French Riviera or Lake Como?

The Riviera is a real beach destination, and Lake Como is not. On the coast you can choose between pebble fronts in Nice and Menton, easy sand at Cannes and Juan-les-Pins, the long beach at Pampelonne and small rocky coves in the Esterel. The swimming season lasts into early October, although much of the sand belongs to private beach concessions.

On the lake, swimming means a lido at Bellagio or Lenno, a pebble strip on the upper lake or a dip off a jetty between ferries. The water drops away steeply and turns cool below the surface, and the season is shorter. It adds to a stay but is not a reason to come.

The coast eats better and more widely. Nice has a cooking tradition of its own, with socca, pissaladière and stuffed vegetables, the Cours Saleya market, and a strip of high-end dining rooms from Menton to Cannes. The thing to avoid is the set menu on the seafront.

Lake Como's food is narrower and plainer: perch with risotto, dried shad, polenta and Valtellina cheese. The best of it is found in hill-village trattorias and the old crotti set into the rock, rather than on the lakefront terraces.

The Riviera has the deeper cultural offer, built mainly on modern art made on this coast. There are the Matisse and Chagall museums in Nice, Picasso in the Grimaldi castle at Antibes, the Matisse chapel at Vence and the Fondation Maeght. Add baroque old Nice, Monaco's palace and the Roman trophy at La Turbie.

Lake Como has no major museums. Its sights are the aristocratic villas and gardens, such as Villa Carlotta, Balbianello and Melzi, which are mostly reached by boat. Como town adds its marble cathedral, Romanesque churches and an unusual group of 1930s rationalist buildings.

The two are far apart after dark. In summer the Riviera has beach clubs and table-service clubs in Saint-Tropez and Monaco, late bars along the Croisette and a busy strip in Juan-les-Pins. The old-town lanes of Nice keep pubs and wine bars going all year.

On Lake Como, a night out means dinner and a drink on a terrace by the water, plus a few bars in Como town. For anything more, you take the train to Milan.

Both are first-rate for the outdoors, but the landscapes are very different. The Riviera combines sea and mountains: there are paths around Cap Ferrat and Cap d'Antibes, red volcanic rock and kayaking in the Esterel, and the high trails of the Mercantour within reach of Nice. Summer heat and wildfire closures can shut some areas.

Lake Como is a deep glacial lake enclosed by peaks over 2,000m. You can walk the Sentiero del Viandante and the Greenway or climb the Grigna. The steady breva wind on the upper lake draws windsurfers and kitesurfers.

Lake Como has the better day trips, mainly because of what lies close by. Milan's Duomo and the Last Supper are about an hour away by train, as are Bergamo's walled upper town and Lugano across the Swiss border. On quieter days, ferry hops round the central lake fill the time.

The Riviera has many short outings, such as Monaco, Menton, Eze and Saint-Paul-de-Vence, all easy by train or bus. But many of them are variations on the pretty village, and nothing nearby matches Milan in weight. Ventimiglia and Dolceacqua in Italy give the most change of scene.

The Riviera is the easier choice with children. The sandy beaches at Juan-les-Pins, Cannes and Fréjus shelve gently, the sea is usually calm in summer, and there are the Monaco aquarium, Parc Phoenix in Nice and water parks near Antibes.

Lake Como is calm and welcoming but has little made for children beyond boat rides, the Brunate funicular and a summer lido. Its steep stepped villages and narrow roads without pavements are hard going with a pushchair. The flatter upper lake makes the best base for families.

The coast is easier to get around. A single railway runs along the shore from Cannes through Nice and Monaco to Menton, Nice has a tram to the airport, and the old towns are compact. The hill villages and Saint-Tropez are harder to reach.

On the lake, ferries are charming and work well within the central triangle, but covering the whole lake by boat takes most of a day. Trains only run along the eastern shore. In both places driving in summer is slow and parking is scarce.

For shopping the Riviera is the clear winner. There are luxury boutiques along the Croisette, around the Monte-Carlo casino and behind the port in Saint-Tropez, and Nice has department stores. The crafts are distinctive: perfume in Grasse, bubbled glass in Biot, pottery in Vallauris and the Monday antiques market on the Cours Saleya.

Lake Como is mainly a place for silk, with scarves and ties from Como's mills and their outlets. Beyond that there are a few pricey boutiques in Bellagio, and for serious fashion people go to Milan.

Both are expensive in summer, about equally so, and in both the most famous spots cost the most: Saint-Tropez, Monaco and Cannes on the coast, the villa hotels of Bellagio and Tremezzo on the lake.

The ways to spend less differ. On the Riviera, Nice is the sensible base, with socca and pizza for cheap meals and free coastal paths. On the lake, Como town, Lecco and the campsites of the upper lake cost less. Spring and autumn are cheaper in both.

The Riviera has far more on stage. Monaco has its gilded opera house in the casino building, the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic and the Ballets de Monte-Carlo, and Nice has an opera house and orchestra of its own. In summer there is jazz in the pine grove at Juan-les-Pins and on Place Masséna.

Lake Como has the Teatro Sociale in Como town and classical concerts in villa gardens and churches in summer. For a major night at the opera, you go to La Scala in Milan.

The two are broadly level, but the kind of rest differs. On the Riviera, wellness means thalassotherapy in seawater pools in Monaco and on the capes, and spas in the gardens of the grand hotels on Cap Ferrat. In July and August the resorts are loud, so a quieter stay means heading inland or coming outside the peak months.

Lake Como's rest comes from its pace. The smaller villages fall silent in the evening, and the villa hotels near Cernobbio and Tremezzo have spas with pools floating on the water. Neither place has a public bathing tradition.