Cannes or Rome?

In Cannes the beach is part of the day. The Croisette curves along fine sand on calm water, the long Plage du Midi is mostly free, and short trips take you to rocky swimming under pines on the Lérins islands or to the red coves of the Esterel.

In Rome the sea takes a journey. Ostia is half an hour away by suburban train and has dark volcanic sand, rows of paid lidos and water that is rarely clear. For prettier coves you need to go as far as Sperlonga, which takes the whole day.

Rome eats far better. Its cooking is its own: the four classic pastas, artichokes fried in the old Ghetto, offal dishes in Testaccio, crisp thin pizza and supplì from the street. The rule is to walk away from the big sights to Trastevere, Monti or Testaccio.

Cannes has fine produce at the Forville market and sound Provençal cooking in Le Suquet, with bouillabaisse, socca and rosé, plus serious fine dining towards Mougins. Beyond that the range is narrow, and the waterfront serves a lot of tired food at high prices.

There is hardly a contest. Cannes offers a pleasant morning: the castle museum and church on Le Suquet, the Belle Époque palace hotels and the red-carpet steps of the Palais des Festivals.

Rome has the Colosseum, the Forum, the Pantheon, St Peter's and the Sistine Chapel, followed by layer upon layer of basilicas, Renaissance palaces and Bernini's piazzas. Planning a visit there is mostly a matter of deciding what to leave out.

Rome has the livelier evenings, and they don't depend on the calendar. Aperitivo leads into crowded lanes in Trastevere, small cocktail bars in Monti, cheap student drinking in San Lorenzo and an arty crowd in Pigneto, mostly outdoors with a glass in hand.

Cannes comes alive only in summer and during festivals, when Croisette beach clubs turn into party venues and the night is about champagne and dressing up. Off-season it is an aperitif and an early night. In neither city is clubbing the main draw.

Cannes has the wilder landscape close at hand. The volcanic red rock of the Esterel, twenty minutes west, has summit trails and a corniche road above the sea, and pine paths circle Sainte-Marguerite. There is the Cap d'Antibes shore path, plus sailing, kayaking and diving around the islands.

Rome's green is gentler and more historic. You can cycle the Appian Way past tombs and aqueducts, walk in the villa parks, or visit the crater lakes of the Alban Hills. The Apennines are about ninety minutes away, much like the pre-Alps behind Cannes, and both have winter skiing within reach.

Both make excellent bases, and Rome has a slight edge for the depth of what lies around it. From Cannes the trips are a run of coastal towns on one train line, Antibes, Nice, Villefranche and Monaco, plus perched villages such as Saint-Paul-de-Vence and Èze and the perfume town of Grasse.

From Rome the outings are mostly into history: the excavated port of Ostia Antica, Hadrian's Villa and Villa d'Este at Tivoli, Etruscan tombs at Tarquinia, and cliff-top Orvieto. High-speed trains also put Florence and Naples within reach for a day.

Cannes is slightly easier with small children. It has gently sloping sand, calm water, a flat promenade for pushchairs and scooters with carousels along the way, and a compact centre that feels safe.

Rome makes children welcome in every trattoria and can catch their interest with gladiators, catacombs and the Bioparco in Villa Borghese. Long queues, cobbles and traffic make sightseeing there harder going for families.

Cannes is the simpler town to get around. Everything central is within a twenty-minute walk, the station is in the heart of town and the coast train reaches Nice and Monaco easily. Only the hill villages and the Esterel really call for a car.

Rome's centre is a fine walk, from the Colosseum to Piazza Navona and over to Trastevere, but the distances are longer and the cobbles and heat are tiring. The metro skirts the historic core, and buses get stuck in traffic.

Rome offers more range. Alongside the Italian fashion houses on Via Condotti there are independent boutiques and vintage shops in Monti, artisan workshops around Via Margutta, the sprawling Porta Portese flea market, and good leather and handmade shoes.

Cannes packs remarkable luxury into the Croisette, has mid-range French fashion on Rue d'Antibes and Provençal food and soaps on Rue Meynadier. Independent shops are thin, though, and the best perfume shopping is a short trip away in Grasse.

Both are expensive, and Cannes is the heavier on the wallet. Seafront hotels, cocktails and private-beach loungers there are priced for a wealthy crowd, and costs climb further during the film festival and trade fairs. Market picnics, the public beaches and staying in a neighbouring town all help.

Rome's main cost is a small, pricey room in the centre plus entry fees at the big sights. Day to day it is kinder: standing espresso, pizza al taglio, free water from the fountains and churches full of masterpieces that cost nothing to enter.

Rome has much more to offer the ear. In winter there is opera and ballet at the Teatro dell'Opera, and in summer opera moves outdoors among the ruins of Caracalla. The Santa Cecilia orchestra plays at Renzo Piano's Auditorium, and there are church organ concerts and long-running jazz clubs.

Cannes's famous festival is closed to most visitors apart from the free beach screenings. What remains is touring shows at the Palais, the regional philharmonic, a dance festival and summer concerts in the Suquet castle courtyard. The nearest jazz festival is along the coast at Juan-les-Pins.

Neither city has a bathing culture of its own, and they offer rest of different kinds. Cannes has polished palace-hotel spas and seawater thalassotherapy, and its calm spring and autumn seafront is restful in itself.

Rome's centre is louder, but real thermal water lies close by: the sulphurous pools of Bagni di Tivoli, and free open-air hot springs around Viterbo. In town, the villa gardens and the Aventine are the quiet places to retreat to.