Cannes or Genoa?

Cannes is the better beach town. The Croisette curves along fine sand on calm, shallow water, and the long Plage du Midi west of the old port gives you free space between the private concessions. Clearer water is a short ferry away on the Lérins islands, and the red coves of the Esterel are close by.

Genoa swims from rocks and pebbles. There is the tiny cove at Boccadasse, bathing establishments built over the rocks on Corso Italia, and platforms under the cliffs at Nervi. The water is just as clear and warm, but for a proper beach you take the train to Camogli, Sestri Levante or sandy Varazze.

Genoa eats better, and more distinctively. This is where pesto comes from, and a day can run from focaccia dunked in cappuccino to trofie at lunch and fried fish from a friggitoria in the old town's lanes. The Mercato Orientale shows the region's produce.

Cannes has fine Provençal ingredients at the Forville market and a real top tier of restaurants in the palace hotels and towards Mougins, which Genoa lacks. Further down, the Croisette serves a lot of tired, overpriced food. Tellingly, its socca is the same chickpea flatbread that Genoa calls farinata, and Genoa makes far more of it.

There is no contest here. Genoa's historic centre is a huge maze of shaded caruggi, and above it run the Strade Nuove with their UNESCO-listed Rolli palaces. Palazzo Rosso and Palazzo Bianco hang Van Dyck and Rubens in painted halls, and the striped cathedral, the Lanterna lighthouse and the marble sculpture of Staglieno take several more days.

Cannes offers a pleasant morning. You climb Le Suquet to the castle museum and the church, take a photo on the Palais des Festivals steps, and look at the Belle Époque villas along the Croisette. Serious art means a trip to Antibes or Saint-Paul-de-Vence.

Neither is a big night-out city, but the evenings feel very different. In summer and during festivals, Cannes goes in for glamour: beach clubs turn into party venues, a few clubs stay open until dawn, and the bars behind the old port serve champagne to people dressed for it. Off-season it goes to bed early.

Genoa is more low-key and more local. Students and residents fill the small bars around Piazza delle Erbe for aperitivo and stay out late in the medieval squares on weekends, all year round, though weeknights are quiet and the clubs are few.

Both have fine coastal country, and Genoa has the edge because the walking starts in the city itself. The Righi funicular leads to a trail around the old ridge fortresses, the Portofino park's cliff paths run down to San Fruttuoso, and the Cinque Terre trails are a train ride away. Boats also head out to watch whales and dolphins in the Pelagos Sanctuary.

Cannes needs a short drive for its best scenery: the red volcanic rock of the Esterel, plus easy pine walks on Sainte-Marguerite and the shore path around Cap d'Antibes. It also offers winter skiing in the Alpes-Maritimes, though summer fire risk can close the forest trails.

Both sit on a coastal railway lined with famous names, so the difference is in the kind of trip. From Cannes, it is a chain of Riviera towns and art: Antibes and its Picasso museum, Nice, Monaco and Menton, then perched villages like Saint-Paul-de-Vence and Èze, and perfume in Grasse.

From Genoa, the coast is fishing villages and cliffs: Camogli, Portofino and the Cinque Terre to the east, and quieter medieval Finale Ligure Borgo and Albenga to the west. Genoa can also reach Milan or Turin for a day, a big-city outing that Cannes cannot match.

Genoa has the stronger pull for children, almost all of it at the Porto Antico. One of Europe's largest aquariums sits beside a science centre, a tropical biosphere and a submarine you can walk through, and the funiculars and public lifts are fun rides in themselves. Away from the harbour, though, the steep, dark lanes and endless stairs are hard work with a pushchair.

Cannes is the reverse: easy but not very interesting. The beaches shelve gently and the flat Croisette has carousels and play areas, but little else in town is made for children. Its nearest aquarium is a train ride away in Monaco.

Both are manageable without a car, but one is flat and the other climbs. Central Cannes is compact, with the station in the middle and everything except Le Suquet's steep hill within a level twenty-minute walk. The inland villages are where you start to want a car.

Genoa stacks up the hillside. It has funiculars, a rack railway and public lifts, one short metro line, and slow buses in narrow streets, and the old town's maze takes some getting used to. In both cities, the coastal train is the most useful link of all.

Cannes is the stronger place to shop, especially for luxury. The great Paris fashion and jewellery houses face the sea along the Croisette, Rue d'Antibes runs a long stretch of mid-range French fashion behind it, and Rue Meynadier sells olive oil, soaps and Provençal fabrics.

Genoa's arcaded Via XX Settembre and Galleria Mazzini cover the familiar Italian labels without much depth. Its real interest is craft that Cannes lacks: old town workshops making silver filigree and coral, and long-established shops selling candied fruit and pesto.

Genoa is clearly the cheaper stay. Central hotels cost less than in Italy's busiest cities, a slice of focaccia or farinata makes a very cheap lunch, and the funiculars and lifts cost little. Costs only climb in the smart Riviera resorts and when you rent loungers.

Cannes is expensive near the water, and far more so during the film festival and trade fairs. To keep costs down, eat backstreet lunch menus, picnic from the Forville market, use the public beaches, or stay in a neighbouring town and come in by train.

Genoa offers more for an evening out. The Teatro Carlo Felice on Piazza De Ferrari stages opera, ballet and symphony concerts, and the city honours Paganini with concerts. Small clubs keep up the tradition of its singer-songwriters. The Teatro Nazionale's drama is in Italian.

Cannes's famous festival is closed to the public apart from free screenings on the beach. Beyond it, there are touring shows at the Palais, a respected dance festival, and summer concerts in the castle courtyard on Le Suquet. Many jazz fans head along the coast to Juan-les-Pins.

Cannes is the more restful choice, though neither town has a bathing tradition. Its palace hotels have polished spas using sea minerals and Provençal plants, and thalassotherapy centres line the coast. In spring and autumn, the slow mornings and calm seafront help as much as the treatments.

Genoa's spas are mostly in hotels, and its nearest thermal waters are at Acqui Terme, over an hour inland. Nervi's villa gardens and seafront promenade offer some peace, but the port and the crowded lanes of the centre keep the city lively rather than calm.