Lugano or Saint-Tropez?

Saint-Tropez is the place for swimming. Pampelonne gives you a long stretch of pale sand with beach clubs and free public sections, and the coast path leads on to wilder coves such as Cap Taillat.

Lugano has no beach at all, only lidos with lawns, decks and ladders into the lake, such as the one at the mouth of the Cassarate. They are pleasant on a hot afternoon, but they are no substitute for sand and the open Mediterranean.

The two eat about as well as each other, in different kitchens. Lugano's table is Lombard and alpine: polenta, braised meats and Ticino Merlot in grotti under the chestnut trees. Saint-Tropez cooks Provençal, with grilled fish, bouillabaisse, aïoli and chilled rosé, plus the tarte tropézienne and the produce market on the Place des Lices.

Neither is easy for a cheap meal. In Lugano the escape is a trip across the Italian border, while in Saint-Tropez the harder problem is quayside tables that charge for the view, and a town that largely shuts in winter.

Neither town has many sights, and each takes about a day. Lugano's are churches and galleries: the arcaded Lombard streets around Piazza della Riforma, the Luini Passion fresco in Santa Maria degli Angioli, the art museum split between LAC and Palazzo Reali, and Hesse's house museum at Montagnola.

Saint-Tropez has the Musée de l'Annonciade, with the pointillist and Fauvist painters who worked on its harbour, the citadel with its maritime museum and the ochre lanes of La Ponche. On a short visit, Lugano gives you slightly more to see.

In July and August Saint-Tropez is far more of a night out. Afternoon parties at Pampelonne lead on to the harbour terraces and then to clubs that run until dawn, all in a dressy, table-service style rather than bar-hopping. After the summer it goes quiet very quickly.

Lugano's evenings are a lakefront aperitivo and a long dinner, with a few cocktail bars and lounges, and most nights are over before midnight. Anyone young who wants to go out heads to Milan.

Lugano has the bigger landscape. Steep wooded mountains rise straight from the lake, with funiculars and a rack railway to the top, the Monte Lema to Tamaro ridge walk, and the green rivers of the Verzasca and Maggia valleys about an hour away.

Saint-Tropez's outdoors is the sea and the coast. The Sentier du Littoral leads round the capes of Camarat and Taillat, the Maures forests are good for mountain biking, and sailing, snorkelling and the island national park of Port-Cros make it the better choice for time on and under the water.

Lugano is the far better base for day trips because it sits on a border with a railway. Milan's cathedral and The Last Supper are just over an hour away, Como half an hour, and Bellinzona's castles, Lake Maggiore and even Lucerne are all within train range.

Saint-Tropez's outings are small and local: the hilltop villages of Ramatuelle and Gassin, the canals of Port Grimaud by boat, wine cellars and Porquerolles. They are lovely, but none of them is a major sight, and in summer every one depends on roads that jam.

Lugano is the easier choice with children, especially young ones. Boat trips, funiculars, the lido slides, the playgrounds of Parco Ciani and the miniature Switzerland at Melide fill the days calmly, although the steep streets are hard work with a pushchair.

Saint-Tropez has the gently shelving sand of Pampelonne and Gigaro, but little else is aimed at children. Hot afternoons, traffic and the adult beach-club scene lead many families to stay across the gulf instead.

Lugano is much simpler. Its small centre is walkable, with a funicular down from the station, and buses, lake boats and Swiss trains go everywhere visitors want to go without a car.

Saint-Tropez is tiny on foot, but it has no railway, the main beaches are several kilometres out, and the only road along the gulf clogs in summer. The ferries from Sainte-Maxime and Port Grimaud are the most pleasant way in.

Saint-Tropez offers more for shoppers, and in a lighter, summery style. Fashion houses, resort-wear labels and jewellers fill the lanes behind the port, sandal-makers still stitch Tropéziennes by hand, and the Place des Lices market adds linen, baskets and pottery.

Lugano's shopping is centred on Via Nassa's watchmakers and jewellers under the arcades, plus delicatessens and the designer outlet near Mendrisio. Serious shoppers go on to Milan.

Both are among the most expensive places you could choose, and neither has a cheap way to stay. They differ in how you can soften the cost. Lugano hotel stays usually include regional transport, and a grotto meal or a lunch over the Italian border helps. In Saint-Tropez the savings come from staying inland or across the gulf, picnicking from the market, using the public beaches and visiting outside July and August.

Lugano has a real concert life. The hall at LAC is home to the Orchestra della Svizzera italiana and hosts visiting soloists, there is drama and dance in Italian, and the free Estival Jazz concerts fill Piazza della Riforma each summer.

Saint-Tropez offers only open-air summer concerts on the citadel and in gardens, plus the Bravade, its centuries-old musket procession in May. For opera or theatre you have to drive to Nice or Toulon.

Lugano is the more restful of the two. Neither has a bathing tradition, but Lugano keeps a steady, slow rhythm all summer, with lido afternoons, benches in Parco Ciani and long grotto lunches, and there is a public pool and sauna complex near Rivera.

Saint-Tropez relies on hotel spas meant for their guests, and its calm depends on the calendar. It is peaceful in May, June and September, with pétanque under the plane trees, but loud and crowded in high summer.