Chamonix or Saint-Malo?

Saint-Malo is a real beach town. The Sillon sands run about 3km from the walls, small coves sit under the ramparts, and huge tides double the beach at low water. The catch is the Channel itself, which stays chilly even in high summer.

Chamonix has no beach worth the name. Swimming means Lac de Passy down the valley, a long drive to Lake Annecy, or the town pool.

Saint-Malo eats a little better, mostly thanks to the sea. There are Cancale oysters at the harbour stalls, scallops and seafood platters, and galettes with dry cider for everyday meals. The best tables are in Saint-Servan and towards Cancale, not among the crêperies inside the walls.

Chamonix serves Savoyard cheese cooking: fondue, raclette and tartiflette, often eaten on a mountain terrace facing the glaciers. It is hearty and good after a long day, but the menus repeat themselves, and many places close between seasons.

Saint-Malo gives a sightseer much more. You can walk the whole circuit of granite ramparts, visit the cathedral and the castle keep, cross at low tide to Chateaubriand's grave on the Grand Bé and see the Solidor Tower in Saint-Servan. Most of its corsair history is in the streets themselves, not in museums.

Chamonix's heritage is the story of mountaineering. The Musée Alpin, the pioneers' statues and the climbers' cemetery are well worth an hour or two, but half a day covers them.

Chamonix goes out harder than you might expect. Winter après-ski starts at the foot of the slopes in the late afternoon, then moves on to a lane of bars in the old town where guides, seasonal workers and visitors mix. A couple of small clubs stay open late on busy nights.

Saint-Malo's evenings mostly mean a pub or wine bar inside the walls after dinner. It is livelier in summer, but there are no clubs, so you would have to go to Rennes for one. Both towns go quiet out of season.

This is where Chamonix is strongest. Mont Blanc rises almost 4km above the valley floor, and cable cars run from the town centre up among the hanging glaciers and granite spires in minutes. A rack railway climbs to the Mer de Glace. Skiing, mountaineering, via ferrata and trail running all start at the edge of town.\n\nSaint-Malo's outdoors is flat by comparison. The long-distance coastal path follows the cliffs east to Pointe du Grouin and west to Cap Fréhel. Tides of up to 13m uncover huge sandbanks and mudflats, and the Rance estuary is good for kayaking and cycling. Inland there is only farmland, with no hills to climb.

Saint-Malo has the stronger list. Mont-Saint-Michel is about an hour's drive, medieval Dinan about half an hour, and Dinard a short boat ride. Rennes is under an hour by train, and in summer ferries sail to Jersey.

Chamonix's day trips are good because three countries meet here: Courmayeur and Roman Aosta through the tunnel, Annecy and Geneva, and Martigny by mountain railway. After those, most places within reach are other ski resorts at the end of slow mountain roads.

Both towns are safe and work well with children, but in different ways. Chamonix is about doing things outdoors: nursery slopes, the summer luge, treetop courses, marmots at the Merlet park and the little red train. Toddlers cannot go up the highest lifts, though, and wet days are hard to fill.

Saint-Malo offers sandcastles, the Bon-Secours sea pool, pirate stories and the Grand Aquarium as a fallback when it rains. Parents need to keep an eye on the fast tides and the cold water.

Chamonix is slightly easier without a car. The flat centre is walkable, the main lift stations are in town, and valley buses and the Mont Blanc Express are free with the guest card. In winter, though, the ski buses get crowded.

Saint-Malo is easy on foot along the walls and the seafront promenade, with a boat to Dinard and fast trains to Paris. Beyond the town, buses are thin, and most people drive to Cancale or Mont-Saint-Michel.

Neither town is a place for serious shopping, but they sell very different things. Chamonix is about technical gear: generations-old climbing and ski shops whose stock and know-how many climbers save their big purchases for. Saint-Malo sells Breton things such as striped sailor tops, faience, salted butter and caramels, and has produce markets in town and in Saint-Servan. For fashion, you go to Geneva or Annecy from Chamonix and to Rennes from Saint-Malo.

Saint-Malo is the cheaper of the two. Peak summer rooms are expensive, but a galette and cider costs little, set lunches are fair, and buses and walking keep transport cheap.

In Chamonix, lift passes, the big cable cars, guides and paragliding add up fast on top of resort room prices. Self-catering, free valley transport and trails that start without a lift help, as do the quieter shoulder seasons.

Saint-Malo has a little more going on. The town theatre runs a modest season, the cathedral hosts concerts, and festivals such as La Route du Rock and Étonnants Voyageurs bring busy weeks. Chamonix has no theatre season at all, just a summer jazz festival with some sets high in the mountains and the odd church concert. For opera or an orchestra, you go to Rennes from one and Geneva from the other.

Both towns do relaxation well, through water of different kinds. Chamonix has hot outdoor pools and saunas looking up at the glaciers, which are ideal after a ski day, and thermal springs down the valley at Saint-Gervais.

Saint-Malo is a classic seawater-cure town, with a large thalasso centre on the Sillon beach and long empty walks at low tide. It is calmest outside August, and the same goes for Chamonix outside its peak weeks.