Brittany or French Riviera?

Both have plenty of shore, but swimming feels very different. Brittany has wide sandy bays around Carnac and Quiberon, pink granite coves on the north coast and huge tidal flats at Saint-Malo. Even in August the sea is only in the high teens, and the season is short.

The Riviera wins on water you want to stay in. It is warm from June into October, with sand at Cannes, Juan-les-Pins and Pampelonne, pebbles at Nice and clear coves under the Esterel. The catch is private concessions and packed public stretches in high summer, where Brittany's low tides leave far more room on the sand.

Brittany cooks from the sea and the dairy: oysters at Cancale, shellfish platters in the harbour towns, buckwheat galettes with cider, and salted butter in almost everything. It does these very well, but there is little choice beyond Breton and classic French cooking outside Rennes.

The Riviera has more range. Niçois dishes such as socca and pissaladière, the Cours Saleya market, rosé and the Bellet wines, and a dense run of serious restaurants from Menton to Cannes give you more to explore. Its weak spot is the tourist set menus on the seafront, so eat a street or two inland.

The Riviera's strength is twentieth-century art shown where it was made: Matisse and Chagall in Nice, Picasso at Antibes, Matisse's chapel at Vence and the Fondation Maeght. Around them sit Monaco's palace, Belle Epoque Nice and Roman La Turbie.

Brittany's heritage is older and spread more thinly. It has the stone rows of Carnac, the parish closes of Finistère and half-timbered, walled towns such as Dinan, Vitré and Concarneau, but its museums are modest. Go to the Riviera for galleries and Brittany for prehistory and small historic towns.

For going out, the Riviera is the clear choice. There are beach clubs in Saint-Tropez and Monaco and late bars on the Croisette and in Juan-les-Pins, while the old town and port of Nice offer something less showy. All of it is expensive, and much of it goes quiet out of season.

Brittany's evenings mostly end early, and the student bars around Rue Saint-Michel in Rennes are the main exception. What it has instead is the fest-noz, a village dance night to traditional music, which has no equivalent on the Riviera.

Brittany's outdoors is a long Atlantic shoreline. The Riviera's is mountains dropping into a warm sea. In Brittany you follow the GR34 past Cap Fréhel and Pointe du Raz, watch puffins and gannets at Sept-Îles, surf in Finistère and kayak among the islands of the Gulf of Morbihan. Inland there is little height, just low moors and canal towpaths.

The Riviera gives you elevation instead. You can walk the red rock of the Esterel and the cape paths round Cap Ferrat and Cap Martin, drive up into the Mercantour's high trails from Nice, or dive off the Lérins islands. Summer heat and wildfire closures shut some of those hills, while Brittany's mild summers leave its coast path open all season.

Brittany has the stronger outings. Mont-Saint-Michel is about an hour from Saint-Malo, and the islands add real variety: Belle-Île, car-free Bréhat, remote Ouessant and the islands of the Gulf of Morbihan. Most of these need a car or a ferry, so plan the base with care.

The Riviera's trips are shorter and more numerous. Villefranche, Monaco and Menton are a quick train ride from Nice, and Sanremo and Dolceacqua lie just over the Italian border. Many days, though, are variations on a perched village, with no single headline excursion.

Brittany is the easier place for families. It has rock pools at low tide, sailing schools, campsites and gîtes, short distances between sights, and Océanopolis in Brest or the Saint-Malo aquarium for wet days. Watch young swimmers, though, because of the cool water and strong tides.

The Riviera gives children a warmer, calmer sea on the gently shelving sand of Juan-les-Pins and Fréjus, plus the aquarium in Monaco. Against that, family rooms are expensive, summer brings heat and traffic, and the cobbled hill villages are impossible with a pushchair.

The Riviera is simpler without a car. The coastal railway links Cannes, Antibes, Nice, Monaco and Menton, and Nice has a tram from the airport. Getting inland or to Saint-Tropez is slower, and parking in the resorts is scarce.

Brittany has fast trains from Paris to Rennes and regional lines to Saint-Malo, Vannes and Quimper. Its beaches, megaliths and villages really need a car, though, and the toll-free dual carriageways make that easy outside the summer jams.

The Riviera has real shopping: luxury boutiques in Cannes, Monte-Carlo and Saint-Tropez, department stores in Nice, and crafts with a story, from Grasse perfume to Biot glass and Vallauris pottery. Brittany is for edible and practical souvenirs such as Quimper faience, striped sailor tops, salted caramels and fleur de sel, and the Saturday market at Place des Lices in Rennes is the highlight.

Brittany is clearly the cheaper of the two. Campsites, gîtes, crêperies and markets keep costs down, and bills climb only in the busiest summer resorts and over seafood platters.

In high season the Riviera is one of the most expensive coasts in Europe, especially Saint-Tropez, Monaco and Cannes. Nice is the sensible base, and cheap regional trains and free public beaches help the budget.

The two are close on live music and performance, but the style differs. Brittany's music is Celtic and communal: bagad pipe bands, fest-noz dances and big summer festivals at Lorient, Carhaix and Quimper, with the opera house and national theatre in Rennes for the rest of the year.

The Riviera is more classical and polished. Monte-Carlo has its gilded opera house, and its ballet company and orchestra perform through the winter. Nice has its own opera, and in summer there is jazz in the pine grove at Juan-les-Pins and on Place Masséna.

For a restful stay, Brittany is the stronger choice. Thalassotherapy began here, at Roscoff, and seawater spas sit right on the front at Quiberon, Carnac, Dinard and Perros-Guirec. Around them, the calm granite villages and car-free islands keep the whole stay slow, especially in spring and autumn.

The Riviera's treatments are concentrated in Monaco and in the grand hotel spas on the capes, so they feel more like a luxury add-on than the point of the trip. Rest there means long lunches in the hill villages out of season, because in July and August the resorts are too loud for it.