Montpellier or Toulouse?

Montpellier is the only one of the two where the beach fits into a city stay. Palavas-les-Flots and Carnon are about 11km away, and from there a flat ribbon of fine sand runs east to the wild dunes of l'Espiguette, with shallow, easy water and Sète's lagoon-backed beaches to the west. It makes a few good beach days rather than a full beach vacation, and the nearer stretches get crowded in high summer.

Toulouse is firmly inland on the Garonne. The Mediterranean at Narbonne and Gruissan is a long day out, and in practice locals cool off at the supervised lakes of Sesquières and La Ramée or by a hotel pool.

Both cities eat well, but at different ends of the south. Montpellier faces the lagoon and the sea: oysters and mussels from Thau, Sète's spicy octopus tielle, brandade from Nîmes and the reds of Pic Saint-Loup, best seen at the Halles Castellane and the Arceaux market.

Toulouse is duck country, built around cassoulet, confit, foie gras and magret, washed down with Fronton reds and Armagnac, with the Victor Hugo market and its upstairs lunch counters as the centrepiece. Both lean on student-priced casual places and set lunches rather than top-tier dining.

The two are well matched for sightseeing, but the character differs. Montpellier's appeal is the car-free Écusson with its hidden courtyards, the formal Peyrou terrace and aqueduct, the Musée Fabre's strong collection of European painting and Bofill's neoclassical Antigone district.

Toulouse has the grander monuments: Saint-Sernin, one of Europe's largest Romanesque churches, the palm-tree vault of the Jacobins and the painted rooms of the Capitole, all in the same rose-red brick. Its aircraft museums and the space centre on the outskirts add a strand of aviation and science to the churches and mansions.

Both are big student cities that go out more than their size would suggest, so the scale is much the same. In Montpellier the night centres on Place Jean-Jaurès and the Écusson squares, then moves by taxi to clubs towards Lattes and the coast, and in summer the beach towns take over.

Toulouse keeps its night in town, around the riverside terraces of Place Saint-Pierre, with wine and cocktail bars in Carmes for an older crowd and a solid electronic scene. It goes quieter in July and August, when the students leave.

Montpellier has the richer outdoors close at hand. Flamingos and herons wade in the étangs just south of town, the Camargue is about an hour away, and to the north the garrigue climbs to Pic Saint-Loup and the deep Hérault gorges near Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert, with the Cirque de Navacelles beyond. The windy coast adds kitesurfing and windsurfing.

Toulouse sits on a gentle farming plain, so near the city it is mostly flat cycling along the Canal du Midi towpaths and the Garonne. Its trump card is the Pyrenees, with serious hiking and skiing, but they are a drive of up to two hours.

Montpellier is the stronger base. Nîmes is about half an hour by train with its Roman arena and temple, the Pont du Gard is just beyond, and Arles and Avignon are each about an hour away, while Sète and walled Aigues-Mortes are close by. Carcassonne is reachable too, in about an hour and a half.

Toulouse has excellent outings of its own, with Carcassonne and the brick cathedral town of Albi each about an hour away, Moissac's Romanesque cloister and the Ingres museum at Montauban. The choice beyond those leans more heavily on a car.

Both are easy with children, in different ways. Montpellier pairs the Zoo de Lunaret in its wooded park and the aquarium and planetarium at Odysseum with calm, warm beaches nearby, so a stay can split between sea and city.

Toulouse wins children over with space and flight: the Ariane rocket and Mir module at the Cité de l'espace, walking inside a Concorde at the aircraft museum, and the giant mechanical creatures at Montaudran. In both, high summer is very hot in town.

Both have compact, walkable centres and good public transport. Montpellier's Écusson is small and largely car-free but sits on a low hill with slopes and uneven paving, and its colourful trams link the station, Antigone and Odysseum, with the beaches a slower tram and bus combination.

Toulouse's centre inside the boulevards is flat and easy on foot, and two automated metro lines plus trams cover the city. Its outlying sights such as the space centre need a bus. In both cases the hills, gorges and mountains are far simpler with a car.

Neither city is a shopping destination, and neither has a luxury street. Montpellier offers small boutiques and wine shops in the Écusson lanes and the Polygone mall beside the Comédie; Toulouse has the chains and a department store on Rue d'Alsace-Lorraine and antiques and independent fashion around Saint-Étienne. The best souvenirs reflect the food: Languedoc wine and olive oil in Montpellier, violet sweets, Armagnac and jars of cassoulet in Toulouse, where the Sunday market around Saint-Sernin adds bric-a-brac.

Costs are much alike: mid-range Western European, kept in check by students, set lunches and cheap transport, with restaurant dinners and wine by the bottle where the money goes. The pressure points differ. In Montpellier rooms in town and along the coast climb in July and August, while in Toulouse it is big trade fairs and aerospace events that push hotel rates up, and some municipal museums are free on certain days.

Montpellier has a slight edge, mostly thanks to its summer. Contemporary dance is its specialism, with the Montpellier Danse festival and a national choreographic centre, and the Radio France festival brings many free classical and jazz concerts while the Printemps des Comédiens fills the Domaine d'O.

Toulouse is the place for orchestral music: the Orchestre National du Capitole plays in the round Halle aux Grains, the Théâtre du Capitole has its own opera and ballet company, and the Jacobins cloister hosts a piano festival in late summer.

Montpellier is the easier of the two for a restful stay. Balaruc-les-Bains, a long-established thermal town on the Thau lagoon, is about half an hour away and welcomes day visitors, and lazy beach days add to the unwinding.

Toulouse offers hotel spas, a few hammam-style day spas and its riverside and canal walks. Its real thermal water is up in the Pyrenees at Luchon or Ax-les-Thermes, up to two hours away, so it suits an overnight trip better than an afternoon.