Lyon or Nice?

This is the widest gap between the two cities. Lyon is inland, and swimming there means the supervised lake at Miribel-Jonage or a day out to Annecy or the Lac du Bourget. Both lakes are lovely, but each is a separate outing.

Nice has the sea on its doorstep. A long pebble shore runs below the Promenade des Anglais, the water is clear and warm from early summer into autumn, and there are sandier or more sheltered beaches at Villefranche, Beaulieu and Juan-les-Pins. Bring water shoes or rent a lounger, because the stones are hard going.

Lyon is clearly the stronger food city. You could eat your way through bouchon cooking for days: quenelles, andouillette and a pot of red. The Mères lyonnaises left the city a fine-dining tradition with real depth, and Les Halles Paul Bocuse and the Beaujolais close by add to it.

Nice cooks in a different style, closer to Liguria than to Paris: socca from wood ovens, pissaladière, stuffed vegetables and the Cours Saleya market. It does better street food than Lyon, but it is simpler and narrower, without Lyon's range at the top end.

Lyon has more history to walk through. The Roman theatres on Fourvière, the Renaissance lanes and traboules of Vieux Lyon, the Musée des Beaux-Arts and the Institut Lumière cover two thousand years and need several full days.

Nice offers less, but what it has is distinctive: the Italianate old town, Belle Époque villas and the Russian cathedral. Above all it has modern art, with the Matisse and Chagall museums in Cimiez and MAMAC in the centre. An art lover will be very happy in Nice, but a history enthusiast will find more in Lyon.

Lyon has the fuller night out. Students keep the bars of the Presqu'île and Vieux Lyon busy, the barges along the Rhône quays double as bars and clubs, and the warehouse venues towards Gerland carry a serious electronic scene.

In Nice, a night out mostly means dinner and drinks in the lanes of Vieux Nice, plus a few grown-up bars at the port. There are few clubs, and anyone after glamour heads to Monaco or Cannes.

Nice has the wider outdoor range because the Alps come down to the sea there. The paths around Cap Ferrat, the corniche roads for cycling, the red rocks of the Esterel and the high lakes of the Mercantour are all within reach. So are sailing, diving and, in winter, skiing.

Lyon's outdoors is gentler and built around its two rivers: car-free quays, the Parc de la Tête d'Or and the hill stairways, then the Monts d'Or and the Beaujolais beyond. The Chartreuse and Vercors offer serious hiking, but you usually need a car to get there.

Both cities make good bases, but Nice is the stronger one. The coastal railway links Villefranche, Monaco, Menton, Antibes and Cannes, and Èze, Grasse, Saint-Paul-de-Vence and even Italy are close by. Almost all of them are under an hour away, and none needs a car.

Lyon's outings lean towards wine and old towns: Roman Vienne, medieval Pérouges, the Beaujolais villages and Burgundy around Beaune, with Annecy further out. There is plenty of variety, but the journeys are longer.

The two are close here, and the difference is in what each offers. Lyon has the stronger single draw in 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.

Nice has the beach and the flat promenade, the water jets of the Promenade du Paillon and Parc Phoenix. But the pebbles are hard on small feet and the summer heat is strong. Both cities have stepped old quarters that are awkward with a pushchair.

Neither city needs a car. Lyon has the bigger network, with four metro lines, trams and funiculars up Fourvière, though the hills mean some climbs and changes. Nice is more compact and flatter, with a tram from the airport and regional trains along the coast that get packed in summer.

Neither city is a shopping destination, and they are broadly level. Lyon has the large Part-Dieu mall, silk scarves from its weaving past and designer workshops on Croix-Rousse, and chocolate and cheese make the best souvenirs. Nice is better for Provençal goods such as olive oil, soaps and candied fruit, and for the Monday antiques market on the Cours Saleya. Serious luxury shoppers go on to Monaco.

Neither is cheap, but Lyon is a little easier on the wallet. Its hotels are reasonable for most of the year outside the big trade fairs and the Fête des Lumières, and set lunches in the bouchons are generous.

In Nice, summer pushes up the price of rooms near the sea, and loungers and promenade terraces add up quickly. Cheap trams and coastal trains, socca and market picnics help, and spring and late autumn cost noticeably less.

Lyon is much the stronger city for the stage. The Opéra de Lyon, the Orchestre National, the Célestins and the Théâtre National Populaire give it a full season. Dance is its specialism, at the Maison de la Danse and the Biennale, and the Nuits de Fourvière puts on summer performances in the Roman theatres.

Nice has its opera house and philharmonic, the long-running Jazz Festival in July and the Carnival in February. Outside those events there is little on.

The two are level here, and neither has a bathing tradition of its own, so the difference is in where the pampering happens. Lyon has a handful of hammams, day spas and hotel spas, but its real thermal experience is a day out to Aix-les-Bains, a classic spa town on the Lac du Bourget about an hour and a half away. Back in the city, the open-air pool on the Rhône quays, long lunches and slow Sunday mornings by the Saône do the rest.

Nice keeps its treatments by the water, in the spas of the larger seafront hotels and the thalassotherapy centres along the coast towards Monaco and Antibes. How calm it feels depends on the season. Outside summer it is mild and unhurried, with an early swim and an evening walk on the promenade, while the heat and crowds of July and August take much of that calm away.