Florence or Saint-Tropez?

Florence is inland, and swimming has no part in a normal stay. A hotel pool or a public pool on the edge of town is the realistic way to cool off, and the sandy Versilia beaches are a full day's outing by train.

Saint-Tropez is the opposite. Pampelonne gives you about 5km of fine sand with beach clubs and public stretches, and Escalet, Cap Taillat and Gigaro are quieter coves further down the coast. If time in the sea matters, there is no real contest.

Florence has more variety and more good food at everyday prices: bistecca, ribollita, lampredotto from the carts, the Mercato Centrale and Sant'Ambrogio market, and Chianti by the glass in wine bars. The trattorie of the Oltrarno reward anyone who walks a few streets away from the Duomo.

In Saint-Tropez the cooking is Provençal, with grilled fish, aïoli and long rosé lunches on the sand, and the top hotel dining rooms are genuinely good. Simple, good-value meals are hard to find, though, and much of the town closes in winter, so Florence gives a food-minded traveller far more to explore.

This is where the two differ most. Florence holds Brunelleschi's dome, Botticelli at the Uffizi, David at the Accademia, the Fra Angelico cells at San Marco and the Pitti Palace, enough for a week of serious looking.

Saint-Tropez has the Musée de l'Annonciade with its Signac and the Fauves, the citadel's maritime museum and the lanes of La Ponche. These are pleasant, but they fill one day, and they are not why people go.

In high summer Saint-Tropez has the bigger night out: afternoon beach parties at Pampelonne, champagne on the harbour terraces and a few famous clubs open until dawn, all with dress codes and table service. The catch is the short season, since by October the harbour is quiet.

Florence suits people who like to talk more than dance. Evenings mean aperitivo, then drinks on Piazza Santo Spirito or around Sant'Ambrogio, with outdoor bars along the Arno in summer, and the night ends earlier. Its advantage is that the evenings stay much the same all year.

Saint-Tropez has the wilder setting. The Sentier du Littoral runs past pine-backed coves to the capes of Camarat and Taillat, the Massif des Maures has cork-oak forest, and there is sailing, snorkelling and the national park islands of Port-Cros and Porquerolles.

Around Florence the countryside is gentler and farmed: olive terraces at Fiesole, cypress lanes and vineyards in Chianti, and the Casentino forests further out. It is good walking and cycling country, but it has no sea, which is the main thing the coast offers.

Florence is one of the best bases anywhere for day trips. Siena, Pisa and Lucca are easy by train or bus, Bologna is under forty minutes away by fast train, and San Gimignano, Volterra and the Val d'Orcia towns fill the remaining days.

From Saint-Tropez the outings are pleasant but smaller: the hill villages of Ramatuelle and Gassin, the canals of Port Grimaud by boat, wine estates and Porquerolles. They all depend on gulf roads that jam badly in summer.

Neither place is built around children, but they suit families in different ways. In Florence you keep them interested with climbing the dome, the secret passages of Palazzo Vecchio, the globes at the Museo Galileo and the Boboli Gardens, which works best in spring or autumn.

Saint-Tropez gives children gently shelving sand at Pampelonne and Gigaro and little else. Families there are often better off staying across the gulf in Sainte-Maxime and coming over by boat.

Both towns are easy on foot within the centre. The difference is everything outside it. Florence has its main station in the middle of town, trams to the airport and buses up to Fiesole, so you rarely need a car except for the hill villages.

Saint-Tropez has no railway, slow buses, beaches several kilometres out and one gulf road that jams for hours in summer. Most visitors end up paying for a car, a scooter or taxis, and the passenger boats are the pleasant way to arrive.

Florence has the broader and more lasting range: leather from market stalls and workshops, marbled paper, the goldsmiths of the Ponte Vecchio, the gilders and restorers of the Oltrarno, and the fashion houses on Via de' Tornabuoni. All of it is open year round.

Saint-Tropez has a surprising cluster of luxury boutiques for its size, along with resort wear and the hand-stitched Tropézienne sandal. Beyond that, choice is narrow, and many shops close for the winter.

A stay in Florence costs a good deal less, though for a city of its size it is still dear. Most of the money goes on a central hotel from spring to autumn and on admission fees, since the Uffizi, the Accademia and the dome climb add up quickly over a few days. Food and transport are where you win it back: a lampredotto roll or a market-counter lunch, a carafe of house wine, and a centre you cross on foot.

In Saint-Tropez the summer premium reaches almost everything, from the room and the harbourside table to a lounger at Pampelonne and a coffee on the port. Getting about costs extra as well, because with no railway the beaches several kilometres out mean paying for taxis or parking. Late spring and autumn bring the bill down a little, but no season is cheap.

Florence, where opera was born, still has a proper season. The Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino has its own orchestra, the spring festival is among Europe's oldest, and there are chamber concerts in churches and palaces all year.

Saint-Tropez offers summer open-air concerts on the citadel and the Bravade procession in May. For opera or theatre you have to drive to Toulon or Nice.

Neither town has a bathing culture of its own. Florence comes out slightly ahead because real spas are close by: Montecatini Terme is under an hour by train, the hot springs at Saturnia and Bagno Vignoni are a longer outing, and a farm stay in the hills is the classic way to slow down.

In Saint-Tropez the spas belong to the luxury hotels. The calm comes from timing instead: in May, June or September the town settles into long lunches, morning walks to the citadel and pétanque under the plane trees.