Chamonix or Montpellier?

Montpellier is plainly the place for swimming. A tram and bus take you to Palavas and Carnon, and from there long, gently shelving sand runs to the dunes of l'Espiguette. The water is warm in late summer, though the nearer beaches crowd in July and August.

Chamonix has nothing like this. Bathing means Lac de Passy down the valley, Lake Annecy just over an hour away, or the outdoor basin of the town pool, which makes a summer afternoon off rather than a beach day.

Chamonix eats like a ski resort. Fondue, raclette and tartiflette are made with Reblochon and Beaufort, often on a terrace facing a glacier, and the cheese shops are ideal for a picnic. But many menus look alike, and plenty of places close between seasons.

Montpellier has more to explore. Pic Saint-Loup wines, Thau oysters, Sète's tielle and the market halls of Castellane and Laissac give you regional variety, and the student crowd keeps cheap, casual eating easy all year round.

There is a real gap here. Chamonix's heritage is the story of alpinism: the Musée Alpin, the statues of the first ascent and the climbers' cemetery. It is interesting, but you will see it all in a morning.

Montpellier needs two or three days. You get the car-free lanes and courtyards of the Écusson, the Peyrou terrace with its aqueduct, the oldest botanical garden in France, the Musée Fabre's European painting, and Bofill's neoclassical Antigone.

Montpellier has the more dependable night out. Its large student population fills the bars around Place Jean-Jaurès and the Écusson squares on weeknights too, and the clubs out towards Lattes and the coast take over later. The centre is quieter outside term time.

Chamonix's scene is louder than you would expect but much smaller. Après-ski runs into a single lane of pubs and two or three clubs in winter, with a young, English-speaking crowd. Summer evenings are mostly terrace drinks, and the shoulder seasons are close to dead.

Chamonix is in a different league. The Mont Blanc massif rises almost 4km above the valley floor, and lifts put you among glaciers and granite needles within minutes. Skiing, the Vallée Blanche, climbing, via ferrata and trail running are all on the doorstep.

Montpellier's outdoors are gentler and more varied. Flamingos feed in the coastal lagoons, the Camargue is about an hour away, and you can climb Pic Saint-Loup or canoe the Hérault gorges. Flat cycling paths and kitesurfing on the windy coast round it off, best in spring and autumn.

From Montpellier, a whole sequence of famous places is within reach. Nîmes and its arena are half an hour by train, with the Pont du Gard beyond, while Arles, Avignon and Carcassonne are all comfortable days out. Closer in are Sète, Aigues-Mortes and Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert.

Chamonix's advantage is borders. Courmayeur and Roman Aosta lie through the tunnel, Martigny is over the line in Switzerland, and Annecy and Geneva are an hour or so away. After those, most nearby places are other resorts, reached on slow mountain roads.

Both work well with children, but they suit different families. Chamonix is for outdoor families: nursery slopes and sledging in winter, the Merlet animal park, the summer luge and the little red train to the Mer de Glace. The highest cable cars are no place for toddlers, though, and rainy days are thin.

Montpellier is a city-and-beach mix. There are calm, shallow seas, the Lunaret zoo and the aquarium and planetarium at Odysseum. Its trouble is heat, as July and August in the stone streets push you towards beach mornings and indoor afternoons.

Both centres are compact and easy on foot, so the difference lies in what you need to reach. In Chamonix, free valley buses and the Mont Blanc Express link the hamlets and ski areas, but winter ski buses are packed and evening services thin out.

Montpellier's trams cross the whole city and the main station has fast trains to the Roman towns. The beach bus is slow in summer, and the gorges and Camargue really call for a car.

Neither is a shopping destination, but Montpellier offers a broader spread: boutiques and bookshops in the Écusson lanes, the Polygone mall beside the Comédie, and wine and olive oil from the markets.

Chamonix's strength is narrow and deep. Its long-established climbing and ski shops are where serious mountaineers buy technical gear, and beyond those there is little more than cheese, génépi and souvenirs.

Montpellier is noticeably easier on the wallet. Central hotels are moderately priced most of the year, and the student economy keeps bars and casual food cheap, with costs climbing mainly in summer and at sit-down dinners.

Chamonix is expensive almost by design. Lift passes, the big cable cars, guides and resort restaurants all add up, and peak weeks fill at high prices. Self-catering, picnics, the free guest-card transport and trails that start without a lift soften it, as do the shoulder seasons.

Montpellier has a real stage and Chamonix barely has one. Montpellier's national orchestra, opera and ballet share the Opéra Comédie and the Corum, the city is a European name in contemporary dance, and summer brings free Radio France concerts and outdoor theatre at the Domaine d'O.

In Chamonix, live performance amounts to a summer jazz festival with sets up in the mountains, the odd church concert and mountain film evenings. For opera, you would drive to Geneva.

Chamonix has the better place to unwind, provided you have earned it. Its large day spa has hot outdoor pools and saunas facing the glaciers, chalets often have their own, and Saint-Gervais has thermal springs in a wooded gorge. The town itself is busy and starts early.

Montpellier relaxes you through its pace rather than its facilities. Think long lunches and shaded squares in the old town. For proper thermal water, you go to Balaruc-les-Bains on the Thau lagoon, half an hour away.