hour by train, and Moissac's cloister and Cordes-sur-Ciel are within reach if you have a car.

With children, Biarritz is a trip built around the sea, and Toulouse one built around rockets and aircraft. In Biarritz children can learn to surf at the beach schools, watch the seals and sharks at the aquarium and paddle in the sheltered Port Vieux cove, away from the big waves of the main beaches. The steep streets up from the seafront are hard going with a pushchair.

Toulouse makes a day out of its aerospace industry. At the Cité de l'espace there is a full-size Ariane rocket and a Mir module to walk through, and at the aircraft museum children can climb inside a Concorde. The centre is flat and easy with a pushchair, but July and August can be very hot.

Toulouse is easier to get around. It has a flat, compact centre inside the boulevards, two metro lines with trams and buses on the same tickets, and a bike scheme along the river. You can walk around Biarritz too, but the walking means steep streets and steps between the cliffs and the seafront. Trains run to Bayonne and the Spanish border, but the Basque villages really call for a car, while the airport sits right on the edge of town.

Toulouse has more choice. Rue d'Alsace-Lorraine has the chains and a large department store, and the lanes of Saint-Étienne add independent boutiques and antiques. Biarritz is a smaller browse of fashion boutiques and surf shops between Place Clemenceau and the market.

The things to take home differ too. From Biarritz you bring back Basque striped linen, espadrilles and Espelette pepper. From Toulouse it is violet sweets, Armagnac and cassoulet in jars.

Toulouse is the cheaper stay. Hotels cost far less than on the coast, the set lunch is part of daily life and student bars keep drinks cheap, although good dinners still add up. Biarritz charges resort prices, especially for July and August rooms, which book up early. Pintxos at the market bars, a bed in Anglet or Bayonne, or a trip out of season will bring the cost down.

Toulouse has the fuller programme, and it is built on classical music. There is opera and ballet at the Théâtre du Capitole, the Orchestre National du Capitole in the round Halle aux Grains, and the summer piano festival in the Jacobins cloister. Biarritz is a small-town stage with one real speciality, dance, through the national choreographic centre at the Gare du Midi and its autumn dance festival.

This is one of Biarritz's real strengths. It has been a sea-bathing cure town since the nineteenth century, and people book a trip just for its seafront thalassotherapy centres, with their heated seawater pools and multi-day programmes. They are calmest outside high summer.

Toulouse has hotel spas and a few hammams, and its calm comes from long lunches and rides along the canal. For proper thermal baths you have to go to Luchon or Ax-les-Thermes in the Pyrenees, ideally with an overnight stay.