Bordeaux or Cannes?

This is Cannes's category. Its beaches are right in town: a curve of fine sand along the Croisette and the wider, mostly free Plage du Midi, on calm water that is easy to swim in from June into October. Clearer rocky spots wait on the Lérins islands and in the Esterel coves. Private concessions take much of the frontage, and the central beaches fill up in July and August.

Bordeaux has no beach of its own. A day by the sea means an hour's journey west to the long, wild Atlantic sands of Lacanau and the Médoc, with surf and rip currents. The other option is the train to the sheltered Arcachon basin, which is gentler for children. Outside high summer that coast is for walking.

Bordeaux is the stronger city for eating and drinking, and wine is the reason. You can work through Médoc, Saint-Émilion, Graves and Sauternes by the glass and visit the Cité du Vin. There is entrecôte grilled over vine cuttings, duck from the Landes, Arcachon oysters at the Marché des Capucins, and serious bistros in Saint-Pierre and Chartrons.

Cannes eats well around the Forville market and in the bistros of Le Suquet, with bouillabaisse, socca and chilled rosé, plus fine dining in the palace hotels and towards Mougins. Much of the seafront cooking, though, is aimed at passing crowds, and the town has few dishes of its own.

Bordeaux is well ahead. Its whole 18th-century limestone centre is a UNESCO site made for slow walking, from the Place de la Bourse and its Miroir d'eau to the Grand Théâtre, the bell tower of Saint-Michel and the Grosse Cloche. Museums such as the Musée d'Aquitaine and the CAPC round out three or four days.

Cannes offers the castle museum and church views of Le Suquet, the Belle Époque hotels on the Croisette and the red-carpet steps of the Palais des Festivals, which add up to about a morning. Art lovers staying there will travel along the coast for it.

Bordeaux has the more dependable night out. There are wine bars and terraces in Saint-Pierre, cheap student drinking around Place de la Victoire and late clubs along the Quai de Paludate. It is liveliest at weekends in term time and keeps going all year, not just in summer.

Cannes is seasonal and dressier. Beach clubs on the Croisette turn into party venues from June to September and during the festivals, and it is a place for champagne rather than dive bars. Off-season the town goes quiet early, and anyone after more heads to Nice.

Cannes has the more dramatic landscape. The red volcanic Esterel massif, with its trails and corniche road above the sea, lies twenty minutes west, and the Lérins islands and Cap d'Antibes offer easy coastal walks. There is diving, sailing and paddleboarding, with the pre-Alps and winter skiing inland, though summer fire risk can close the trails.

Around Bordeaux the country is flat: vineyards, river meadows and the pine forest of the Landes. The highlights are on the coast: the Dune du Pilat, the birdlife of the Arcachon basin and the surf at Lacanau. The easiest pleasure is cycling the greenways through Entre-Deux-Mers, and proper hiking is far away.

Both make excellent bases, and Cannes comes out ahead because so much lies on one train line: Antibes, Nice, Villefranche, Monaco and Menton. Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Èze, Grasse and Mougins are close by bus or car, and the monastery on the Lérins islands is a ferry ride away.

Bordeaux's day trips revolve around wine: Saint-Émilion by train, the Médoc châteaux of Margaux and Pauillac, and Sauternes to the south, with Arcachon and Cognac as other options. Many estates need a car or a tour, which makes them a little less effortless.

The two are about equal for children, and in both the town is easy rather than exciting. Bordeaux's flat, tram-served centre suits pushchairs, the Miroir d'eau doubles as a paddling pool and the Jardin Public has a puppet theatre. Its best family days, at the Dune du Pilat and the Arcachon basin, need a trip out.

Cannes has a gentle sandy beach right in town and a boat to the Lérins islands for picnics, but little else aimed at children. Midsummer heat and crowds mean planning the day around the middle hours.

Bordeaux is the easier city to get around. Its flat, largely pedestrianised centre runs along the left bank from Chartrons to Saint-Michel, trams reach the Cité du Vin and the right bank, and bike lanes make cycling natural. Only the vineyard visits call for a car.

Cannes is small enough to walk, apart from the steep climb to Le Suquet, and its central station makes the coast simple by train. The inland villages and the Esterel road are harder without a car, and summer traffic and scarce parking make driving a chore.

The two are close for shopping but sell different things. Cannes has the more concentrated luxury, with the Paris fashion and jewellery houses facing the sea on the Croisette, Rue d'Antibes for mid-range fashion, and Rue Meynadier for olive oil and Provençal soaps.

Bordeaux pairs the long chain-store stretch of Rue Sainte-Catherine with the antique dealers of Rue Notre-Dame in Chartrons. Its real draw is wine: cellars sell everything from everyday bottles to old vintages and will ship them home.

Bordeaux is the cheaper of the two, though neither is a budget destination. It costs what a prosperous French city costs, set lunches and cheap trams keep daily spending down, and the money goes on château tastings and good bottles.

Cannes is priced for a wealthy crowd near the seafront, and hotel rooms climb far higher during the film festival and the trade fairs. Backstreet lunch menus, the public beaches, the coastal trains and staying in a neighbouring town all make a real difference.

An evening at the Grand Théâtre, the gilded, colonnaded opera house of 1780, is the best night out in either city, and it puts Bordeaux clearly ahead. The city's opera and ballet companies perform there through the season, the national orchestra plays in an auditorium nearby, and a hall on the right bank programmes jazz and world music. The seasons pause in high summer, so this suits a trip in spring, autumn or winter.

Cannes is famous for a film festival that most visitors cannot attend, because entry needs accreditation, and the public mostly gets the free screenings on the beach. In other weeks the Palais des Festivals takes touring shows and comedy, summer brings classical concerts in the castle courtyard on Le Suquet, and the Juan-les-Pins jazz festival is just along the coast. Between those events there is little on.

Neither has a thermal tradition, so the difference is one of style. Bordeaux's speciality is vinotherapy, grape-seed treatments at spa hotels set among the vineyards outside town, and real thermal waters are at Dax.

Cannes relies on palace-hotel spas and seawater thalassotherapy along the coast. Its calm spring and autumn seafront suits slow mornings, but festival weeks and August are too noisy for anyone trying to unwind.