French Riviera or Provence?

Both regions have good beaches, and both share the sand of Pampelonne near Saint-Tropez. The Riviera's swimming is the more convenient, with pebbles at Nice and Menton, easy sand at Cannes and Juan-les-Pins, and the red-rock coves of the Esterel all close to a railway line.

Provence offers more wild settings. Porquerolles and the Hyères peninsula have pale, shallow water, and the calanques near Cassis are deep inlets reached on foot or by boat. If you stay inland in the Luberon or the Alpilles, though, the sea is a long drive away.

The two kitchens overlap, with olive oil, daube and rosé in both. The Riviera's cooking centres on Nice, with socca, pissaladière and stuffed vegetables, and it has many top-end restaurants between Menton and Cannes. Its seafront tourist menus are the thing to avoid.

Provence covers more ground. It has bouillabaisse and North African cooking in Marseille, truffles around Carpentras, and weekly markets in dozens of towns. Its wines go further too, from Bandol to Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

The difference here is the period. On the Riviera, the main draw is twentieth-century art made on that coast: the Matisse and Chagall museums in Nice, Picasso at Antibes, the Fondation Maeght, and the chapel at Vence. Monaco's palace and the Belle Epoque seafront of Nice add a glamorous setting.

Provence goes much further back. It has Roman theatres at Orange and Arles, the papal palace and walls of Avignon, Cistercian abbeys and Van Gogh's Arles, with Cézanne at Aix and the MuCEM in Marseille. These sights are spread across several towns rather than gathered around one base.

The Riviera is clearly the better place to go out. Saint-Tropez and Monaco have showy beach clubs in summer, Juan-les-Pins has its strip of late bars, and Nice keeps pubs and wine bars busy all year round.

Provence's evenings are mostly long dinners on a terrace followed by a drink in a village square. Marseille's Cours Julien is the real exception, a rougher and more varied city scene than anything on the Riviera.

Both regions are superb outdoors, but the scenery differs. The Riviera is about mountains meeting the sea: paths around Cap Ferrat and Cap d'Antibes, kayaking under the red Esterel cliffs, and the Mercantour's high trails and ski stations within reach of Nice.

Provence has a wider range of landscapes. It has the Verdon canyon, the white cliffs of the Calanques, the cyclists' climb up Mont Ventoux, the lavender of Valensole and the flamingos of the Camargue. In both regions, summer fire closures can shut some trails.

Provence is far stronger for excursions. From Avignon or the Luberon you can reach Gordes, Roussillon's ochre cliffs, L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, Les Baux and Châteauneuf-du-Pape, and the Pont du Gard and Nîmes lie just across the Rhône. These are real changes of scene, but nearly all of them need a car.

The Riviera's outings are easier to reach and smaller in scale. The train takes you to Monaco, Villefranche and Menton, and you can cross into Italy to Dolceacqua and Sanremo. Many other days are spent on another pretty perched village.

Both regions suit families in a similar way, with the sea as the main draw, and both have steep villages that are hard with a pushchair. The Riviera has a few more attractions made for children, such as the Monaco aquarium, Parc Phoenix and water parks near Antibes, and they are easy to reach by train.

Provence suits a rented house with a pool and outings for older children, such as canoeing on the Sorgue, riding in the Camargue or visiting the arenas at Arles. The trade-off is longer car journeys in the July heat.

The Riviera is much easier without a car. One coastal railway links Cannes, Antibes, Nice, Villefranche, Monaco and Menton, and Nice has a tram to the airport, so a base near a station on the Nice to Monaco stretch covers most of a trip. A car pays off for exploring inland, where buses to the hill villages and Grasse are slow and full in summer. Saint-Tropez has no railway at all, and the summer ferries are the better way in.

In Provence, trains link the big towns well, from Marseille to Aix, Avignon, Arles and Toulon, and their old centres are easy on foot. But the villages, abbeys and gorges that make the region worth visiting are mostly out of reach by bus, so plan on driving, with narrow hill lanes and scarce parking in the perched villages to manage.

The Riviera is the better shopping trip. It has luxury boutiques along the Croisette and around the Monte-Carlo casino, department stores on Nice's Avenue Jean-Médecin, and crafts with a clear local identity: perfume in Grasse, glass in Biot and pottery in Vallauris.

Provence has little in the way of big shopping streets. Its strengths are the markets and the antiques dealers of L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, along with Marseille soap, Moustiers faience and santons. Aix's old streets are the one place for a rounded afternoon of shopping.

Neither region is cheap in summer, but the Riviera costs more. Cannes, Monaco and Saint-Tropez are among the most expensive stays in Europe, and private sunbeds add up fast. Nice is the sensible base, and the cheap regional trains are a real saving.

Provence gives you more room to save if you avoid the Luberon villas. Marseille, Arles, Avignon and the quieter Var villages are reasonably priced, though you need to budget for a hire car.

The two regions are close here, but their seasons differ. The Riviera's strength lasts through the winter, with the small gilded Monte-Carlo opera, its ballet company and the Nice opera. Summer adds the jazz festivals at Juan-les-Pins and Nice.

Provence depends on July. The Avignon theatre festival and its fringe fill the town, the Aix opera festival is held in the Archbishop's Palace courtyard, and opera is staged in Orange's Roman theatre. Outside the festival season, Marseille's opera house and its rap and world-music scene keep things going.

For rest the two are about level, but they offer it in different ways. The Riviera's kind is pampering by the sea: thalassotherapy in heated seawater and the large spas of the grand hotels on the capes. It suits a traveller who wants treatments without leaving the coast, as long as they avoid high summer, when the resorts are noisy and only spring and autumn feel calm.

Provence relaxes you through the pace of the day more than through spas. A restored farmhouse in the hills sets an unhurried routine, and anyone who wants a proper cure can go to the old thermal towns of Haute-Provence or the spa at Aix. It is the better choice for a slow week away from the shore, since its own coast is just as crowded in August."}