Chamonix or Marseille?

Chamonix is a high Alpine valley, and a swim there is an occasional treat. The options are Lac de Passy, with its sandy strip and Mont Blanc views, the outdoor basin of the town pool in summer, or a drive of a little over an hour to Lake Annecy.

Marseille is properly on the water. The Prado beaches have shingle, sand and lawns behind them, and locals swim off the rocks at Catalans and the Vallon des Auffes. The Calanques and the Frioul coves are among the clearest water on the French Mediterranean. The mistral and the odd closure after rain are the only catches.

Chamonix feeds you well after a day outdoors. Expect fondue, tartiflette and Reblochon on a refuge terrace, and charcuterie from town for a picnic. But the menus repeat, and many places close between the seasons.

Marseille has much more range. There is bouillabaisse in the little Corniche harbours, panisses and wood-fired pizza on the street, the spice shops and North African bakeries of Noailles, and fish sold straight off the boats on the Vieux-Port. Rosé from Cassis and Bandol and a slow pastis finish it off.

Chamonix's heritage is the birth of alpinism and the 1924 Winter Olympics, told in the Musée Alpin and the guides' quarter. It is interesting for a morning, and then the mountains take over again.

Marseille gives you days of sightseeing, though it is spread through a working city rather than kept in a tidy old centre. You can climb to Notre-Dame de la Garde, walk the forts of the Vieux-Port and the MuCEM, and explore Le Panier and the Vieille Charité. Further out are the crypts of Saint-Victor, the Château d'If and the Cité Radieuse.

Chamonix's nights are après-ski first. Then a short lane of pubs fills with guides, seasonal workers and young English-speaking visitors, and a couple of small clubs stay open late. It is loud in winter, quiet in summer and largely shut in between.

Marseille has a bigger and more local scene. Graffitied bars and pavement tables spread around Cours Julien and La Plaine, and evening pastis is on the Vieux-Port terraces. On some nights there are electronic parties in old warehouses or by the sea. Some central streets feel edgy late, so a taxi home is wise.

Chamonix is one of the great mountain places on earth. Lifts carry you up to 3,842m on the Aiguille du Midi and on to the Mer de Glace, and trails to Lac Blanc and the Tour du Mont Blanc leave from town. The menu covers serious skiing, mountaineering, climbing and paragliding.

Marseille's outdoors is coast rather than summits, and still exceptional. A national park of white limestone starts at the southern suburbs, with inlets like Sugiton and En-Vau, famous sport climbing, and kayaking and diving round the Riou islands. Sainte-Victoire is an easy drive. Summer heat and fire closures can shut the massifs.

Chamonix's trips are about crossing borders. Courmayeur and Roman Aosta are through the tunnel in Italy, the Mont Blanc Express runs to Martigny in Switzerland, and Annecy and Geneva are a little over an hour away. Once you have seen those, the rest is mostly other resorts.

Marseille sits in the middle of Provence. Aix is half an hour away, Cassis is closer still, and Arles and the Palais des Papes in Avignon are an easy train ride. Nîmes and the Pont du Gard, the Luberon villages and the Bandol vineyards fill longer days, though some of them need a car.

Chamonix suits active families better. Children get nursery slopes and sledging in winter, and in summer there are the luge, treetop courses, the red train to the Mer de Glace, and ibex and marmots at the Merlet park, all based in a small, safe town. The limits are the cost, the altitude of the big cable cars and a lack of rainy-day options.

Marseille works best if you stay near the southern beaches, with the Prado lawns, Parc Borély and boat trips to the Frioul. There is no zoo, aquarium or theme park, though, and steep, busy, sometimes dirty streets make buggies hard work.

Chamonix is simpler to get around. The centre is flat and compact, the main lift stations are in town, and with the guest card the valley buses and train cost nothing. The weak point is the packed ski buses in winter, and evening services that thin out.

Marseille has a real network of two metro lines, trams, buses and little harbour ferries, and the core from the Vieux-Port to Cours Julien is walkable if hilly. The trouble starts beyond it. Buses to the beaches and Calanques trailheads get stuck in traffic, and driving in the centre is stressful.

Chamonix is a specialist stop. Its long-established climbing and ski shops are where serious mountaineers buy kit, alongside cheese, génépi and rock crystals. Beyond that it is souvenirs, and for anything else people go to Geneva or Annecy.

Marseille has more to browse, if not much luxury. Look for Marseille soap and santon figures from Le Panier workshops, fabrics and teas in Noailles, and independent boutiques on Cours Julien, with department stores on Rue Paradis and a large mall at La Joliette.

Chamonix is costly at nearly every turn: peak-season rooms, lift passes, the big cable cars and the guides. You can soften it with free valley transport, self-catering, picnics, trails that need no lift, and quieter shoulder weeks.

Marseille is the cheaper trip by some way. Hotels are reasonable outside July and August, and street food in Noailles keeps lunches cheap. Transport costs little, museums are inexpensive, and the Calanques walks are free.

In Chamonix, culture after dark comes down to a summer jazz festival with some sets high in the mountains, occasional church concerts and mountain film evenings. For opera you would go to Geneva.

Marseille has a full season. There is opera at the art deco Opéra, drama at the Théâtre de la Criée in the old fish market, and dance and concerts at the Friche la Belle de Mai. Add the city's hip-hop and world-music scene and the Fiesta des Suds in autumn.

Chamonix is better at rest after effort. A large day spa with hot outdoor pools looks up at the glaciers, many chalets have saunas, and the thermal springs of Saint-Gervais are a short drive away. The town itself is busy in high season, so the hamlets further up the valley are quieter.

Marseille has no bathing culture beyond a few local hammams, and its centre is loud and dense. Here, unwinding means a long harbour lunch on the Corniche. People who want real quiet stay in Cassis or inland.