Cannes or Zermatt?

Cannes is built around its shoreline. Private concessions with loungers line the Croisette, but there are public stretches between them, and the long Plage du Midi west of the old port is mostly free. When the central beaches are packed in July and August, the rocky swimming spots on the Lérins islands and the Esterel coves give you clearer water.

Zermatt has nothing to compare. The tarns above the village are meltwater, far too cold to swim in even in August. They are good for photographs of the Matterhorn and not much else, so a beach has to be planned for another part of the trip.

Cannes eats better day to day. The Forville market brings hinterland vegetables, goat cheeses and the morning catch into town, and the bistros in Le Suquet and Rue Meynadier serve bouillabaisse, socca and stuffed vegetables with rosé on the side. Avoid the tourist-focused tables along the Croisette and the old port.

Zermatt's best meals depend more on the setting than on the range. A long lunch at a chalet in Findeln or Furi, reached on skis or on foot with the Matterhorn in view, is the highlight. Expect raclette, air-dried beef and Valais wines such as Petite Arvine, plus few cheap options and many kitchens closed between seasons.

Neither is a sightseeing destination, but Cannes gives you a little more to look at. You can climb Le Suquet to the castle museum and the church above the bay, admire the Belle Époque palace hotels left over from the town's aristocratic winter-resort days, and see the red-carpet steps of the Palais des Festivals. Serious art is a short trip down the coast.

Zermatt's heritage is narrower and all about mountaineering. The underground Matterhorn Museum tells the story of the 1865 first ascent, the climbers' cemetery stands by the church, and the old larch barns of the Hinterdorf stand raised on their stone slabs. It is interesting for a morning, but the peaks are the reason to come.

Cannes has more going on after dark, though mostly in summer and during festivals. Beach clubs on the Croisette turn into party venues, cocktail and wine bars fill the streets behind the old port, and the dress code leans towards champagne rather than dive bars. Out of season the town goes to bed early.

Zermatt's nights peak in winter instead. Après-ski starts in the slope-side bars in the late afternoon, and a few main-street bars and small clubs keep going past midnight on busy weekends. In summer the hikers and climbers turn in after dinner.

Zermatt is one of the great Alpine landscapes. The Matterhorn rises straight above the village, the Gorner Glacier lies below a ring of four-thousand-metre peaks, and lifts reach the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise at over 3,800m. Summer opens up the Five Lakes walk, the Europaweg suspension bridge and larch woods where you can spot marmots and ibex.

Cannes has good scenery for a coastal town. The volcanic red rock of the Esterel lies to the west, pine paths circle Sainte-Marguerite, and the wild path around Cap d'Antibes follows the shore. Its strength is the water, with sailing, kayaking and diving around the islands, but summer fire risk can close the forest trails.

From Cannes, the whole Riviera is within easy reach. The coastal train stops at Antibes, Nice, Villefranche, Monaco and Menton, and buses climb to Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Èze and the perfume town of Grasse. You could fill a week of outings without ever needing a car.

Zermatt sits at the end of its valley, so every outing starts with more than an hour on the train. Sion, with its castle hills set among the Valais vineyards, makes the best day out, and Brig and Saas-Fee are also possible. Most visitors simply spend spare days higher up the mountains instead.

The two are fairly evenly matched, with Cannes slightly easier for children. Gently sloping sand, calm water and the flat Croisette with its carousels make for simple days, and the aquarium in Monaco is an easy outing. Midsummer heat means planning around the middle of the day.

Zermatt's car-free streets make it relaxed with children, and families who ski or hike get the most from it, with nursery slopes at Sunnegga and marmots to spot in summer. Rainy days are hard to fill, though, and the thin, cold air at the highest viewpoints can be too much for small children.

Central Cannes is compact and mostly flat, with the Croisette, the old port and the Forville market a short walk apart, though Le Suquet is a steep climb. The station in the middle of town makes Antibes, Nice and Monaco easy by train, and ferries to the Lérins islands leave from the old port. The trouble starts inland: the perched villages, Grasse and the Esterel corniche are much easier by car, and then you face heavy summer traffic on the coast and very little parking in the centre.

Zermatt is simpler once you are there, because ordinary cars are not allowed at all. Train passengers ride straight into the village, and only drivers leave their cars at Täsch and take the shuttle. From then on you walk, with small electric taxis and ski buses for the outer lift stations, and the cog railway, funicular and gondolas all start close to the centre. The drawbacks are the steep walk with luggage to hotels on the slopes and the train journey of more than an hour out of the valley.

Cannes is much better for shopping. Paris fashion and jewellery houses face the sea along the Croisette, Rue d'Antibes runs for over a kilometre of mid-range fashion and chocolatiers, and Rue Meynadier sells olive oil, soaps and Provençal fabrics.

Zermatt has a single main street of watch boutiques, souvenir cowbells and outdoor outfitters. That ski and mountaineering gear is the one thing worth seeking out there.

Both are expensive, but Cannes gives you far more ways to keep costs down. Away from the seafront, prices fall back towards ordinary French levels. The public beaches are free, the coastal trains are cheap, and spring or autumn outside event weeks is much kinder than summer or the film festival.

Zermatt is expensive across the board, from plain hotel rooms to a drink on a mountain terrace. The lifts and cog railways that every visitor uses push the daily cost up further. Self-catering, supermarket picnics and a bed down the valley in Täsch are the main ways to save.

Cannes has more of a live programme, even if the film festival itself is closed to the public apart from the beach screenings. The Palais des Festivals hosts concerts and touring shows, the regional philharmonic plays through the season, and summer brings classical concerts in the castle courtyard on Le Suquet, with the Juan-les-Pins jazz festival just along the coast.

Zermatt has no theatre or concert hall at all. Its music comes in two bursts: Zermatt Unplugged's acoustic sets on mountain stages in spring, and a chamber music festival in the church in late summer.

Zermatt has the edge for rest. It has an unusual concentration of good hotel spas with pools, saunas and mountain views, and a few sell day passes to non-residents. The absence of traffic gives the village a stillness that is restful on early-summer days and on winter evenings after skiing.

Cannes offers palace-hotel spas and seawater thalassotherapy along the coast, and its calm spring and autumn mornings on the bay are restful. The noise of August and festival weeks undoes much of that. Neither place has thermal springs.