Cannes or Lucca?

Cannes puts the beach on your doorstep: fine sand along the Croisette and calm water, plus the wide, mostly free Plage du Midi for anyone who wants to skip the private concessions. Boats to the Lérins islands and the red-rock coves of the Esterel offer clearer water and rocky swimming close by.

Lucca has no shore of its own. The Versilia sand starts at Viareggio, about 25 minutes away by train. It is long and gently shelving, mostly lined with rows of beach-club umbrellas, and the pine-backed Lecciona dunes are there if you want something wilder. It works as an afternoon after sightseeing, not as a vacation built around the sea.

Neither is a great food destination, and the difference is one of style. Cannes eats from the sea and the Provençal market: the Forville stalls, bouillabaisse, socca and grilled fish in Le Suquet, and rosé on a terrace. There is real fine dining in the palace hotels and around Mougins, though the waterfront serves a lot of tired, overpriced food.

Lucca is more rustic and more its own: farro soup, tordelli in ragù, chickpea cecina, chestnut dishes in the cooler months and buccellato, all eaten in family trattorias at fair prices. It lacks the top end that Cannes can offer, and the menus start to repeat after a few days.

This is where Lucca pulls well ahead. The whole walled city is the sight: Romanesque churches such as San Michele in Foro and San Frediano, the cathedral with the tomb of Ilaria del Carretto, the oval Piazza dell'Anfiteatro and towers to climb. That is enough for two full days.

Cannes fills a pleasant morning: the castle museum and church on Le Suquet, the Belle Époque hotels of the Croisette and the red-carpet steps of the Palais des Festivals. For serious art, visitors staying in Cannes head along the coast to Antibes or Saint-Paul-de-Vence.

Cannes has the livelier nights, at least in summer and during festival weeks. Beach clubs on the Croisette turn into party venues, a few clubs stay open until dawn and the lanes behind the old port fill with cocktail bars. The crowd dresses up and drinks champagne, and out of season the town goes quiet.

An evening in Lucca means an aperitivo in Piazza San Michele, dinner and a walk on the walls, with a few wine bars and student pubs on the side. Anyone who wants to dance has to go to the discos of the Versilia coast and arrange a late ride back.

Both have fine country within reach, but of different kinds. Around Cannes it is sea and red rock: trails and the corniche road in the volcanic Esterel, pine paths on Sainte-Marguerite and the shore path round Cap d'Antibes. On the water there is sailing, kayaking and diving around the islands.

Lucca's outdoors is mountains and countryside. The walls make a 4km ring for running and cycling, and the Apuan Alps, scarred by marble quarries, offer serious hiking within an hour. The chestnut woods of the Garfagnana and the reed beds of Massaciuccoli suit quieter walks and birdwatching. Water sports belong to Cannes, mountain hiking to Lucca.

Both are outstanding bases, so the choice comes down to what you want to see. From Cannes, the coastal train links Antibes, Nice, Villefranche, Monaco and Menton. Perched villages such as Saint-Paul-de-Vence and Èze, the perfume town of Grasse and, further west, Saint-Tropez complete the list.

From Lucca, the pull is the great Tuscan art cities: Pisa is half an hour away and Florence a little over an hour. Pistoia, the villas and gardens of the Lucca countryside, and the marble towns of Pietrasanta and Carrara are all close, and the Cinque Terre and San Gimignano make long days out.

Families will find both easy and neither thrilling. Cannes is about the beach: gently sloping sand, calm water, a flat promenade with carousels, and a boat trip to the Lérins islands for a picnic under the pines.

Lucca's appeal is its traffic-free centre, where children can ride the walls on a family quadricycle and climb the tree-topped Torre Guinigi. Pinocchio Park at Collodi and the Versilia beaches are nearby, and Lucca Comics & Games in autumn is a big draw for teenagers.

Both centres are small and flat, but Lucca is the easier of the two. Inside its walls most streets are closed to ordinary traffic, so walking and cycling get you everywhere, and the station sits just outside the southern walls. Cannes is walkable too, apart from the steep climb to Le Suquet, and its central station makes trips along the Riviera simple.

Beyond town, both need a car: for Grasse and the Esterel corniche from Cannes, and for the villas and the Garfagnana from Lucca. Cannes also has heavy summer traffic and little parking.

Cannes is the far stronger shopping town. The big Paris fashion and jewellery houses line the Croisette, Rue d'Antibes adds over a kilometre of mid-range French fashion and chocolatiers, and Rue Meynadier sells Provençal olive oil, fabrics and soaps.

Lucca is charming but small. Via Fillungo has Liberty-style shopfronts, and the lanes around it hold delicatessens with farro and buccellato and a few paper and craft workshops. The monthly antiques market around the cathedral is the one thing shoppers travel for.

Lucca is much easier on the budget. Trattoria meals and trains are fairly priced and the walls and many churches are free. Rooms are the main cost, and staying just outside the walls makes money go further.

Cannes is priced for a wealthy crowd along the waterfront, and costs climb sharply during the film festival and trade fairs. Public beaches, picnics from Forville, backstreet lunches or sleeping in a neighbouring town all help, but it stays the more expensive place to stay.

Lucca has more to hear on an ordinary visit. Puccini recitals run in a central church for most of the year, and the Teatro del Giglio has a full season of opera and concerts. Summer adds the Lucca Summer Festival in Piazza Napoleone and open-air opera by the lake at Torre del Lago.

Cannes is famous for a film festival that most visitors cannot attend, apart from the free beach screenings. Its regular programme is modest: shows at the Palais, the philharmonic, a dance festival and summer concerts on Le Suquet, with jazz along the coast at Juan-les-Pins.

Neither has a bathing tradition of its own, but Lucca makes it easier to unwind. Its quiet, car-free lanes and shady walls set a slow pace, and real spa towns are close by: the belle époque baths of Montecatini, the cave pools of Monsummano and the steam grottoes of Bagni di Lucca.

Cannes relies on polished palace-hotel spas and seawater thalassotherapy along the coast. The seafront is restful in spring and autumn, but festival weeks and August are too crowded for real rest.