Cannes or Padua?

Cannes has the sea on its doorstep. There is a curve of fine sand along the Croisette, the broad and mostly free Plage du Midi, and clearer water off the rocks of the Lérins islands, a short boat ride away. Swimming is comfortable from June into early October, though the central beaches fill up in high summer.

Padua is inland, so a swim means an hour's journey to Sottomarina or the Lido of Venice. The Adriatic there is warm, shallow and good for paddling children, but the shore is a flat line of umbrellas. It has none of the coves and red rock within easy reach of Cannes.

Padua's food is better and more its own. Dishes such as bigoli with duck sauce, baccalà and the local Padovana hen come from the region. Daily life centres on the morning markets in Piazza delle Erbe and Piazza della Frutta and the arcaded shops under the Palazzo della Ragione. The standing spritz in the squares and wines from the Euganean Hills complete the picture.

Cannes has fine Provençal produce at the Forville market, good bouillabaisse and socca in Le Suquet, and a genuine top tier of grand restaurants, which Padua lacks. But much of the waterfront serves predictable food to passing crowds, and few dishes belong to the town itself.

For sights, Padua is in another league. It has Giotto's Scrovegni Chapel, a UNESCO-listed group of fourteenth-century fresco cycles, and the Basilica of Saint Anthony with Donatello's altar and his Gattamelata outside. Add the frescoed hall of the Palazzo della Ragione and the oldest university botanical garden still on its original site, and the city fills two or three unhurried days.

Cannes offers a pleasant morning: the climb through Le Suquet to the castle museum, the Belle Époque hotels on the Croisette and the red-carpet steps of the Palais des Festivals. Art lovers who stay there spend their days in Antibes or Saint-Paul-de-Vence.

Neither is a big night-out city, but the evenings feel very different. In summer and during festival weeks, the beach clubs in Cannes become party venues, a few clubs stay open until dawn and cocktail bars fill the streets behind the old port. It is all glamorous and expensive, and the town goes quiet for the rest of the year.

In Padua, evenings revolve around the aperitivo, with students and locals standing over spritz glasses in Piazza delle Erbe and Piazza dei Signori, and wine bars in the old ghetto. The city is at its liveliest in term time and quietest in summer, almost the opposite of the rhythm in Cannes.

Cannes has the more dramatic outdoors. The red volcanic rock of the Esterel drops into the sea twenty minutes to the west. The Lérins islands have pine-shaded paths, and a wild coastal footpath runs round Cap d'Antibes. Sailing, kayaking and diving are all close at hand, though in high summer fire risk can close the forest trails.

Padua's countryside is gentler. The Euganean Hills rise from the plain about 15km away, with vineyards, chestnut woods and quiet roads popular with cyclists, and level towpaths follow the Brenta. For real mountain walking you need a drive of about an hour and a half to Monte Grappa or the Asiago plateau.

Both make excellent bases, but Padua's position is hard to beat. Venice is under half an hour away by train, close enough to visit on several separate days. Palladio's Vicenza, Verona, Bologna and Ferrara are all within about an hour, and the Brenta villas and the walled towns around the Euganean Hills are closer still.

From Cannes, the coastal line offers almost as much: Antibes, Nice, Villefranche, Monaco and Menton along the sea, with Grasse, Mougins, Saint-Paul-de-Vence and Èze inland. The difference is in the kind of trip. Padua's list includes more great cities, while Cannes offers a chain of seaside towns and hill villages.

Cannes is the easier choice with children, mainly because of the beach. It has gently sloping sand, calm water, the flat Croisette with its carousels and play areas, and a boat trip to picnic under the Lérins pines. Beyond that, little in the town is aimed at children, and the aquarium in Monaco is the usual extra outing.

Padua is safe and flat, and children are welcome in its trattorias. Prato della Valle and the botanical glasshouses help, but the main sights are frescoes and churches. For younger children, the fun is mostly a day trip away, at the lake beaches and theme park of Lake Garda or on the Adriatic.

Both centres are compact and easy on foot, but Padua is simpler to get around. Much of its core is closed to traffic, arcades shelter you from rain and sun, a tram runs from the station to Prato della Valle, and plenty of people get about by bicycle. Main rail lines run in every direction, so you only need a car for the hills.

The centre of Cannes is just as walkable, apart from the steep climb up Le Suquet, and the coastal train serves the Riviera well. The inland villages and the Esterel corniche are harder to reach without a car, but heavy summer traffic and scarce parking make driving a chore.

Cannes has the stronger shopping, in a style Padua does not offer. The great Paris fashion and jewellery houses face the sea along the Croisette. Rue d'Antibes adds a long run of mid-range French fashion and chocolatiers, and Rue Meynadier sells olive oil, soaps and Provençal fabrics.

Padua's arcades have Italian fashion and shoe shops, independent boutiques and university bookshops, and its markets are good for cheese and Euganean wine to take home. Its most distinctive draw is the monthly antiques market in Prato della Valle. For big-name fashion, shoppers go to Venice or Milan.

Padua is much the cheaper place to stay. Hotels are moderately priced for northern Italy, which is why many visitors sleep there and spend their days in Venice. A standing spritz and food from the market cost little, and because the centre is walkable you spend little on transport.

Cannes is priced for a wealthy crowd, especially in summer and during the film festival and trade fairs. Backstreet lunch menus, picnics from the Forville market, the public beaches, the cheap coastal trains or a room in a neighbouring town all bring costs down. Even so, it rarely comes close to Padua.

Cannes's live culture peaks in summer and around its festivals, while Padua keeps a small season going through the year. In Cannes, the public's share of the film festival is the free open-air screenings on the beach. Summer brings classical concerts in the castle courtyard on Le Suquet and, just along the coast, the long-established jazz festival at Juan-les-Pins. Outside those weeks there is a more modest programme: concerts and touring shows at the Palais des Festivals, the regional philharmonic orchestra and the town's respected dance festival.

Padua offers less glamour but a steadier calendar. The nineteenth-century horseshoe Teatro Verdi stages plays and some opera, the city's chamber orchestra plays in the frescoed Sala dei Giganti and the Basilica of Saint Anthony, and students keep small live-music venues busy. For grand opera, the Fenice in Venice and Verona's summer Arena are both easy to reach.

Padua has a real thermal tradition close by. Abano Terme and Montegrotto Terme, about 12km away, make up one of Europe's largest spa districts, with hot mineral water and mud treatments used since Roman times. Many spa hotels let day visitors use their pools, and the city's slow provincial pace adds to the calm.

Cannes has polished hotel spas and seawater thalassotherapy, but no public baths or springs. There, rest comes from slow mornings on a terrace and evening walks by the bay in spring and autumn, while festival weeks and August are too noisy and crowded to unwind.