Cannes or Paris?

This is the widest gap between the two. Cannes has a real Mediterranean beach in the middle of town, with fine sand along the Croisette and the free Plage du Midi west of the old port. Rocky island swimming on the Lérins is a short boat ride away.

Paris has only summer sand on the riverbanks, swimming spots in the Bassin de la Villette and the Seine, and its handsome public pools. They are pleasant on a hot afternoon, but the nearest sea is the cool Channel at Deauville, about two hours away.

Paris is one of the world's great eating cities, while Cannes is a seaside town with good produce and a short list of dishes. In Cannes the pleasures are simple ones: the covered Forville market behind the old port, bouillabaisse, socca and grilled fish in the lanes of Le Suquet, and pink rosé on a terrace. The palace hotels and the hill villages towards Mougins add fine dining, but along the Croisette much of the food is predictable and priced for passing crowds.

Paris has range at every level, from the neighbourhood boulangerie and cheese shop up to haute cuisine. Neo-bistros and natural wine bars fill the eastern arrondissements, Belleville cooks couscous and the 13th serves pho. You could eat out for a week and barely repeat yourself.

You can see Cannes in a morning. Climb through Le Suquet to the castle museum and the church, look at the Belle Époque hotels on the Croisette and the film-star handprints outside the Palais des Festivals. Anyone after serious art heads along the coast, to Antibes or the foundations at Saint-Paul-de-Vence.

Paris is the opposite case. It has the Louvre, the Musée d'Orsay, the Sainte-Chapelle and Notre-Dame, plus a dozen museums that would be the main draw in other cities, all set among Haussmann's boulevards and the older streets of the Marais. Culture alone can fill a long stay.

Nights in Cannes are seasonal and dressy. The beach clubs on the Croisette turn into party venues and the cocktail bars behind the old port fill up, with champagne rather than dive bars, and most of it is over by autumn. Off-season, the evening ends with dinner.

Paris goes out all year, with far more variety. There are unpretentious bars in Oberkampf, Belleville and along the Canal Saint-Martin, cocktails in South Pigalle and the gay scene in the Marais, and after that the house and techno clubs run until dawn.

Cannes has real landscape on its doorstep. The red volcanic rock of the Esterel is about twenty minutes west, with summit trails and a corniche road. You can sail, kayak and dive around the Lérins islands, and further inland there are the pre-Alps and skiing in winter.

Paris has parks and woods: the Buttes-Chaumont, the Bois de Boulogne and the Bois de Vincennes, and the forest of Fontainebleau with its climbing boulders. They are good for cycling and gentle walks, but there is no sea and no mountains.

Both are excellent bases, and the difference lies in the kind of trip. From Cannes the outings follow one coast: Antibes, Nice, Villefranche, Monaco and Menton by train, the perched villages of Èze and Saint-Paul-de-Vence, and Grasse inland. It is mostly sea views and hill villages.

Paris has the deeper and more varied list, built on history. Versailles, Chartres, Giverny and the châteaux of Fontainebleau and Chantilly are all within about an hour, and fast trains reach Reims, Rouen, the Loire and Brussels. It can fill more days without repeating the same kind of outing.

Cannes gives small children gently sloping sandy beaches, calm water and a flat promenade with carousels. Little else is made for them, so families rely on beach days and outings along the coast, such as the aquarium in Monaco.

Paris has far more to fill the days. Disneyland and Parc Astérix are within easy reach, and in the city there are the Cité des Sciences, the galleries of the Jardin des Plantes and puppet shows in the Luxembourg. The trade-off is daily effort: metro stairs, crowded trains and small hotel rooms.

You can walk across central Cannes in about twenty minutes, and the station in the middle of town makes the coast easy to reach. The hill villages and the Esterel really need a car, though, and summer traffic is heavy.

Paris covers far more ground with less effort. The centre is walkable along the river, the metro is dense enough that a station is always close, and the RER runs to Versailles and the airports. Expect stairs, crowds at rush hour and pickpockets, but you will never need a car.

Cannes has a short, concentrated luxury strip, with the big Paris houses facing the sea along the Croisette. Rue d'Antibes has mid-range fashion and Rue Meynadier has olive oil and Provençal soaps. Beyond that the choice thins out quickly.

Paris is home to those same houses and much more: Avenue Montaigne, Galeries Lafayette and Le Bon Marché, independent designers and vintage in the Marais, the covered passages, the Saint-Ouen flea market and the bouquinistes along the Seine.

Neither is a cheap vacation, but the costs land in different places. In Cannes they come from the seafront: waterfront hotels in summer and festival weeks, private beach loungers and Croisette cocktails. Free public beaches, picnics from the Forville market, cheap coastal trains and the calmer spring and autumn months all help.

In Paris the costs run all year: small, expensive hotel rooms, full museum admissions and drinks on a terrace. You save by walking, using the reasonably priced public transport, visiting the free city museum collections, and eating from bakeries or picnicking by the river.

The film festival that made Cannes famous is mostly closed to the public, apart from the open-air screenings on the beach. The rest of the year brings touring shows at the Palais, the regional philharmonic, summer concerts in the castle courtyard and a dance festival.

Paris has a full calendar every night of the year: ballet at the Palais Garnier, opera at the Bastille, concerts at the Philharmonie, chamber music in the Sainte-Chapelle, jazz cellars around the rue des Lombards and cabaret in Pigalle. Much of the theatre is in French, but music needs no translation.

Neither is a true wellness destination, and both rely on hotel spas rather than springs. Cannes adds seawater thalassotherapy and a slower pace, and the quiet seafront is at its most restful in spring and autumn. August and festival weeks undo that calm.

Paris offers a different kind of steam: the tiled hammam of the Grande Mosquée, with mint tea, and smaller neighbourhood hammams. Otherwise rest comes in short breaks from a fast city, such as an hour on a chair in the Luxembourg gardens.