Lyon or Bordeaux?

Bordeaux has a real beach option and Lyon does not. An hour west are the long Atlantic beaches of Lacanau and the Médoc, backed by pine forest, with surf and currents that call for care. The sheltered Arcachon basin has calmer, warmer water for small children, and both are reachable by train or car in summer.

Lyon is far from any sea. Swimming there means the supervised lake at Miribel-Jonage on the city's edge, or a long day out to Lake Annecy or the Lac du Bourget. Those lakes are lovely, but they are not a beach vacation.

Both are serious places to eat, but Lyon has the stronger hand at the table. Its bouchons, serving quenelles, andouillette and praline tart, have no real equivalent in Bordeaux, and the legacy of the Mères lyonnaises and the great chefs runs deep. Les Halles Paul Bocuse and the Sunday markets by the Saône add to it.

Bordeaux leads with the glass instead. Its wine bars and cellars pour from the surrounding appellations, and the cooking centres on entrecôte, Landes duck and Arcachon oysters, with canelés in every bakery. Neither city offers much beyond French cooking.

Lyon has more history to explore, and it spans two thousand years. There are the Roman theatres on Fourvière, the Renaissance quarter of Vieux Lyon with its traboules, the silk-weavers' hill of Croix-Rousse, and one of the best fine-art collections in France outside Paris.

Bordeaux's appeal is a single, unified look. Its 18th-century limestone centre, the Place de la Bourse and the Grand Théâtre make a stately walk, with Gothic churches along the way. Its museums are good rather than great, though, and three or four days covers it.

Lyon has more going on after dinner. Bars fill the Presqu'île, the barges on the Rhône double as bars and clubs, and its electronic music scene has more weight than anything in Bordeaux, with warehouse-style venues and the Nuits Sonores festival.

Bordeaux's evenings are mostly wine bars and terraces in Saint-Pierre. Place de la Victoire is the student end of town, and the Quai de Paludate is where to go for late clubbing.

Lyon's outdoor life starts in town, along the car-free Rhône quays, in the Parc de la Tête d'Or and up the stairways of its two hills. Within an hour or two by car there is real hiking in the Chartreuse and Vercors, and skiing in the Alps.

Bordeaux's country is flat: vineyards, river meadows and the Landes pine forest. Its strengths are the coast, with the Dune du Pilat, the birdlife of the Arcachon basin and the surf at Lacanau, and the long cycling greenways. There is no hiking terrain within easy reach.

Both make excellent bases, and the difference is in the flavour. From Bordeaux, trips are about wine and the ocean: Saint-Émilion by train, the châteaux of the Médoc and Sauternes, the oyster ports of Arcachon and, at a stretch, Cognac or Biarritz. The château visits need a car or a tour.

Lyon's trips lead to Roman towns, medieval villages and the mountains. Vienne is twenty minutes away, and Pérouges, the Beaujolais and Burgundy are within reach, followed by Annecy and Aix-les-Bains towards the Alps.

Lyon is a little easier with children, mostly thanks to the Parc de la Tête d'Or with its free zoo, pedalos and small train. It also has dinosaurs at the Musée des Confluences, Guignol puppet shows and the funiculars, though the stepped lanes on the hills are hard going with a pushchair.

Bordeaux is flatter and kinder to pushchairs, and the Miroir d'eau makes a fine paddling pool. Its best family days are on the coast, though: climbing the Dune du Pilat or paddling in the Arcachon basin.

Both are easy without a car, but they work differently. Bordeaux is flat and laid out in a line, with its sights along a few kilometres of the left bank, so walking and the trams cover almost everything.

Lyon adds a small metro, funiculars and a rack line to cope with its hills, while the flat Presqu'île is the part you walk. Expect more climbs and the odd change of line, but also a direct tram to the airport.

Neither is a shopping destination, and the high streets are much alike: Rue Sainte-Catherine in Bordeaux and rue de la République in Lyon, with luxury labels a few streets away in each.

What you take home is where they differ. Bordeaux means wine from cellars that ship abroad, plus canelés and the antique dealers of Chartrons. Lyon has silk from its weaving past, designer workshops on Croix-Rousse, and chocolate, pralines and charcuterie from around the Halles.

The two cost about the same: less than Paris, but not cheap. In both, set lunch menus are the smart way to eat well.

The money goes in different places. In Bordeaux, it is château tastings, wine tours and a good bottle at dinner. In Lyon, hotel rooms get scarce during trade fairs and the Fête des Lumières, while the free zoo helps a family budget.

Lyon has the richer stage. Its glass-vaulted opera house, its national orchestra, the grand Théâtre des Célestins and the Maison de la Danse give it real depth, and dance is its speciality. In summer, the Nuits de Fourvière festival puts concerts and theatre in the Roman theatres.

Bordeaux has one outstanding stage, the gilded Grand Théâtre of 1780, home to its opera and ballet, plus a national orchestra and a hall for jazz and world music. Its seasons pause in high summer, when Lyon's festival is running.

Neither city has a bathing tradition, so in both, wellness means hotel spas and an unhurried pace. Bordeaux's local twist is vinotherapy at spa hotels among the vineyards, with thermal waters at Dax further south. Lyon has hammams and an open-air pool on the Rhône quays, and Aix-les-Bains for a proper spa day by a lake.