Marseille or Pisa?

Marseille has the better and more varied swimming. There are the Prado beaches for an easy day with lawns behind, rocky inlets along the Corniche close to town, and above all the turquoise Calanques, which are worth the half day it takes to reach them on foot or by boat. The catch is the mistral, which can chill the water overnight, and the city beaches sometimes close after heavy rain.

Pisa's coast is a bus ride away. Tirrenia and Calambrone have wide sandy beaches backed by pines, mostly laid out with rented loungers. The shallow water is easy for paddling but rarely clear near the Arno mouth, so it works as an afternoon off rather than a reason to come.

Marseille has more to eat and more range. You can sit down to a proper bouillabaisse by a Corniche harbour, eat panisses and wood-fired pizza on the street, and browse the North African, Comorian and Armenian shops of Noailles. There is a serious top tier as well, though the set menus on the Vieux-Port are best avoided.

Pisa sticks to plain Tuscan cooking: ribollita, game and its own cecina, eaten at its best in the trattorias around Piazza delle Vettovaglie. Both cities have a chickpea snack of their own, but Pisa is for eating simply and well, not for a big night at the table.

The two are close here, but the experience is quite different. Pisa keeps its heritage together. The cathedral, baptistery, Leaning Tower and Camposanto stand on one lawn, and beyond them lies a quiet medieval town with Piazza dei Cavalieri, the Pisan art of San Matteo and the palazzi of the Lungarni. Two unhurried days cover it all.

Marseille's history goes back further, to its Greek founding, but it is scattered through a working city. You have Notre-Dame de la Garde on its hill, the forts and the MuCEM at the port, the Vieille Charité in Le Panier, the crypts of Saint-Victor and Le Corbusier's Cité Radieuse further out. It takes more legwork, and you are rewarded with variety rather than one great set piece.

Marseille gives you a real night out. There are graffiti-covered bars and small music bars around Cours Julien and La Plaine, pastis terraces on the Vieux-Port, and in summer, electronic nights in warehouses or parties by the sea. Some central streets feel edgy late at night, so taking a taxi home is sensible.

In Pisa, evenings mean an aperitivo on Borgo Stretto or wine outside small bars by the old market. It is pleasant, but outside term the city quietens early, and there are almost no clubs.

Marseille is the clear winner here, with a national park inside the city. The white limestone Calanques have a coastal path to Sormiou, Sugiton and En-Vau, well-known sport-climbing cliffs, and kayaking and diving around the Riou islands. Sainte-Victoire and the Sainte-Baume are within an hour, but on days of high fire risk in summer the massifs can close.

Pisa's outdoors are gentler. San Rossore has forest, wetland and dunes where fallow deer graze, the Monte Pisano has paths through olive terraces, and the plain is easy to cycle. For proper hiking you go further out, to the Apuan Alps or the Cinque Terre.

Both are excellent bases, but Pisa has the edge because its rail hub puts the famous names within easy reach. Florence is about an hour away, Lucca under half an hour, and the Cinque Terre a little more, with Volterra, San Gimignano and Siena reachable by car.

Marseille's Provence is nearly as rich. Aix and Cassis are close, and Arles and Avignon are on the train line. The Luberon villages, Les Baux and Saint-Rémy really need a car, though.

Neither city is built around children, and the two come out about even. Pisa is easier to manage: it is flat and small, has a lawn for running about and shallow sandy beaches at Tirrenia, though younger children cannot climb the tower. Marseille offers more adventure, with the Prado beaches, Parc Borély and boat trips to the Château d'If, but its steep, busy streets make pushing a buggy hard work.

Pisa is far simpler to get around. You can walk the flat centre from end to end, a shuttle train links the airport to the station, and most day trips leave from that station without a car.

Marseille's core, from the Vieux-Port to Cours Julien, is walkable but climbs, and two metro lines and the trams help. Beyond the centre, buses to the beaches and the Calanques trailheads crawl through traffic. The summer ferries across the bay are the pleasant way round.

Neither city is a shopping destination, but Marseille has more character for browsing. You can buy Marseille soap and santon figures from the workshops of Le Panier, wander the crowded streets of Noailles, and find department stores on Rue Paradis. Pisa has chains on Corso Italia, smarter shoe shops under the Borgo Stretto arcades and a monthly antiques market, and anyone who wants more takes the train to Florence or Lucca.

Pisa is the cheaper stay. Mid-range rooms, trattorias priced for students and a centre you can walk keep daily costs down, and the main extras are the tower climb and summer beach loungers.

Marseille costs what a large French city usually does. Street food and free walking in the Calanques help, but rooms near the port and the beaches rise steeply in July and August.

Marseille has much more on stage. It has an art deco Opéra, serious drama at La Criée and contemporary work at the Friche la Belle de Mai, plus a strong hip-hop and Mediterranean music scene and two long-running festivals, the Festival de Marseille and the Fiesta des Suds.

In Pisa, the stage means the Teatro Verdi, a fine and unpretentious place to see Italian opera, with chamber concerts and church recitals around it. Anything bigger means going to Florence.

Pisa is the more restful of the two. Its quiet streets and evenings by the river set a slow pace. Just outside town, San Giuliano Terme has waters used since Roman times and a spa in an 18th-century bath palace, and Casciana Terme has a thermal pool further inland.

Marseille is loud and dense, with no spa culture beyond a few hammams used mostly by locals. Rest there means a long harbour lunch on the Corniche, or sleeping in Cassis instead.