Marbella or Saint-Tropez?

Saint-Tropez has the finer beaches. Pampelonne is a long stretch of pale sand with clear water, and the quieter coves at Escalet, Cap Taillat and Gigaro are among the most beautiful swims on this coast. The catch is that none of them is in town, so reaching them means a drive or a scooter ride, while the swimming spots by the old quarter are small.

Marbella has more beaches and more of them close to hand, with La Venus and El Fuerte right below the old town and the dunes at Cabopino further along. The sand is greyer and the sea a little cooler because of the Strait, but the swimming season stretches into early October.

Marbella is the better place to eat well on most days. Sardines grilled on skewers at the chiringuitos, gazpacho and ajoblanco in summer, and a dense spread of tapas bars around the Casco Antiguo give you good everyday food, with acclaimed tasting menus along the Golden Mile at the top end.

Saint-Tropez cooks well at the top, with Provençal fish, aïoli and rosé from the surrounding vineyards, and the Place des Lices market and the tarte tropézienne have real local character. Simple, good-value meals are hard to find, though, and much of the town closes in winter.

Neither town is a heritage destination, and both can be seen in an afternoon or a day. The difference is in kind. Saint-Tropez has one serious collection, the pointillist and Fauvist paintings in the Musée de l'Annonciade, set in the harbour Signac painted, plus the citadel above it.

Marbella's interest is spread more widely: the whitewashed lanes around the Plaza de los Naranjos, a museum of Spanish prints, Dalí bronzes along the Avenida del Mar, and Roman mosaics at Río Verde.

Both are glamorous summer party towns with table service and money on show, and both go quiet by November. Marbella's scene is the wider of the two. It runs from beach clubs on the Golden Mile to the bars around Puerto Banús on a late Spanish clock, and the old town's terraces and small bars give you a calmer evening option.

Saint-Tropez is more concentrated. Afternoon parties at Pampelonne move on to the harbour yachts and then to a handful of famous clubs with dress codes, and there is little ordinary bar-hopping beyond that.

The outdoors is equally good in both, but in different ways. Marbella's outdoors is mountain country: the climb to La Concha behind the town, the fir forests and gorges of the Sierra de las Nieves, and El Torcal and the Caminito del Rey further inland.

Saint-Tropez is better on and beside the water. You can walk the Sentier du Littoral past coves and capes, snorkel and dive off the rocky points, or take a ferry to the national-park islands of Port-Cros and Porquerolles. The Massif des Maures adds forest trails, though summer fire risk closes some.

Marbella is the far stronger base for excursions. Ronda's gorge, Málaga's Alcazaba and Picasso Museum, and Gibraltar are each about an hour or less away, and the Alhambra in Granada is a long but manageable day.

Around Saint-Tropez the outings are pleasant but smaller: the hilltop villages of Ramatuelle and Gassin, the canals of Port Grimaud by boat, wine cellars and a day on Porquerolles. In summer the roads out jam badly.

Marbella is much the better choice with children. Its town beaches are sheltered and lifeguarded, the flat promenade suits buggies, many places to stay are built around pools, and an animal park, a zoo, water parks and an aquarium sit along the coast.

Saint-Tropez has gently shelving sand at Pampelonne and Gigaro and a small, safe old town, but almost everything else there is aimed at adults. Its prices and summer traffic make a long family stay hard work.

Getting around is awkward in both, since neither has a railway and most visitors end up hiring a car. Marbella copes a little better: coaches reach Málaga airport in about an hour, buses run along the coast and the promenade lets you walk or cycle for kilometres.

Saint-Tropez's centre is tiny and easy on foot, but the main beaches are several kilometres away and the single road around the gulf jams for hours in summer. The passenger boats from Sainte-Maxime are often the easiest way in.

Both towns sell luxury, but Saint-Tropez does it better. The big fashion houses fill the lanes behind its port, and it has its own craft in the hand-stitched Tropézienne leather sandal, while the Place des Lices market adds linen, baskets and vintage finds.

Marbella's boutiques are concentrated at Puerto Banús, alongside a department store and malls, with ceramics and leather in the old town and weekly markets for everyday goods. Away from the big labels there is little to browse in either.

Marbella is expensive for Spain, but Saint-Tropez is in another league. In Marbella you can eat at old-town tapas bars at normal Andalusian prices, ride the cheap coastal buses and find rates falling sharply outside summer.

Saint-Tropez stays costly from rooms to coffee on the port, and taxis or parking add to the bill. Picnicking from the market and staying across the gulf help, but the town is never cheap.

Neither is a place to plan a trip around performances, but Marbella offers more. Its summer festival in a former quarry amphitheatre draws big pop and rock names, flamenco is staged in the old town and Málaga is close for opera and classical music.

Saint-Tropez has open-air classical and jazz concerts on the citadel in summer and the centuries-old Bravade procession each May. Beyond that, serious theatre means a long drive to Toulon or Nice.

Marbella is the better place to rest and recharge. It has long attracted people who come to rest, and its wellness retreats, detox clinics, resort spas and Andalusian-style bathhouses are open to visitors. Its mild winters also make a calm, sunny off-season stay of golf and promenade walks easy.

Saint-Tropez's spas belong to luxury hotels and are mainly for their guests. The town only becomes truly restful in May, June and September, before or after the crowds.