Montpellier or Nantes?

Montpellier is much better for swimming. Palavas-les-Flots and Carnon are about 11km away, and from there a long run of fine sand stretches east to the wild dunes of l'Espiguette. The Mediterranean water is shallow and warm enough in late summer for long, easy swims.

From Nantes, the nearest good sand is around 50km away, at La Baule's sheltered bay or the coves of Pornic, about an hour by train. The Atlantic is cooler and the season shorter, so here the coast is an occasional outing rather than a regular part of the trip.

Both cities eat well without being food destinations. The difference is the region on the plate. Montpellier cooks Languedoc food, with Pic Saint-Loup reds, oysters from the Thau lagoon and spicy octopus tielle from Sète, and its markets under the Arceaux aqueduct and at the Halles feel southern and sunny.

Nantes is butter and white wine country. Beurre blanc was born here and comes with pike-perch, alongside buckwheat galettes and crisp Muscadet from vineyards just outside the city. Montpellier has more cheap student places, while Nantes has a slightly more settled bistro scene around Graslin and the Ile de Nantes.

These two are evenly matched, and each takes two or three days to see, but they offer different things. Montpellier is better for art and architecture: the Musée Fabre's European painting, the car-free lanes and courtyards of the Écusson, the formal Peyrou terrace and Bofill's neoclassical Antigone.

Nantes tells a stronger historical story. The moated château of the Dukes of Brittany holds a city museum that deals openly with the Atlantic slave trade, and the Abolition memorial, the merchant houses of the Ile Feydeau and the Jules Verne museum fill out a past tied to the river and the sea.

Montpellier's evenings are the busier of the two. The terraces around Place Jean-Jaurès and the squares of the Écusson fill on weeknights as well as weekends, and the crowd is young and loud. The drawback is that the clubs are out towards Lattes and the coast, so a late night usually ends with a taxi.

Nantes is calmer overall but more compact after midnight. You can walk from the pubs of the Bouffay to the riverside bars and clubs in the old warehouses of the Ile de Nantes, and the Graslin quarter has quieter wine and cocktail bars.

Montpellier has far more variety close by. To the south there are lagoons full of flamingos, and the Camargue is about an hour away. To the north, the garrigue climbs through vineyards to the ridge of Pic Saint-Loup and on to the Hérault gorges and the Cirque de Navacelles, which gives you proper walks, climbs and canoeing.

Nantes is flat and watery. Its pleasures are slower: a boat or canoe on the Erdre, the Loire à Vélo cycle path, punting in the reed beds of the Brière and cliff walks on the Côte Sauvage. It suits gentle cycling better than hiking.

Both are good bases, but Montpellier has a remarkable list of places nearby. Nîmes and its Roman arena are half an hour by train, the Pont du Gard is just beyond, and Arles, Avignon and Carcassonne are all reachable by rail. Sète, Aigues-Mortes and Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert are closer still.

From Nantes the trips are quieter but still rewarding. Guérande sits above its salt marshes, Angers has the Apocalypse Tapestry, and the Loire châteaux around Saumur are within two hours. Vannes on the Gulf of Morbihan is a good train day out.

Montpellier's trump card for children is the sea. The beaches near Palavas and Carnon shelve gently into calm, warm water that suits small swimmers. In town, the Lunaret zoo sits in a large wooded park, and the aquarium and planetarium at Odysseum fill an afternoon that is too hot for the stone streets.

Nantes gives children more to do away from the shore and on cooler days. The Jardin des Plantes has playgrounds and oversized, playful benches, older children who know the books will enjoy the Jules Verne museum, and the flat centre is easy with a buggy. The sand at La Baule and Pornic is just as calm, but the water is noticeably cooler.

Both are tram cities with walkable centres, and both get around equally well. Nantes has the gentler centre: it is flat, the main districts are within about half an hour's walk, and river shuttles cross the Loire. Montpellier's Écusson sits on a low hill with slopes and uneven paving.

For the coast, Nantes has direct regional trains, while Montpellier's tram-and-bus route to the beach is short but slow in summer. Montpellier's fast trains to Nîmes and Avignon serve its day trips well.

Nantes has the one shopping place worth visiting for its own sake: the Passage Pommeraye, a 19th-century arcade that climbs over three levels. Independent designers and second-hand shops in the streets around Decré and Bouffay add some character. Montpellier's boutiques, bookshops and delicatessens fill the old stone lanes of the Écusson, with the Polygone mall right beside the Comédie for the big brands.

What you take home shows the difference in region. From Montpellier it is Languedoc wine, olive oil and honey from the covered markets. From Nantes it is salted-butter biscuits, berlingot sweets, Guérande salt and a bottle of Muscadet. Neither city has much in the way of luxury shopping.

The two cost about the same, typical of a French regional city. Montpellier's large student population keeps more cheap counters and modestly priced bars open, which helps on a tight budget.

Nantes makes up for that with hotels that are easy to find and a centre you can mostly walk. In both cities, restaurant dinners are the main cost, and coastal rooms get noticeably dearer in high summer.

Montpellier has the deeper programme, especially in summer. Two opera houses, the Comédie and the Opéra Berlioz, share a season with the national orchestra. The Montpellier Danse festival is among Europe's most respected, and the Radio France festival brings many free concerts.

Nantes is livelier in winter. La Folle Journée packs hundreds of short classical concerts into a few days, and the Lieu Unique in the old biscuit factory stages contemporary work. The city's giant street puppetry gives it a taste for spectacle in public spaces.

Neither city has a bathing culture, but Montpellier has more to offer. Real thermal water is about half an hour away at Balaruc-les-Bains on the Thau lagoon, and long lunches in shaded squares set an unhurried pace.

Nantes relies on the seawater cures of La Baule and Pornic, about an hour away. In town, rest means a slow afternoon in the Jardin des Plantes or along the Erdre.