Cannes or Dijon?

There is no real contest here. Cannes has a curve of fine sand on calm water along the Croisette and the wider, mostly free Plage du Midi. For clearer water there are rocky swimming spots under the pines of the Lérins islands and the red coves of the Esterel nearby, though the central beaches are packed in high summer.

Dijon is several hours from any coast. Lac Kir, a reservoir with a supervised lawn-and-sand area, is pleasant for a hot afternoon, but anyone planning days in the water should head south.

Dijon eats better. Burgundy is one of France's great regional kitchens, and the city adds its own mustard, pain d'épices and cassis. Les Halles is stocked with Bresse poultry and Époisses cheese, and wine bars pour village Burgundies by the glass from vineyards that begin at the edge of town.

Cannes has fine produce at the Forville market, bouillabaisse and socca in Le Suquet, and a fine-dining tier towards Mougins. Much of the seafront, though, feeds passing crowds at high prices, and few dishes are truly local.

Dijon has far more to see. The Palace of the Dukes of Burgundy and its fine arts museum, with the carved tombs of the Valois dukes, sit at the heart of a well-kept old centre. Around it are half-timbered houses, Notre-Dame with its gargoyles and lucky owl, and the Well of Moses at Champmol.

Cannes is good for a pleasant morning: the castle museum and church on Le Suquet, the Belle Époque hotels on the Croisette and the red-carpet steps of the Palais des Festivals. For serious art, visitors to Cannes travel along the coast.

Cannes has the bigger night out, but only in season. From June to September the Croisette beach clubs turn into party venues and a few clubs stay open until dawn. The mood is glamorous and costly, and off-season the town goes to bed early.

Dijon's evenings are low-key and shaped by its students: small bars on Rue Berbisey, terraces around Place Émile Zola, and wine and a late dinner. It is cheaper and more casual, but outside term time and summer weekends the streets empty by around midnight.

Cannes has the more dramatic surroundings. The volcanic red rock of the Esterel drops into the sea twenty minutes to the west, Sainte-Marguerite has pine and eucalyptus paths, and a wild coastal footpath circles Cap d'Antibes. Sailing, kayaking and diving fill the days on the water, though fire risk in high summer can close the forest trails.

Dijon's country is gentler. There are wooded combes with climbing cliffs just west of town, the flat towpath of the Burgundy Canal and the vineyard cycle route towards Beaune. It suits easy walking and cycling rather than anyone looking for spectacular scenery.

Both make excellent bases, Cannes slightly more so. One coastal train line links Antibes, Nice, Villefranche, Monaco and Menton without a car. The perched villages of Saint-Paul-de-Vence and Èze and the perfume town of Grasse are close behind.

Dijon's day trips are about wine and abbeys: the Route des Grands Crus to Beaune, Fontenay Abbey and Semur-en-Auxois to the north-west, and Besançon by train. Beaune is easy to reach by rail, but most of the wine villages need a car, a bike or a tour.

Cannes is the easier choice with children, mostly because of the beach. It has gently sloping sand, calm water, carousels along the flat Croisette and a boat trip to picnic in the Lérins pine woods. The heat and crowds of midsummer need some planning.

Dijon is safe and relaxed. Children have the planetarium at the Jardin de l'Arquebuse, the lawns of the Parc de la Colombière and paddling at Lac Kir. Most of a typical itinerary there, though, is tastings and fine art, which will interest parents more than their children.

Both are easy on foot, in different ways. Central Cannes is flat apart from the steep climb up Le Suquet, and its real advantage is the coastal railway, with ferries to the islands from the old port. Inland villages need a car, and summer traffic and parking are difficult.

Dijon's pedestrian core is smaller still. Two tram lines run to the outskirts and Lac Kir, and the TGV reaches Paris in well under two hours. Its weak point is the wine villages away from the railway.

Cannes is the place for fashion. The big Paris fashion and jewellery houses face the sea along the Croisette, and Rue d'Antibes adds a long stretch of mid-range French clothes and shoes. Rue Meynadier sells olive oil, soaps and Provençal fabrics.

Shopping in Dijon is mostly about food and drink: mustard in dozens of flavours, cassis, pain d'épices, and Burgundy from cellars and wine merchants. There are also antiques in the lanes off Rue de la Liberté. For clothes it has little beyond chains and a department store.

Dijon is clearly the cheaper stay, and the gap is widest on the Cannes seafront in summer. A room facing the bay in July, or during the film festival and the big trade fairs, costs far more than a comfortable hotel in the centre of Dijon, and an afternoon on a private beach followed by cocktails on the Croisette has no real counterpart in Burgundy's everyday prices.

The two come closer at the edges. Visit Cannes in spring or autumn outside the event weeks, eat set lunches behind the old port, swim from the public sand and ride the regional train, and it costs much like anywhere else in France. Dijon goes the other way when the trip is built around wine: a grand restaurant dinner, paid cellar visits and a few good bottles to take home soon wipe out what you save on the room.

Dijon has the more regular programme. The Opéra de Dijon stages opera, concerts and dance at the nineteenth-century Grand Théâtre and at the Auditorium, which is known for its acoustics. A national drama centre adds plays, though the season follows the academic year.

Most visitors cannot attend the Cannes film festival itself, beyond the free screenings on the beach. Outside it there are touring shows at the Palais, a regional orchestra and a dance festival. In summer there are concerts in the castle courtyard on Le Suquet, and the jazz festival at Juan-les-Pins is just along the coast.

Cannes offers more pampering. The palace hotels on the Croisette have spas with sea-mineral and Provençal plant treatments, and there are thalassotherapy centres along the coast. The seafront is calm in spring and autumn, but August and festival weeks are noisy.

Dijon has only a few hotel spas, some with grape-based treatments. Its restful side comes from long lunches and slow afternoons in the vineyards rather than from facilities. Neither city has thermal baths.