Cannes or Nice?

These are two of the strongest beach towns on the Riviera, but the beaches are different underfoot. Cannes has fine sand along the curve of the Croisette, with calm water that suits lazy swimming, and the wide Plage du Midi west of the old port is mostly free of private concessions. The Lérins islands offer clearer, rockier swimming a short boat ride away.

Nice's 7km shore below the Promenade des Anglais is pebble, with clear blue water but stones that make a rented mattress and water shoes worthwhile. For sand, visitors to Nice take the bus or train to Villefranche, Beaulieu or the coves of Cap Ferrat. In both towns the central beaches fill up in July and August.

Nice eats better, mainly because it has a cuisine of its own. Socca hot from wood ovens, pissaladière, pan bagnat and daube belong to the city and its Ligurian past, the Cours Saleya market is a morning ritual, and the small Bellet vineyards above town make wine you rarely find elsewhere.

Cannes cooks from the same Provençal larder, and the Forville market is a fine place to see it, but the range is narrow and few dishes are truly local. Its strength is at the top end, in the palace hotels and towards Mougins. Both towns serve their weakest food on the seafront terraces, so eat a street or two back.

Nice has far more to see. The Italianate lanes of Vieux Nice, the Russian Orthodox Cathedral, Belle Époque villas in Cimiez and a strong run of art museums, the Matisse, the Chagall and MAMAC, fill two or three days.

Cannes offers a pleasant morning: the castle museum and church on Le Suquet, the palace hotels along the Croisette and the red-carpet steps of the Palais des Festivals. Visitors who want art usually take the train to Antibes or Nice.

Neither is a big night-out destination, and the difference is mostly one of style. Cannes in summer and during its festivals is about champagne, beach clubs on the Croisette and a few clubs open until dawn, with many of the smartest parties private. Out of season it goes to bed early.

Nice is more casual and keeps more going through the year. The lanes of Vieux Nice fill with pubs, wine bars and cocktail bars where students and locals mix with visitors, and the port adds a few quieter bars. Its clubs are ordinary, though.

Nice has the wider outdoor range, because the Alps reach the sea there. Short walks on Castle Hill and Mont Boron start in town, the coastal paths of Cap Ferrat are just east, the corniches are classic cycling roads, and the Mercantour and the ski slopes of Isola 2000 and Auron are within a two-hour drive.

Cannes has the better landscape on its doorstep: the red volcanic rock of the Esterel lies twenty minutes west, and the pine paths of the Lérins islands make an easy half-day. Sailing, kayaking and diving around the islands are its other strengths.

Both sit on the same coastal railway, so they are equally good bases, and the difference lies in which end of the Riviera is closer. From Cannes, the Lérins islands, the Esterel, Grasse, Mougins and Saint-Tropez are nearest.

From Nice, Villefranche, Èze, Monaco and Menton are a short hop, and Italian towns such as Sanremo and Ventimiglia are an easy train ride. Nice's buses also reach the perched villages, whereas from Cannes those trips are easier by car.

Children do about equally well in either, for different reasons. Cannes has the friendlier beach for little ones, with soft sand and gently shelving water, but very little in town is aimed at children beyond the carousels on the Croisette and a picnic on the Lérins islands.

Nice has the stones to contend with, but more to do on land: the water jets and playgrounds of the Promenade du Paillon, Parc Phoenix and the waterfall on Castle Hill. Both are an easy run to the Oceanographic Museum in Monaco.

Nice is the easier of the two, because it has trams as well as a walkable centre. One line runs straight from the airport to the centre and the port, and buses climb to the museums in Cimiez, so even a larger city never needs a car until you head for the mountains.

Cannes is small enough to walk in about twenty minutes, with the station in the middle of town, though Le Suquet is a steep climb. Inland villages and the Esterel corniche are awkward without a car, and parking in the centre is scarce.

The two are close, but Cannes has the more concentrated luxury shopping. The great Paris fashion and jewellery houses line the seafront Croisette, Rue d'Antibes runs behind it with mid-range French labels, and Rue Meynadier sells olive oil, cheeses and Provençal fabrics.

Nice spreads its shopping out more: chain stores on Avenue Jean Médecin, luxury labels around rue Paradis, and soaps, candied fruit and local spirits in Vieux Nice. Both hold a Monday flea market, at Forville and on the Cours Saleya.

Neither is cheap, but Nice is noticeably easier on the wallet. Its trams and coastal trains cost little, many city museums are inexpensive, and socca and market lunches keep daily spending down.

Cannes is priced for a wealthy crowd, and hotel rates climb further during the film festival and the trade fairs. Public beaches and backstreet lunch menus help there, and some visitors stay in a cheaper town nearby and come in by train.

Nice has the fuller programme. The nineteenth-century Opéra de Nice stages opera, ballet and philharmonic concerts, the Théâtre National de Nice puts on drama, and the city holds one of Europe's oldest jazz festivals each July as well as its February Carnival.

Cannes is famous for a film festival that most visitors can only follow through the free screenings on the beach. Beyond that it offers shows at the Palais, a respected dance festival and summer concerts in the castle courtyard on Le Suquet.

Neither town has a bathing tradition, so pampering in both means hotel spas and thalassotherapy along the coast. Cannes's palace hotels on the Croisette have the more polished spas, and the small town is calm in spring and autumn, though festival weeks make it noisy.

Nice offers rest through its daily rhythm rather than its facilities: an early swim, a long lunch and an evening walk on the promenade as the light fades.