Lille or Paris?

Neither is a beach destination, but Lille is slightly closer to the sea. Malo-les-Bains at Dunkirk is about an hour by train. It is a wide, windy North Sea beach, good for a bracing day out rather than lazy swimming.

From Paris, the nearest coast is Normandy, around Deauville and Trouville, about two hours away. In the city itself, summer means sand laid out on the riverbanks, swimming spots on the Bassin de la Villette and handsome Art Deco public pools.

Lille's cooking is regional and hearty. Estaminets in Vieux-Lille serve carbonnade, potjevleesch and the cheese-soaked welsh, and Belgian and northern ales count for more than wine. Beyond that Flemish core and the lively Sunday market at Wazemmes, the choice thins out quickly.

Paris is in a different league. Its range runs from zinc-counter bistros and natural wine bars to the haute cuisine tradition, with small neo-bistros across the east of the city, pho in the 13th and couscous in Belleville. Every neighbourhood has its own bakery, cheese shop and market morning.

Lille has a fine short list. The Palais des Beaux-Arts holds Flemish masters and Goya, and Vieux-Lille's carved Flemish baroque streets lead to the Vieille Bourse and the UNESCO-listed belfry. La Piscine in Roubaix, an art museum inside an Art Deco pool, is worth the metro ride.

Paris works on a far grander scale. The Louvre alone could take a week, and the Orsay, Pompidou, Rodin and Cluny museums would each headline a smaller city. Add Notre-Dame, the Sainte-Chapelle, the Eiffel Tower and Haussmann's boulevards, and there is far more here than one trip can cover.

Lille goes out more than its size suggests, thanks to its large student population. Rue Masséna and Rue Solférino fill with cheap, loud bars on Thursdays, and Vieux-Lille's brick cellars suit a quieter beer or cocktail. Serious clubbing has traditionally meant a trip over the Belgian border.

Paris offers much more. Its nights run from wine-bar terraces through the crowded bars of Oberkampf, Belleville and the Canal Saint-Martin to house and techno clubs and summer barges that stay open until dawn. It is chic and can be selective at the door, and drinks cost noticeably more.

Both sit in flat country, but Paris has more green space to work with. Lille offers the Citadel park and the Deûle towpaths for level cycling, short walks in the low Monts de Flandre and, a long day away, the chalk cliffs of Cap Blanc-Nez.

Inside Paris, the Buttes-Chaumont and the two great woods of Boulogne and Vincennes give room to run, row and cycle. The forest of Fontainebleau, with its sandstone boulders loved by climbers, is about forty minutes by train, and Chantilly and Rambouillet are close as well.

Both are excellent bases, but they point in different directions. Lille faces Flanders, with Brussels about half an hour away, Ghent and Bruges not much further, and the First World War battlefields of Ypres, Vimy and the Somme within reach. It also has Arras and Amiens closer to home, and Paris and London are close enough by fast train.

Paris looks to palaces and cathedral towns. Versailles, Fontainebleau and Chantilly are all under an hour away, as are Chartres and Monet's garden at Giverny, and fast trains reach Reims, Rouen and the Loire.

Lille is easy with children but has few big draws inside the city. The small zoo and playgrounds in the Citadel park, the natural history museum and the Forum des Sciences fill a day or two. Pairi Daiza and Nausicaá are outings rather than strolls.

Paris has far more to offer, from Disneyland and Parc Astérix to the Cité des Sciences, the zoo at Vincennes and puppet shows in the Luxembourg gardens. Day-to-day life is harder, though, with stairs at many metro stations, crowded trains and small hotel rooms.

Both centres are good on foot, and in both a car is more trouble than it is worth. Lille is the smaller and simpler of the two. Its old town, museum and side-by-side stations are all a short walk apart, and the automated VAL metro and the tram cover the suburbs.

Paris has the stronger network. The metro is dense enough that a station is almost always close, and the RER runs to Versailles and the airports. The trade-off is long corridors, rush-hour crowds and pickpockets on the busy tourist lines.

Lille offers solid shopping for a regional city. Chains line Rue Neuve and Euralille, and Vieux-Lille has independent fashion and delicatessens. Its standout is the September Braderie, a citywide flea market spread over a weekend.

Paris is a destination for shopping in itself. The great fashion houses have their flagships on Avenue Montaigne, and the historic department stores are sights of their own. The Marais has independent designers, the Saint-Ouen flea market is a maze of antique dealers, and the covered passages and riverside bouquinistes add even more.

Lille is clearly the easier city on the wallet. Hotels are reasonable outside the Braderie and the big trade fairs, the metro is cheap, and a tavern meal with a beer costs what it does across most of urban France.

Paris is expensive. Rooms are costly and small, and terrace drinks and timed museum tickets add up fast. Walking, bakery lunches, free city museums and a picnic by the Seine help to soften the cost.

Lille has a dependable season. The Opéra de Lille stages opera and dance, the Orchestre National plays a full symphonic programme and the Théâtre du Nord is one of France's national theatres.

Paris has one of the richest calendars in Europe. The Palais Garnier is home to the Paris Opera Ballet, the Philharmonie is a world-class concert hall, and the Comédie-Française performs Molière. Jazz cellars in Saint-Germain, cabaret in Pigalle and candlelit chamber concerts in the Sainte-Chapelle add to the choice.

Neither city is made for a restful break, but Paris has a little more to offer. Its hammam culture, best known at the tiled Grande Mosquée in the Latin Quarter, adds steam and mint tea to the usual hotel spas.

Lille relies on day spas and tea rooms, and for a real thermal bath you take the short train ride to Saint-Amand-les-Eaux. On the other hand, its easy pace is gentler on the nerves than crowded, noisy Paris.