Montpellier or Saint-Malo?

Montpellier has the better swimming, even though the sea is a tram and bus ride away. About 11km out, a long run of fine sand stretches from Palavas and Carnon to the dunes of l'Espiguette. The water is shallow and warm enough to make swimming the point of going.

In Saint-Malo the sand starts at the foot of the walls, along the Grand Plage du Sillon and in coves such as Bon-Secours with its tidal pool, and low tide doubles the size of the beaches. The Channel stays cold, though, so this is a beach for walking more than for swimming.

Montpellier eats better, mainly because of what grows and swims nearby. It has wine from Pic Saint-Loup and the Terrasses du Larzac, oysters and mussels from the Thau lagoon, tielle from Sète and the market halls of Castellane and Laissac. Good bistros and market cooking are its strength, and the students keep casual eating cheap.

Saint-Malo is more single-minded. Its food is galettes and cider, salted-butter caramel and Cancale oysters eaten by the harbour wall. Inside the walls, though, many crêperies cater to day visitors, and the better meals are out in Saint-Servan or towards Cancale.

Montpellier gives you a fuller few days of sightseeing. Beyond the car-free lanes and hidden courtyards of the Écusson, it has a major art collection in the Musée Fabre, France's oldest botanical garden, a medical faculty dating from the Middle Ages and Bofill's Antigone.

Saint-Malo offers one striking setting rather than a long list of sights. You can walk the full circuit of the ramparts, see the granite houses rebuilt after 1944 and the castle keep, and cross at low tide to Chateaubriand's grave on the Grand Bé. It fills a day well, but there are no serious museums.

Montpellier has a real night out. One of France's largest student populations fills the bars around Place Jean-Jaurès and the Écusson on weeknights as well as weekends. Later on, the crowd takes taxis to clubs towards Lattes and the coast.

In Saint-Malo the evening usually ends with a drink after dinner in the pubs and wine bars inside the walls. It livens up only on summer weekends, and for clubs you have to go to Rennes.

Both have good outdoors, of very different kinds. Montpellier has more variety: flamingo lagoons and the Camargue to the south, and to the north the garrigue, the climb up Pic Saint-Loup and canoeing in the Hérault gorges. Summer there is too hot for long walks.

Saint-Malo is all about the sea. The GR34 path follows the coast to Pointe du Grouin and Cap Fréhel, and tides of up to about 13m uncover vast flats in the bay. Instead of hills there are seals and seabirds, since the farmland inland is flat.

Both make excellent bases, but Montpellier has more within reach without a car. Nîmes, Arles, Avignon and Carcassonne are all a train ride away, a run of Roman and medieval sites that few cities have so close. The Pont du Gard is a short drive beyond Nîmes, and Sète and Aigues-Mortes are nearer still.

Saint-Malo's great outing is Mont-Saint-Michel, about an hour's drive along the bay. Dinan, Dinard by boat, Cancale and Rennes come close behind, and in summer ferries go to Jersey. Apart from Rennes and Dinard, most of these are easiest by car.

Both are easy with children, in different ways. Montpellier has warm, shallow water for small swimmers, a pedestrian centre, trams that take pushchairs, a zoo in wooded parkland, and an aquarium and planetarium at Odysseum. The stone streets get very hot in midsummer, though.

Saint-Malo suits older children who like adventure, with ramparts and pirate stories, the Bon-Secours sea pool and walks out to the forts. The cold water and fast tides mean more care with little ones.

Montpellier is easier to get around. The compact, mostly car-free centre is backed by a tram network that reaches the station, Antigone, Odysseum and the edge of the city. Fast trains run to Nîmes, Avignon and Carcassonne.

Saint-Malo's walled town and seafront promenade are pleasant on foot, with local buses and the Dinard boat beyond them and direct high-speed trains to Rennes and Paris. Further out the buses thin quickly, and a car or a tour becomes the practical way to go.

Neither is a shopping destination, but Montpellier has more range. The Écusson lanes hold boutiques, bookshops and delicatessens, the Polygone mall sits beside the Comédie and Odysseum has the big brands. Languedoc wine and olive oil are the best buys.

Saint-Malo's choice is narrower and more Breton: striped sailor tops, salted-butter caramels, cider and faience. For fashion you go to Rennes.

Montpellier makes a budget go further. The students keep plenty of cheap bars and counters open, lunch menus are good value, and rooms are moderately priced outside July and August.

Saint-Malo is priced like the popular resort it is. In summer, rooms inside the walls and by the beach are expensive and sell out early. Galettes and set lunches keep meals reasonable, and spring and autumn are noticeably easier on the wallet.

Here Montpellier is in a different league. Two opera houses, the Opéra Comédie and the Opéra Berlioz, share a season with the national orchestra. Contemporary dance is a speciality, with Montpellier Danse each summer, and the Radio France festival adds many free concerts.

Saint-Malo has a modest town theatre and occasional concerts in the cathedral. Its cultural life gathers around a few festivals, among them La Route du Rock for indie music, and on most nights there is little on.

Saint-Malo is the place to unwind. It is one of the classic French thalassotherapy towns, with a large seafront centre on the Sillon full of heated seawater pools. In the quiet seasons, walks on empty sand at low tide make a properly restful break.

Montpellier has hotel spas, and the thermal town of Balaruc-les-Bains is half an hour away on the Thau lagoon. Rest there comes more from long lunches and shaded squares than from any bathing tradition.