Cannes or Colmar?

Cannes is built around its beach: a curve of fine sand along the Croisette, the wider and mostly free Plage du Midi, rocky swimming under the pines on the Lérins islands, and Esterel coves a short drive west. Expect crowds near the centre in July and August.

Colmar sits in the Alsace plain with no coast at all. Swimming there means a municipal pool or a small lake up in the Vosges, so a trip built around water points firmly to Cannes.

Colmar has the stronger and more distinctive kitchen. Alsace cooking sits between France and Germany, with choucroute, baeckeoffe, tarte flambée and munster cheese served in panelled winstubs, and Riesling and Gewurztraminer poured straight from the surrounding slopes. Cellar tastings in the wine villages make food and wine a reason to visit in themselves.

Cannes does Provençal produce and seafood well, from the Forville market to the bouillabaisse and socca of Le Suquet, with rosé on every terrace and fine dining in the palace hotels and around Mougins. Away from those, the Croisette and old port serve a lot of costly, forgettable food, and few dishes are local to the town.

Colmar is far richer. The whole old town holds together as one late-medieval and Renaissance townscape, from Maison Pfister and the Koïfhus to Petite Venise. The Unterlinden Museum's Isenheim Altarpiece, along with Schongauer's Madonna in the Dominican church, makes it worth a trip for art alone, and two days covers it properly.

Cannes offers the castle museum and church at the top of Le Suquet, the Belle Époque palaces of its aristocratic winter years and the Palais des Festivals steps. That makes a pleasant morning, after which art lovers head along the coast to places like Antibes.

Cannes has the livelier nights, at least from June to September and in festival weeks. The Croisette beach clubs turn into party venues, a few clubs run until dawn, and the bars behind the old port fill up. The style is champagne and dressing up rather than dive bars, and off-season the town quietens down.

Colmar's evenings end with a long dinner and a glass in a wine bar near Petite Venise. There are hardly any clubs, so a real night out means the train to Strasbourg.

Both have fine landscapes within easy reach, but of different kinds. From Cannes you get the sea against mountains: the volcanic red rock of the Esterel, island paths on Sainte-Marguerite, the Cap d'Antibes shore and sailing, kayaking or diving. Summer fire risk can close the forest trails.

Colmar offers vines and rounded forested mountains. There are footpaths between wine villages, the Route des Crêtes over the Hohneck and Grand Ballon, glacial lakes, and flat cycling country on the plain, with autumn the best season. Both have modest winter skiing within reach.

Both make excellent bases, so the question is which region you want to explore. From Cannes the coastal train strings together Antibes, Nice, Villefranche, Monaco and Menton, with perched villages such as Saint-Paul-de-Vence and Èze, and perfume-making Grasse, inland.

Colmar points you to Strasbourg's cathedral half an hour away by train and to the Route des Vins villages a few kilometres apart, such as Eguisheim and Riquewihr. It also offers easy crossings to Basel and Freiburg, giving three countries in one stay. The Alsace villages need a car or bike far more than the Riviera towns do.

Colmar has the edge with children. The town has boat rides through Petite Venise, storks on the rooftops and a children's Christmas market. Within driving distance are the monkey park and eagle show at Kintzheim, the stork park at Hunawihr, the Mulhouse train and car museums, and Europa-Park across the Rhine.

Cannes is easy rather than exciting. Gently shelving sand, calm water and the flat Croisette with its carousels suit small children, and the Lérins boat makes a good picnic outing. Beyond that, little is aimed at kids, and midsummer heat and crowds take some managing.

Both centres are small enough to walk, though Cannes has the steep climb up Le Suquet. It is slightly easier overall, because the coastal railway ties together so many of its outings: Antibes, Nice and Monaco are simple without a car, and the island ferries leave from the old port.

From Colmar, trains handle Strasbourg, Mulhouse and Basel well. The wine villages and the Vosges have only thin bus services, so a car or a bike becomes close to essential, although cycling the vineyard roads is a pleasure in itself.

Cannes is the shopping destination of the two. The big Paris fashion and jewellery houses face the sea along the Croisette, Rue d'Antibes adds a long run of mid-range French fashion and chocolatiers, and Rue Meynadier sells olive oil, soaps and Provençal fabrics.

Colmar is about things to take home rather than fashion. Think wine bought from the grower, Soufflenheim pottery, kougelhopf moulds, printed table linen and gingerbread, with the Christmas markets as the high point. Big-name retail is scarce.

Colmar is the cheaper trip by a clear margin. Set lunches, regional wine and village tastings are reasonable, and the main strain is on rooms in summer and during the Christmas market weeks, when staying in a nearby village helps.

Cannes is priced for a wealthy crowd along the waterfront, and prices climb further during the film festival and trade fairs. It becomes manageable with backstreet lunch menus, market picnics, the public beaches and a room in a neighbouring town reached by the cheap coastal train.

Neither is a major stage town, but Cannes has more going on. The Palais des Festivals hosts concerts, touring shows and comedy through the year, the regional philharmonic performs a season, and summer brings classical concerts in the castle courtyard on Le Suquet. The famous film festival itself is mostly closed to the public, apart from free beach screenings.

Colmar's small Italian-style theatre carries plays and touring opera. The best weeks are its July classical festival, the autumn jazz festival and the wine fair concerts, and at other times serious performances mean going to Strasbourg or Basel.

Cannes offers more for pampering. The palace hotels on the Croisette have polished spas, and seawater thalassotherapy centres line the coast, though calm is hard to find in August or during festivals.

Colmar has only hotel spas. What it does well is the gentle evening pace once day-trippers leave, quiet canal walks and slow lunches among the vines. Neither town has thermal baths.