Montpellier or Paris?

Montpellier has a real coast within reach. A tram and a bus, or a short drive, take you about 11km to Palavas and Carnon, and the fine sand runs on east to the wild dunes of l'Espiguette. The water is shallow and calm, though the nearer beaches fill up in July and August.

Paris has nothing like this. Its summer river beaches and the swimming spots on the Bassin de la Villette are fine for cooling off, and the nearest sea is the cool Channel in Normandy, about two hours away by train.

Montpellier eats regionally and well. It has Pic Saint-Loup reds, oysters from the Thau lagoon, tielle from Sète and market cooking at the Halles Castellane and the Halles Laissac. Its strengths are the good bistro and the cheap student counter, not range.

Paris is in another league. Alongside its zinc-counter bistros and the haute cuisine tradition, it has small neo-bistros in the east of the city, natural-wine bars and serious pastry. Add the North African, Vietnamese and West African kitchens of Belleville and the 13th, and you could eat differently every day for a week.

Montpellier's sights fit comfortably into two or three days. There are the car-free lanes and hidden courtyards of the Écusson, the Peyrou terrace with its aqueduct and the oldest botanical garden in France. The Musée Fabre has a fine collection of European painting.

Paris works on a different scale. The Louvre alone could take longer than a whole Montpellier itinerary, and then come the Orsay, the Pompidou, the Sainte-Chapelle and Notre-Dame, all set among Haussmann's boulevards and along the UNESCO-listed Seine. The cost is queues and advance booking at the big names.

Montpellier's nights are young and casual, and the students set the tone. The evening moves from the terraces around Place Jean-Jaurès to small bars in the Écusson squares, then by taxi to the clubs out towards Lattes. Outside term time the centre goes quiet.

Paris offers much more. There are crowded bars along Oberkampf, the Canal Saint-Martin and Belleville, cocktail bars in South Pigalle, the gay scene in the Marais, and house and techno clubs that run until dawn. It is chic rather than wild, drinks cost more, and some clubs are choosy about who they let in.

Montpellier is the better base for the outdoors. Within easy reach are flamingos on the coastal lagoons, the Camargue an hour away, the climb up Pic Saint-Loup, canoeing in the Hérault gorges and kitesurfing on the windy coast.

Paris offers parks and woods instead. There are the Buttes-Chaumont, the Bois de Vincennes and the Bois de Boulogne, and the sandstone boulders of Fontainebleau for climbers. They are good for gentle walks and bike rides, but the region has no mountains or big landscapes.

Both cities are excellent bases, and the difference lies in where the trips go. From Montpellier they lead to Roman Provence and the Languedoc: the arena at Nîmes, the Pont du Gard, Arles, Avignon and Carcassonne, with Sète and Aigues-Mortes closer in. Several of the smaller places are much easier with a car.

Paris has the longer list, and most of it is easy by train. Versailles, Fontainebleau and Chantilly are each under an hour away, and Chartres and Giverny are close too. Fast trains reach Reims and its Champagne houses, Rouen and the Loire châteaux. These trips could fill as many days as the city itself.

Montpellier is easy with small children. The centre is largely pedestrian, the trams take a pushchair, and there is the Lunaret zoo, the aquarium and planetarium at Odysseum, and gentle beaches with calm, warm water. After a few days, though, the list runs thin.

Paris gives families far more to do. Disneyland and Parc Astérix are close by, and in the city there are the Cité des Sciences, the Jardin d'Acclimatation, and carousels and toy boats in the Luxembourg. Daily life with children is harder, though, with metro stairs, small hotel rooms and long queues.

In Montpellier the Écusson is small enough to walk, and the tram links the station, the old town, Antigone and Odysseum. It falls short beyond the city. The beach means a tram and then a slow summer bus, and the gorges and the Camargue really need a car.

Paris is easier to get around. A metro station is rarely more than a few minutes away, the RER reaches Versailles and the airports, and the walks along the Seine are part of the pleasure. The drawbacks are stairs without lifts and packed trains at rush hour.

Montpellier's shopping is pleasant rather than memorable. There are boutiques and delicatessens in the Écusson lanes and the Polygone mall beside the Comédie. The best things to take home are wine, olive oil and honey from the markets.

Paris is one of the great shopping cities. The fashion houses line Avenue Montaigne and the Faubourg Saint-Honoré, Galeries Lafayette and Le Bon Marché are sights in themselves, and the Marais has independent designers and vintage shops. The covered passages, the Saint-Ouen flea market and the bouquinistes add antiques, prints and old books.

Montpellier is clearly the cheaper stay. Central hotels are moderately priced for most of the year, the students keep cheap food and drink easy to find, and lunch menus and the market halls make a budget go further. Rooms do get dearer in summer, especially on the coast.

Paris is expensive for rooms, terrace drinks and full-price museum tickets. Walking, bakery lunches, the free collections in the city's own museums and staying in the outer arrondissements all help, but they narrow the gap rather than close it.

Montpellier has a serious stage for its size. Opera and ballet are shared between the Opéra Comédie and the Corum, and contemporary dance is a real speciality, with the Montpellier Danse festival as its centrepiece. Summer is the peak, with the Radio France festival's concerts, many of them free, and outdoor theatre at the Domaine d'O.

Paris has far more depth all year round. It has the Palais Garnier and the Opéra Bastille, the Philharmonie, the Comédie-Française, jazz cellars around the rue des Lombards and cabaret in Pigalle. Much of its theatre is in French, but the music needs no translation.

Neither city is a wellness destination, and inside both cities it comes down to hotel and day spas. The difference is in kind. From Montpellier you can spend a day in real thermal water at Balaruc-les-Bains on the Thau lagoon, while Paris has the steam rooms and mint tea of the tiled hammam at the Grande Mosquée.

For simple rest, Montpellier's long lunches and shaded squares are gentler. In Paris, calm comes in short spells, in the Luxembourg gardens or on a walk by the Seine.