Carcassonne or Saint-Tropez?

This is the clearest gap between the two. Carcassonne is inland, so a swim means the lifeguarded Lac de la Cavayère just outside town, or an hour's drive to the long, shallow sands of Gruissan and Narbonne-Plage, where the tramontane often roughens the water.

Saint-Tropez is a beach destination in its own right. Pampelonne gives you kilometres of fine sand, mixing beach clubs and public stretches, and further south lie wilder coves along the coast path. The small town beaches of Les Graniers and La Ponche are handy for a quick dip between lunch and the harbour.

The two eat about equally well, but in very different styles. Carcassonne is hearty and inland: cassoulet, Corbières and Minervois reds and Limoux blanquette, best found around the Place Carnot market rather than among the set menus inside the Cité.

Saint-Tropez cooks the lighter Provençal coast: grilled fish, bouillabaisse, aïoli and chilled rosé, plus the tarte tropézienne. Its top tables are more polished, but simple, fairly priced meals are much easier to find in Carcassonne.

Carcassonne has the far deeper heritage. The Cité's walls and towers are a sight of European rank, and the ramparts walk, the stained glass of Saint-Nazaire and the arcaded Bastide fill two full days.

Saint-Tropez offers a single strong museum, the Annonciade, with its pointillist and Fauvist harbour scenes. Add the citadel's maritime collection and a stroll through La Ponche, and it is done in a day. People go there for the setting, not the monuments.

Saint-Tropez has a real night out in summer, Carcassonne largely does not. In Carcassonne an evening means a floodlit walk on the walls and a glass on a terrace around Place Carnot, and anyone wanting clubs takes the train to Toulouse.

In Saint-Tropez, beach-club afternoons at Pampelonne roll into champagne on the harbour and clubs that run until dawn. It is a dressed-up, table-service scene rather than a bar crawl, and it largely stops when the season ends in autumn.

Both have good walking country, but Saint-Tropez's is more rewarding and easier to reach. The coastal path rings the peninsula past pine-backed coves to the capes of Camarat and Taillat, the Massif des Maures lies inland, and snorkelling, sailing and the national park islands of Port-Cros and Porquerolles add a sea side to the outdoors.

Carcassonne's landscape is drier and more rugged: the Corbières garrigue, the forests of the Montagne Noire and Pyrenean gorges with summer rafting. Beyond the flat, shady canal towpath, nearly all of it needs a car.

Carcassonne is the better base for days out. Peyrepertuse, Quéribus and Lastours are among the most dramatic castle ruins in France, Toulouse and Narbonne are easy by train, and Lagrasse, Minerve, Mirepoix and Albi make a week of varied outings.

Saint-Tropez's excursions are pleasant but smaller in scale: the hilltop villages of Ramatuelle and Gassin, boat crossings to Port Grimaud and Sainte-Maxime, and a fuller day to Porquerolles. Summer traffic on the gulf road eats into all of them.

Carcassonne is the easier choice with children. A real castle with drawbridges, jousting and falconry, a supervised lake beach with a water park, and an animal park make a good mix, as long as you avoid the midday heat on the cobbles.

Saint-Tropez's gently shelving sands at Pampelonne and Gigaro are excellent for small children. Almost everything else in town is built for adults, though, and the cost and traffic lead many families to stay across the gulf instead.

Carcassonne is the easier place to arrive in and move about. Trains pull in at the edge of the flat Bastide, the Cité is under half an hour's walk away or a short ride on the seasonal shuttle, and Toulouse and Narbonne make simple outings by rail. Only the castles and wine villages really call for a car or a tour.

Saint-Tropez is just as easy on foot once you are there, but there is no station at all. Getting there means a drive, a slow bus from Saint-Raphaël or Toulon, or a boat across the gulf. In Carcassonne the train covers your longer trips, but here even a day on the sand at Pampelonne needs a scooter, a bicycle or a taxi.

Saint-Tropez is far stronger for shopping. Major fashion houses, resort-wear labels and jewellers fill the lanes behind the port, hand-stitched Tropézienne sandals are still made in the old town, and the Place des Lices market adds linen, baskets and pottery.

Carcassonne offers souvenir swords in the Cité and an ordinary provincial high street in the Bastide. The best things to bring home from there are cassoulet, wine and blanquette.

There is a wide gap in cost. Carcassonne is a moderately priced provincial town, with good-value set lunches, cheap local wine and a walkable centre. Only hotels inside the Cité and the peak summer weeks push spending up.

Saint-Tropez is expensive in every way: rooms, beach loungers, harbourside meals and even a coffee on the port. Taxis or parking add to the bill. Staying inland or across the gulf and picnicking from the market is how budget travellers manage it.

Neither town is a place for culture after dark, but Carcassonne has a little more. Its July festival puts concerts, theatre and dance on the open-air stage inside the Cité walls, Bastille Day fireworks light up the ramparts, and the municipal theatre keeps a small programme going the rest of the year.

Saint-Tropez has summer concerts in gardens and at the citadel, plus the Bravade procession each May. Beyond that, there is little to see until Toulon or Nice.

Neither has a bathing tradition, so the calm both offer comes from the season more than from spas. Carcassonne's restful side is canal walks and quiet evenings on the walls, and the modest thermal villages of the upper Aude are within an hour's drive.

Saint-Tropez relies on polished luxury hotel spas. In May, June and September it becomes a calm place of long lunches and pétanque under the plane trees.