Bordeaux or Paris?

Bordeaux's widest lead over Paris is at the water's edge. The city has no beach of its own, but the Atlantic is about an hour away. Lacanau and the Médoc shore have long, wild surf beaches with lifeguarded zones, and the sheltered Arcachon basin below the Dune du Pilat warms enough in July and August to suit small children.

In summer Paris lays sand along the riverbanks and opens swimming spots in the Bassin de la Villette and the Seine. They are fine for cooling off but no substitute for the sea. The nearest real coast is the cool Channel in Normandy, two hours away.

Bordeaux is the narrower of the two kitchens. Wine is the point, and it comes with generous south-western cooking: entrecôte grilled over vine cuttings, Landes duck, and Arcachon oysters at the Capucins market.

Paris wins on both range and quality. It has neighbourhood markets, zinc-counter bistros, neo-bistros in the 11th and the haute cuisine tradition. Its immigrant cooking runs from couscous in Belleville to pho in the 13th, so you can eat differently at every meal, which Bordeaux, with little beyond French food, cannot match.

Bordeaux's great sight is the city itself: an 18th-century limestone centre along the curve of the Garonne, with the Place de la Bourse, the Miroir d'eau and the Gothic spire of Saint-Michel. Its museums are good regional ones, and three or four days do it justice.

Paris is in a different league. The Louvre, Orsay, the Orangerie and the Sainte-Chapelle would each justify the journey on their own, and the Haussmann boulevards and Marais townhouses make the walks between them worth seeing too. The catch is the queues, so you need to book ahead there in a way you never do in Bordeaux.

A night out in Bordeaux usually means wine bars and terraces in Saint-Pierre, with the students around Place de la Victoire. If you want to dance late, the clubs are along the Quai de Paludate.

Paris has much more going on, spread across many districts. There are crowded bars in Oberkampf, Belleville and along the Canal Saint-Martin, cocktails in South Pigalle, a gay scene in the Marais and techno clubs that run until dawn. Expect choosier doors and dearer drinks.

Neither city has wild country, but Bordeaux has a slight edge because the coast is within reach. You get the Dune du Pilat, birdlife on the Arcachon tidal flats, surf at Lacanau and flat greenways through the vineyards.

Paris makes up for it with good parks and large woods at its edges. The forest of Fontainebleau, with its climbing boulders, is forty minutes away by train. Walkers looking for mountains will find none near either city.

Bordeaux is a strong base, and its trips share one theme: wine and the Atlantic. Saint-Émilion, with its honey-coloured stone and underground church, is a short train ride away, and Arcachon's oyster ports are about an hour. The château country of the Médoc and the sweet-wine villages of Sauternes are different, because they mostly need a car, a driver or a tour.

Paris has the longer and more varied list, and nearly all of it can be reached by rail with no car at all. Versailles and Fontainebleau are each under an hour away, and Chartres cathedral, Monet's garden at Giverny, the Champagne houses of Reims and the Loire châteaux by way of Tours are all within easy reach. Each trip takes you somewhere different, whether a palace, a cathedral, a painter's garden or a wine cellar, so a week of days out from Paris need never repeat itself.

Bordeaux is easy with children in a low-key way. The centre is flat and mostly car-free, so pushchairs manage well. The Miroir d'eau becomes a paddling pool in summer, and the Dune du Pilat is a day out in itself. Older children may find a rhythm of wine and long lunches slow.

Paris gives children far more to do, from Disneyland and Parc Astérix to the Cité des Sciences and the skeletons in the Jardin des Plantes. The trade-off is the daily effort: metro stairs, crowded trains and small hotel rooms.

Both centres are made for walking, but Paris is the easier city to cover in full. Its dense metro puts a station a few minutes from almost anywhere, and the RER reaches Versailles and the airports. The drawbacks are stairs and rush-hour crowds.

Bordeaux is flatter and calmer. Its sights sit along a few kilometres of the left bank, with simple tram lines and good cycle paths. Its weak spot is beyond the city, because the Médoc vineyards need a car or a tour.

This is where Paris leads by the widest margin. It has couture houses on Avenue Montaigne, the historic department stores, independent designers in the Marais, the covered passages, the Saint-Ouen flea market and the bouquinistes along the Seine, so shopping alone can be a reason to go.

Bordeaux has the familiar regional mix on Rue Sainte-Catherine and antique dealers on Rue Notre-Dame in Chartrons. Its real draw is wine: the cellars sell everything from everyday bottles to rare old vintages and will ship abroad.

Neither city is cheap, but Bordeaux is easier on the budget. Rooms cost less than in the capital, the centre is free to wander, and set lunches let you eat well for less. Most of the money goes on château tastings and good bottles at dinner.

Paris is expensive to stay in. Rooms are small and costly, and drinks on a terrace add up fast. Picnics by the river, the free permanent collections in the city's own museums and a room in an outer arrondissement all help, but the same week costs noticeably more.

Bordeaux has one outstanding stage, the Grand Théâtre of 1780, for opera and ballet. Around it are a national orchestra, a hall for jazz and world music, and a season that goes quiet in high summer.

Paris has much more to offer. There are the Palais Garnier and the Opéra Bastille, the Philharmonie and the Comédie-Française. You can also hear concerts in the Sainte-Chapelle, jazz in the cellar clubs around the rue des Lombards, or see cabaret in Pigalle. In both cities, most plays are performed in French.

The two are level here, and neither is a wellness destination. Bordeaux's speciality is vinotherapy at spa hotels among the vineyards outside town, and real thermal waters are at Dax, about an hour and a half away.

Paris has hammams instead, the best known at the Grande Mosquée, along with hotel spas. Slow, quiet Bordeaux makes rest easier to come by than loud, crowded Paris.