Geneva or Saint-Tropez?

Saint-Tropez is a real beach destination. Pampelonne gives you about 5km of fine sand with clear water, and the coves at Escalet, Cap Taillat and Gigaro are quieter. In town there are only small beaches for a quick dip, but the peninsula easily fills a summer of swimming.

Geneva swims in a lake rather than the sea. People dive off the concrete jetty at the Bains des Pâquis or lie on the lawns and pebbles of Genève-Plage. The water is clean but cold until June, and it feels more like a lido than a beach.

Geneva has the wider choice. You get French cooking with Swiss dishes such as lake perch fillets, fondue and longeole, local Chasselas and Gamay from the canton's vineyards, and a wide range of international cooking and fine dining in Carouge and the Old Town.

Saint-Tropez keeps to Provençal food: grilled fish, bouillabaisse, aïoli and rosé over long beach lunches. Its Place des Lices market is livelier than anything Geneva has. In both places good cheap meals are hard to find, and in Saint-Tropez many quayside tables charge for the view.

Geneva has two big stories to explore. The Reformation lives on in St Pierre Cathedral and the Reformation Wall, and the city's role in world diplomacy shows at the Palais des Nations and the Red Cross museum. Add CERN, the art and history museum and the watchmaking museum, and you have two or three full days.

Saint-Tropez is mostly about its setting. The Musée de l'Annonciade holds a fine collection of pointillist and Fauvist painting from Signac's time. The citadel and the lanes of La Ponche round off a single day of sightseeing.

In summer, Saint-Tropez has the bigger nights out. Afternoon parties at the Pampelonne beach clubs move on to champagne by the yachts and then to famous clubs that stay open until dawn. It is glossy and costly, with table service and a dress code, and by October it has largely stopped.

Geneva is quieter but stays open all year and offers more kinds of evening. There are late bars in the Pâquis, wine bars on Carouge's terraces and a small alternative club scene in Plainpalais and Jonction. Weeknights end early, though.

Both are good for the outdoors, but Geneva has more variety. It has the Salève cable car and its cliffs, forest walks and cross-country skiing in the Jura, sailing on the lake, and the high Alps around Chamonix about an hour away for walking or skiing.

Saint-Tropez offers the Mediterranean version. The Sentier du Littoral runs past pine-backed coves to Cap Camarat, the Massif des Maures has cork-oak forest, and the protected islands of Port-Cros and Porquerolles are within reach. Summer heat and fire risk can close trails.

From Geneva, lake steamers and fast trains reach Lausanne, Lavaux's vineyard terraces and the Château de Chillon at Montreux. Boats also cross to medieval Yvoire, and Annecy, Gruyères and Bern each make a strong full day out.

Saint-Tropez's outings are smaller and closer. There are the hilltop villages of Ramatuelle and Gassin, the canals of Port Grimaud by passenger boat, and Porquerolles for a longer day. Most trips depend on roads that jam in July and August.

Geneva is the easier place for children. Trams take pushchairs and the streets are calm and safe. The Natural History Museum's large animal dioramas hold young children for hours, and a ride on the yellow harbour boats is a cheap treat. There is no zoo or theme park, so a mountain day often fills the gap.

Saint-Tropez gives families gently shelving sand at Pampelonne and Gigaro, which is ideal for toddlers. Beyond the beaches, the town is aimed at adults, and summer traffic makes outings tiring.

Getting around is one of the biggest differences between the two. Geneva's airport is a few minutes by train from the main station. Trams, buses and the harbour boats run on one network, and regional rail reaches France and the rest of Switzerland without a car.

Saint-Tropez is tiny on foot, but there is no railway, the main beaches are several kilometres out and buses are slow. Most visitors rely on cars, scooters or taxis, sit in summer jams, or take the passenger boat from Sainte-Maxime.

Both are luxury shopping towns, but they sell different things. Geneva is the place for watches and jewellery: the Swiss watch houses have their flagship boutiques along the Rue du Rhône. Chocolatiers, Carouge's craft workshops and the Plainpalais flea market add something less expensive.

Saint-Tropez sells summer fashion. Big fashion houses run seasonal shops behind the port, and you find resort wear, hand-stitched Tropézienne sandals, and linen and baskets on the Place des Lices. Much of it closes in winter.

Neither is a budget destination, and both rank among the most expensive in Europe. The difference is in how the costs fall. Geneva is expensive all year and costs more again during big conferences. Free museums, free local transport for hotel guests and the option of sleeping in France help a little.

Saint-Tropez's prices peak in July and August, when you also pay for taxis or parking. Late spring and autumn are cheaper. Staying across the gulf and picnicking from the market is the usual way to save.

Geneva has a proper arts calendar. The Grand Théâtre stages a full season of opera and ballet, and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande plays in the gilded Victoria Hall. The Comédie and the Bâtiment des Forces Motrices on the Rhône add theatre and dance.

Saint-Tropez has open-air classical and jazz concerts on the citadel in summer, plus the musket-firing Bravade procession each May. The rest of the year there is very little to see, and serious opera or theatre means a drive to Toulon or Nice.

Geneva has a local bathing habit. In winter the Bains des Pâquis becomes a sauna and hammam, and regulars plunge straight into the cold lake. The spa towns of Évian and Divonne are close, and the city's quiet Sundays help you unwind.

In Saint-Tropez, wellness mostly means the spas of luxury hotels, which are aimed at their own guests. The town is restful only outside high summer: in May, June and September there are slow lunches and pétanque under the plane trees.