Cambridge or Saint-Malo?

Only one of these is a beach destination. Cambridge is inland, and swimming means the Jesus Green Lido or the river at Grantchester Meadows. The nearest coast is in Suffolk or Norfolk, well over an hour's drive away.

Saint-Malo has the Grand Plage du Sillon running about 3km from the ramparts, with coves below the walls and a tidal sea pool at Bon-Secours. At low tide the sand doubles in width. The Channel stays cool even in late summer, so people spend more time on the beach than in the water.

Saint-Malo has more of a local cuisine to eat your way through. There are buckwheat galettes with dry cider, kouign-amann, and oysters at the harbour stalls in Cancale. The better tables are found in Saint-Servan and along the bay rather than in the crêperies inside the walls.

Cambridge has no regional cooking. It does offer old low-beamed pubs with ales and Sunday roasts, scones in riverside tea rooms, and a wider international spread along Mill Road, which Saint-Malo largely lacks.

Cambridge has much more to see. The college courts and chapels form a dense historic core, with King's College Chapel, Trinity's Great Court and the Wren Library at its centre. Behind them come the Fitzwilliam, Kettle's Yard and the specialist university museums, which can fill two or three days.

Saint-Malo's sights fit into a single good day. You walk the ramparts, see the cathedral and the castle keep, and cross to the Grand Bé at low tide to find Chateaubriand's grave. The corsair history is told through streets and statues rather than galleries, so museum-goers will feel the gap.

Neither is a place for a big night out, but Cambridge has a little more going on. Its historic inns, riverside beer gardens and the bars around Regent Street and Mill Road stay busy, and student clubs keep going in term time.

Saint-Malo's evenings are a drink in a wine bar or Irish-style pub inside the walls. The town is only lively on summer weekends and turns quiet early the rest of the year.

Cambridge's countryside is gentle and level, and the best of it starts in town: punting through the Backs, the open commons of Midsummer Common and Jesus Green, and cattle grazing the water meadows on the way to Grantchester. Further out, Wicken Fen has dragonflies, wild ponies and marsh birds, and the chalk woods at Wandlebury make a short stroll. There are no real hills, though, and no views worth travelling for.

Saint-Malo gives you far more outdoors, and nearly all of it comes from the sea. At low water the bay of Mont-Saint-Michel opens into vast tidal flats, seals can be seen off the islands with seabirds all around, and the bay is a serious sailing ground. Inland the farmland is as flat as the fens, so the good outdoor days are spent along the shore.

Both are excellent bases, but the trips are of different kinds. From Cambridge, the train reaches London within the hour, Ely's cathedral in a quarter of an hour, and Norwich a little further on, so many trips need no car.

Saint-Malo's highlights are Mont-Saint-Michel, medieval Dinan, the boat to Dinard and the summer ferries to Jersey and Chausey. Most of these need a car or a tour, although Rennes is an easy train ride.

Saint-Malo has the edge with children because it combines a seaside vacation with an adventure. There are sandcastles, the sea pool, pirate stories on the ramparts, walks out to island forts and the Grand Aquarium for a wet day. Parents need to keep an eye on the fast tides and the cold water.

Cambridge is flat, green and calm, and punting, the whale skeleton at the Museum of Zoology and the aircraft at Duxford all go down well. The colleges themselves are hushed places, though, and a few days usually covers it.

Cambridge is the easier of the two to get around. Colleges, museums, the market and the river all sit in a flat, largely pedestrian centre, and a hired bike reaches the rest. Only the country estates really call for a car.

Saint-Malo's walled town and seafront promenade are also walkable, and buses and the Dinard boat fill in the gaps. Once you leave town, though, bus services thin out quickly, and the best trips in the area mostly mean driving.

Cambridge offers a little more choice. The Grand Arcade has the high-street names, the lanes have independent clothes shops, and its bookshops, academic and second-hand, are a real speciality.

Saint-Malo's shopping is about Breton things to take home: striped sailor tops, salted-butter caramels, cider, faience and marine prints. For anything beyond that, people go to Rennes.

Neither is cheap, but Saint-Malo is the gentler on the wallet. Rooms there are expensive in high summer, yet a galette and cider or a set lunch costs little, and prices ease in spring and autumn.

Cambridge charges south-east England prices all year, and its limited hotel stock is always in demand. Free museums, free evensong and a walkable centre help to balance the cost.

Cambridge has far more on stage. Choral evensong by the King's, St John's or Trinity choirs is a remarkable free experience, and the Arts Theatre, the student ADC and Footlights comedy, and bands at the Corn Exchange keep the calendar full.

Saint-Malo's cultural life centres on its festivals: La Route du Rock, Étonnants Voyageurs and Quai des Bulles. On most other nights there is little to see beyond the modest theatre season.

Saint-Malo is the place to properly unwind. It is a classic thalassotherapy resort, with heated seawater pools and treatments on the Sillon seafront and the same tradition across the water in Dinard. Outside August, a long walk on empty low-tide sand followed by the pools is the local way to rest.

Cambridge has no bathing culture of its own. Its calm comes from a punt on the river, a bench in a college garden or the Botanic Garden, and tea in an orchard at Grantchester.