Cannes or Milan?

Here the gap is wide. Cannes has a curve of fine sand and calm Mediterranean water at the foot of the town. Free public stretches such as the Plage du Midi lie between the private concessions, and there is rocky swimming off the Lérins islands, a short boat ride away.

Milan has no sea at all. Summer swimming there means the Idroscalo basin, a public pool, or a train of about an hour to the pebbly lidos of Lake Como or Lake Maggiore. That makes a pleasant day out, but you won't swim there every day.

Milan is the better place to eat. Its own rich, buttery cooking of saffron risotto, ossobuco and cotoletta comes with good food from every Italian region and a serious fine-dining tier. The early-evening aperitivo in Brera, Isola and along the Navigli is a ritual of its own.

Cannes is more limited. The Forville market and the bistros of Le Suquet serve good fish, socca and stuffed vegetables with a glass of rosé, but much of the food on the seafront is routine and overpriced.

Milan has sights of real weight. There is the marble Duomo with its rooftop among the spires, the Last Supper, Brera's Italian painting and Michelangelo's Rondanini Pietà in the Castello Sforzesco, and behind them Sant'Ambrogio and the Ambrosiana.

Cannes is pretty to look at but has few major sights. A walk up Le Suquet to the castle museum and the church, then a look at the Belle Époque hotels and the steps of the Palais des Festivals, makes a pleasant morning. For serious art you have to travel along the coast.

Milan has the fuller night out, and it lasts all year apart from a quieter August. Aperitivo leads on to bars along the Navigli towpaths and a more mixed crowd in Isola and Porta Venezia. The clubs range from dressy Corso Como to warehouse nights on the edge of town.

Cannes comes alive only in summer and during festival weeks, when the beach clubs on the Croisette become champagne venues and the lanes behind the old port fill with cocktail bars. The rest of the year, an evening there means an aperitif and dinner.

Cannes has the better landscape on its doorstep. The red volcanic rock of the Esterel is about twenty minutes away, with trails to the summits and a corniche road above the inlets. The sea adds sailing, kayaking and diving around the islands.

Milan itself sits on the flat Po plain and has a few parks, plus canal towpaths for cycling. Its reward lies about an hour north, where the lakes and the Grigne ridges offer serious hiking and via ferrata, for anyone happy to take a train to the start of the walk.

Both are excellent bases, and the difference is in the kind of outing. From Cannes the coastal train runs through a string of Riviera towns, including Antibes, Nice, Monaco and Menton. Inland lie perched villages such as Saint-Paul-de-Vence and Èze, and the perfume town of Grasse.

From Milan, fast trains reach whole historic cities: Verona, Turin, Bergamo and Bologna. Pavia's monastery, Mantua and the Borromean Islands on Lake Maggiore add more. Pick Cannes for seaside towns and hill villages, and Milan for cities of art and the lakes.

Neither city is built around children, and families will find them about equally easy. The difference is the kind of day out. Cannes has gently sloping sand, calm water, the flat Croisette for scooters and a boat trip to picnic in the pine woods of the Lérins islands.

Milan has the science and technology museum with its submarine for a rainy day, and playgrounds in Parco Sempione. Older children can be taken to theme parks such as Leolandia and Gardaland.

Milan is easier to get around. It has a five-line metro you can tap into with a contactless card, a dense tram network and a compact, flat centre, so you never need a car. Trains also run straight to the lakes.

Cannes is small enough to walk, apart from the steep climb up Le Suquet. The station is in the middle of town and coastal trains reach Nice and Monaco. The hill villages, Grasse and the Esterel corniche are much easier by car, though, and in summer the traffic is heavy and parking is hard to find.

In Milan shopping is a reason to go in itself, which it isn't in Cannes. The Quadrilatero holds the flagships of fashion houses founded in the city. Beyond it are La Rinascente, the Galleria, Corso Buenos Aires, vintage and independent shops in Brera and Porta Ticinese, and furniture and lighting showrooms.

Cannes packs a short run of Paris fashion and jewellery houses onto the Croisette. Behind it, Rue d'Antibes has mid-range French fashion and Rue Meynadier sells Provençal food and soaps, but there is little independent shopping.

Neither is a cheap vacation, but Milan is easier on a budget. Its hotels are expensive and trade fairs push prices higher, but reasonably priced public transport, aperitivo snacks that can stand in for a light supper, and the set lunches aimed at office workers keep costs down.

In summer, Cannes is priced for a wealthy crowd, from seafront rooms to beach loungers. Picnics from Forville, the free public beaches and staying in a neighbouring town all help. Spring and autumn are much more reasonable, outside the weeks of the big events.

Milan is one of Europe's great music cities. La Scala's season of opera, ballet and concerts opens each December on the feast of Sant'Ambrogio. The Piccolo Teatro, the symphony orchestra at the Auditorium and the jazz rooms keep the calendar full, though summer is quieter.

Most visitors can't get into the famous Cannes film festival, although free screenings on the beach give the public a taste of it. Beyond that, Cannes has touring shows at the Palais, the regional philharmonic, a dance festival and summer concerts in the castle courtyard.

Rest in Cannes comes from the pace of the town more than from its spas. The palace hotels on the Croisette have polished spas, and there is seawater thalassotherapy along the coast. In spring and autumn the seafront is calm, mornings start slowly on a terrace and evenings end with a walk by the bay. Festival weeks and August are too crowded for that.

Milan has the proper bathing that Cannes lacks: a thermal spa complex with outdoor pools and saunas, and in summer the restored 1930s Bagni Misteriosi. The city around them is busy and focused on work, though, so most visitors who want real calm take the train to the lakes, about an hour away.