Bordeaux or Colmar?

Bordeaux has a real beach option and Colmar has none. From Bordeaux an hour's trip reaches the long Atlantic sands of Lacanau and the Médoc, with surf and pine-backed dunes, or the sheltered water of the Arcachon basin, which is gentler for small children. July and August are the months to go.

Colmar sits inland on the Alsace plain, so swimming means a municipal pool or a small lake up in the Vosges valleys. If time in the water matters to your trip, this category decides it.

Both cities live by wine, but Bordeaux's table is richer and more varied. You can taste across Médoc, Saint-Émilion and Sauternes, eat raw Arcachon oysters at the Marché des Capucins and choose between classic brasseries and serious bistros in Saint-Pierre and Chartrons.

Colmar's cooking is hearty Alsatian winstub food, such as choucroute, baeckeoffe and tarte flambée, served with Riesling and Gewurztraminer. It has character and a small fine-dining tier, but the choice narrows faster, and the busiest tourist lanes serve plenty of tired menus.

The two are closely matched, but they offer very different things. Bordeaux is a grand 18th-century city of pale limestone, with the Place de la Bourse, the Grand Théâtre and Gothic churches spread along the Garonne, and a set of solid museums that takes three or four days to see.

Colmar is small, half-timbered and late medieval, with painted houses, canals and the Petite Venise quarter. Its trump card is a single masterpiece, Grünewald's Isenheim Altarpiece in the Unterlinden Museum, which gives it greater artistic depth on a smaller scale.

Bordeaux gives you a real night out. Terraces in Saint-Pierre fill on warm evenings, Place de la Victoire draws students, and the warehouse clubs on the Quai de Paludate keep going until morning.

In Colmar, evenings end with a glass of Alsace wine after dinner and a few quiet pubs near Petite Venise. Anyone who wants to dance has to take the train to Strasbourg.

Colmar has more varied and more walkable landscapes. Vineyard paths begin within half an hour, and above them the forested Vosges offer glacial lakes, high pastures and the ridge of the Route des Crêtes with views towards the Black Forest. Autumn, when the vines turn, is when it looks its best.

Bordeaux's surroundings are flat: vineyards, the Landes pine forest and, an hour away, the Dune du Pilat and the surfing coast of the Médoc. It is good country for cycling and birdwatching, but there is no hiking terrain nearby.

Both are excellent bases, but Colmar packs more into a short radius. The wine villages of Eguisheim, Riquewihr and Kaysersberg lie a few kilometres apart, Strasbourg is half an hour by train, and Basel and Freiburg take you into Switzerland and Germany within about an hour.

From Bordeaux, the classic outings are Saint-Émilion by train, the château country of Margaux and Pauillac, and Arcachon on the coast, while Cognac and Biarritz take a longer day. Its trips are more about wine and sea, and Colmar's mix in cross-border cities.

Colmar comes out slightly ahead for children, mainly because of what lies around it. There are boat rides through Petite Venise and storks on the rooftops in town, and within driving distance a monkey park, an eagle show, the Haut-Koenigsbourg castle, the Mulhouse railway and car museums and Europa-Park.

Bordeaux is easy with a pushchair, and the Miroir d'eau and the Jardin Public are good in town. Its best family days, though, are climbing the Dune du Pilat or paddling in the Arcachon basin, and older children may find a wine city slow.

Bordeaux is easier to get around without a car. The flat, largely pedestrian centre stretches from Chartrons to Saint-Michel, trams cover the gaps, bike lanes are everywhere, and trains reach Saint-Émilion and Arcachon.

Colmar's centre takes minutes to cross on foot, and trains to Strasbourg and Mulhouse are quick. The villages and the Vosges, which are much of the reason to come, have only thin bus links, so most visitors hire a car or a bicycle.

Bordeaux has much more to offer the serious shopper. Rue Sainte-Catherine carries the chains and a department store, the Triangle d'Or has the luxury labels, Rue Notre-Dame is lined with antique dealers, and cellars will ship rare vintages home.

Colmar is a place for regional keepsakes: wine bought straight from producers, Soufflenheim pottery, kougelhopf moulds and Alsatian linen, with the Christmas markets as the high point of the year. Fashion and big-name shops are scarce.

Costs are broadly similar, and in both places the big expenses come in different forms. In Bordeaux the money goes on château tastings, guided wine tours and good bottles at dinner, while trams and set lunches stay reasonable.

In Colmar, tastings in the villages are often free or cheap, and rooms are the problem: the town is small, and hotels near the old town get expensive and book out in summer and during the Christmas market weeks. Staying in a nearby village helps.

Bordeaux has the far stronger season. The gilded Grand Théâtre of 1780 hosts the city's own opera and ballet, the national orchestra has a modern hall nearby, and there are venues for jazz, world music and touring acts. Things go quiet in high summer, though.

Colmar's small municipal theatre receives touring productions from the Opéra national du Rhin, and its calendar is built around a July classical festival and an autumn jazz festival. Outside those weeks, serious performances mean a trip to Strasbourg or Basel.

Neither city has thermal baths, but Bordeaux has a bit more to offer. Its vinotherapy spa hotels among the nearby vineyards make a calm day or two, and Dax's thermal waters are about an hour and a half away.

Colmar offers hotel spas and, above all, quiet: canal-side evenings once the day-trippers leave and slow walks through the vines. That suits a restful stay, but there is little in the way of treatments.