Colmar or Marseille?

There is no contest here. Colmar is landlocked in the Rhine plain, so swimming means the municipal pools or a cold lake up in the Vosges, and nobody books a summer trip there for the water.

Marseille has a full seafront: the broad Prado beaches with lawns behind them, the small Catalans beach and rocky swimming spots like the Vallon des Auffes. Beyond those are the Calanques and the Frioul islands, which take more effort to reach. Pack for the mistral, which can chill the sea overnight.

Both cities eat well, but they are very different kitchens. Colmar is rich, wine-led Alsace cooking: choucroute, baeckeoffe and tarte flambée in panelled winstubs, with Riesling and Gewurztraminer poured everywhere and cellar tastings in the villages just outside town.

Marseille is a Mediterranean port with a much wider range. You will find bouillabaisse by the Corniche harbours, panisses and wood-fired pizza on the street, North African and Comorian food in Noailles, and pastis or Cassis rosé to drink. Both have tourist traps on their prettiest streets.

Colmar's old town has survived as one painted whole, while Marseille's monuments are scattered through a working port city. In Colmar the half-timbered houses, the Maison Pfister, the carved Maison des Têtes and the canals of Petite Venise sit within a few lanes of each other. Grünewald's Isenheim Altarpiece at the Unterlinden is worth the journey on its own, and two unhurried days cover the lot.

Marseille asks for more legwork, but its history goes back much further, to the Greek sailors who founded it. Notre-Dame de la Garde looks down on the forts and the MuCEM at the harbour mouth, Le Panier hides the Vieille Charité, and Saint-Victor keeps its early Christian crypts. Further out are the Château d'If and Le Corbusier's Cité Radieuse.

Colmar goes quiet early. You get a long dinner and a few wine bars by Petite Venise, but almost no clubs, and locals take the train to Strasbourg for a real night out.

Marseille has a real scene, loud and informal. Graffiti-covered bars and music venues around Cours Julien and La Plaine stay full late, terraces along the Vieux-Port carry on into the night, and electronic parties run in warehouses and on rooftops in summer. Take a taxi home from the edgier streets.

Colmar's outdoors are gentle and green. Walks run through the vines between wine villages, and the Route des Crêtes climbs over the rounded, forested Vosges, with lakes, pastures and a little skiing in winter. The cycling here is excellent.

Marseille has more drama. The Calanques national park starts at the edge of the city, with white limestone ridges, deep blue inlets, famous sport climbing and good kayaking and diving, and Sainte-Victoire is within an hour. Summer heat and fire closures make spring and autumn the seasons to go.

Few places are as well placed as these two. From Colmar the wine villages of Eguisheim, Riquewihr and Kaysersberg lie only a few kilometres apart, with Haut-Koenigsbourg on the ridge above. Strasbourg is about half an hour by train and Basel is under an hour by rail, and Freiburg is about an hour away across the Rhine, so a short stay can take in three countries.

Marseille opens up Provence instead. Cassis and Aix are close, and Arles and Avignon are easy train trips, while Nîmes, the Pont du Gard and the Luberon hill villages make longer days out. Its trips range further, from Roman monuments to fishing harbours. In both regions the villages are far easier with a car.

Colmar is the easier choice with children. The centre is small, flat and safe, with boat rides through Petite Venise and storks on the roofs. Nearby are the Hunawihr stork and otter park, the macaques and eagle show at Kintzheim, the Mulhouse train and car museums and Europa-Park, though you need a car for most of them.

Marseille comes down to the Prado beaches, Parc Borély and boat trips to If and Frioul. It has no big zoo or theme park, and its traffic, hills and heat make buggies tiring.

Colmar is a town you cross on foot in minutes, while Marseille is a sprawling city that leans on its metro and trams. In Colmar the station, the old town, Petite Venise and the museums are all a short, flat walk apart. The wine villages and the Vosges have only thin bus services, though, so a hired car or bike does the work, and cycling the vineyard roads is a pleasure.

Marseille's core around the Vieux-Port and Le Panier is walkable but steep in places. Two metro lines, trams and small harbour ferries share one card. Beyond that, buses to the beaches and Calanques trailheads crawl through traffic, and driving and parking in the centre are hard going.

Neither city is made for fashion, but Marseille offers more variety. It has department stores and chains on Rue Paradis and Rue de Rome, a large centre at La Joliette and independent designers in Cours Julien, as well as Marseille soap, santons and the crowded stalls of Noailles.

Colmar is about regional things to take home: wine bought from the producer, Soufflenheim pottery, table linen and gingerbread. The Christmas markets are its high point.

Costs are much the same in both, moderate by Western European standards, and in each case rooms are the expense. In Colmar hotels get tight in summer and during the Christmas market weeks, so staying in a nearby village helps.

In Marseille rooms near the port and beaches rise in July and August, but cheap street food, low museum entry fees and free Calanques walks help keep the trip's daily costs down.

Marseille is far stronger here. It has a full opera season in its art deco house, serious drama at La Criée, contemporary work at the Friche la Belle de Mai, a deep hip-hop and world music scene, and the Fiesta des Suds in autumn.

Colmar has a small Italian-style theatre and visiting productions from the Opéra national du Rhin. Otherwise it depends on its July classical festival, an autumn jazz festival and the wine fair concerts. Outside those weeks, music lovers head to Strasbourg or Basel.

Neither city has a spa culture worth planning around. Both offer hotel spas, and Marseille adds a few local hammams. The real difference is the mood.

Colmar is peaceful once the day-trippers leave, with quiet canals in the evening and slow walks through the vines. Marseille is loud and intense, and you find calm in a long harbour lunch on the Corniche or by retreating to Cassis.