Montpellier or Portofino?

For swimming, the two are about even, but the water is very different. From Montpellier you take the tram and a bus to a long, flat strip of fine sand from Palavas to the dunes of l'Espiguette. The water is shallow and calm and it is easy to find space, except near town on summer evenings.

Portofino has no sand of its own. People swim from rock platforms and ladders into deep, very clear water, use the small bay at Paraggi, where paid clubs take most of the sand, or take a boat to the pebbles at San Fruttuoso. It is a prettier place to swim, but the spots are small.

Montpellier eats much better. The Languedoc vineyards start at the edge of town, oysters come from the Thau lagoon and Sète supplies its octopus tielle. The Halles Castellane and the Saturday market under the Arceaux aqueduct show off the local produce, and student bistros keep everyday meals cheap.

Portofino's food is good Ligurian cooking, such as pesto with trofie and Recco's cheese focaccia, served on harbour terraces where the view costs extra. There is no market or casual street food, and people who care about food go to Camogli or the trattorie in the hills.

Montpellier has far more to see. The car-free Écusson has stone mansions with hidden courtyards, and it leads to the Peyrou terrace and its aqueduct, the fortress-like cathedral and France's oldest botanical garden. The Musée Fabre's European paintings and Bofill's Antigone district alone fill a day.

In Portofino the main sight is the village itself, a ring of ochre houses around the harbour. Above it are San Giorgio and Castello Brown, and the abbey of San Fruttuoso is reachable only by boat or path. You will see it all in a day, and there is no museum of any size.

Montpellier is the place for a night out. The big student population fills the terraces of Place Jean-Jaurès and the squares of the old town even on weeknights, and later on clubs out towards Lattes take over. It feels young and casual, and it is quieter outside term time.

In Portofino the evening is a smart aperitivo facing the yachts and then dinner, and the village goes quiet soon after. For anything later you need to go to Santa Margherita, Rapallo or Genoa.

The outdoors is about as good in both, but in Portofino it is all close by while Montpellier's is spread out. From Montpellier you can see flamingos on the coastal lagoons and the horses and marshes of the Camargue, climb Pic Saint-Loup, canoe the Hérault gorges near Saint-Guilhem or visit the Cirque de Navacelles. Most of these are easier by car, and the windy coast suits kitesurfers.

Portofino's headland is a park on land and a marine reserve at sea, and you can walk out of the village straight onto it. Trails climb through holm oak to the Semaforo Nuovo and drop along cliffs to San Fruttuoso and Camogli, with chains on some exposed sections. There is kayaking and diving offshore.

Montpellier has the better list of day trips, and most are on fast train lines. Nîmes, with its Roman arena and temple, is about half an hour away and the Pont du Gard is just beyond it. Arles, Avignon and the walled city of Carcassonne also make easy days, and Sète and Aigues-Mortes are close by.

Portofino's day trips run along the coast. Camogli and Santa Margherita are a short boat ride away, Genoa's palaces and port are less than an hour away, and in summer there are ferries to the Cinque Terre and Portovenere. Outside the ferry season it takes more planning and you rely on the trains.

Montpellier is the easier choice with children. The old town is mostly pedestrian, the trams take pushchairs, and there are the Lunaret zoo and the aquarium and planetarium at Odysseum. The nearby beaches slope gently into calm water.

Portofino is calm and safe, and children like the boats and the castle, but it is built for adults. The paths are steep steps, there are no playgrounds, and most of the sand is in paid clubs. That is why families usually stay in Santa Margherita and go to Genoa's aquarium for the day.

Trams against one winding coast road: that is the gap here. Montpellier's old centre is small and mostly car-free, if a little hilly, and the trams carry you on to Antigone, Port Marianne and Odysseum, while fast trains leave the station for Nîmes and Avignon. A car only earns its keep for the hills and the Camargue.

Portofino takes minutes to cross on foot, though the climbs to the castle and the lighthouse are steep. Arriving and leaving is the problem. The road from Santa Margherita, about 5km away, has very little parking and jams in summer, when the buses fill up. From spring to autumn the ferries are often the nicer way in.

Neither is a shopping destination, but Montpellier has the wider range. The Écusson lanes have small boutiques, bookshops and delis, the Polygone and Odysseum have the big brands, and the best things to take home are the region's wine and olive oil.

Portofino's few lanes have a surprising number of designer fashion and jewellery shops and some resort wear, plus some Ligurian lace and jars of pesto. It takes under an hour to see it all, and for markets or a longer browse people go to Chiavari or Genoa.

Montpellier costs far less, and the gap shows in every part of the budget. A room in Montpellier is a normal city-hotel expense. In Portofino the few beds are mostly luxury hotels on the hillside, so many visitors stay further along the coast and only come in for the day. Meals follow the same pattern. In Montpellier you can lunch from the counters at the Halles Laissac or on a set menu in the Écusson, while in Portofino a plate of trofie on the harbour comes with the yachts added to the bill.

Getting about costs little in Montpellier, where the tram runs from the station to Odysseum and out towards the beaches. In Portofino the walking trails and the coast bus are cheap, but parking, boat hire and a lounger at Paraggi are not. Montpellier gets expensive mainly with a bottle of wine at a sit-down dinner and with beach-town rooms in high summer. In Portofino almost everything is expensive.

Montpellier has a real season. The old Opéra Comédie and the larger Opéra Berlioz share opera, ballet and the national orchestra, and the city is known across Europe for contemporary dance. In summer there are the Radio France festival's often free concerts and outdoor theatre at the Domaine d'O.

Portofino has no stage of its own beyond the odd summer concert in the piazzetta or at the castle. For a night at the opera you have to go to Genoa's Teatro Carlo Felice.

The two are level for rest, and neither has a bathing culture in town, but they offer different things. Montpellier's real asset is thermal water at Balaruc-les-Bains on the Thau lagoon, about half an hour away, which takes day visitors. The city centre itself is easygoing but lively rather than quiet.

Portofino's wellness means hotel spas and pools on the hillside. Its calm comes from early mornings, evenings and the shoulder months, when the shaded paths are quiet apart from birds and the sea. At midday in high summer the tour boats bring crowds.