Nantes or San Sebastian?

San Sebastian has the beach and Nantes does not. La Concha is a sheltered shell of pale sand in the middle of town, Ondarreta is quieter for families and Zurriola takes the surf, so a swim fits around lunch.

Nantes sits inland on the Loire, and its beaches at La Baule, Pornic and Saint-Brevin take about an hour to reach. They are wide and clean, but going means planning a day out. Both cities face the Bay of Biscay, so expect a short season and cool water.

This is San Sebastian's strongest suit by a long way. Grazing the pintxo counters of the Parte Vieja, eating cider-house steaks in Astigarraga in spring and booking one of the famous tables in the hills can fill a whole trip. The one thing missing is anything beyond Basque cooking.

Nantes eats well rather than memorably. Beurre blanc was born here, oysters come in from the coast, and a glass of Muscadet goes with the fish. The Talensac market and the fairly priced bistros of Bouffay and Graslin make for good meals, but few people travel for them.

Nantes gives more to visit. The moated Château des Ducs de Bretagne holds a thorough city museum that is frank about the slave trade, and the Memorial to the Abolition of Slavery on the riverbank continues that story. Add the Gothic cathedral, the Musée d'Arts, the merchant façades of the Ile Feydeau and the Jules Verne museum.

San Sebastian is more about its townscape than its museums. The grid of the Parte Vieja, rebuilt after 1813, the belle-époque streets and the Miramar Palace are the attraction. The San Telmo Museum and Chillida's Peine del Viento on the rocks are its two cultural highlights.

Neither city is a big night out, but the evenings take different shapes. In San Sebastian the best of the night comes early, in crowded pintxo bars that keep the old town noisy until late. Real late options are few, except during Semana Grande in August.

Nantes leans later and louder. After drinks in the Bouffay lanes, its student crowd heads to the old dockside warehouses on the Ile de Nantes, where bars and clubs run into the small hours.

San Sebastian wins on scenery. Green hills circle the bay, the Monte Ulia path runs through woods and over cliffs to Pasaia, and the walk over Jaizkibel to Hondarribia is coastal walking at its best. Surfing, kayaking and the Basque ridges inland add variety, and the rain keeps it all green.

Nantes offers gentler, flatter country. You can paddle or take a boat up the Erdre past manor houses, cycle the Loire à Vélo through the vineyards, or punt through the Brière reed marshes to watch birds. The best cliff walking is on the Côte Sauvage, about an hour away.

Both are fine bases, and San Sebastian has a slight edge because it sits on a border. In one stay you can see the Guggenheim in Bilbao, the French Basque towns of Biarritz and Saint-Jean-de-Luz, Pamplona and the Rioja Alavesa vineyards.

From Nantes the outings are calmer and very French: walled Guérande above its salt marshes, the Apocalypse Tapestry at Angers, the châteaux around Saumur, the Italianate town of Clisson, and Vannes on the Gulf of Morbihan.

Both work well with children, in different ways. Nantes has the stand-out attraction, a mechanical elephant at the Machines de l'Ile that carries passengers. Puy du Fou and a drive-through safari park are within reach by car, though the beach is a day trip.

In San Sebastian the sea is the playground, with sheltered sand right in town. The aquarium tunnel, the hands-on Eureka museum and the funfair at the top of the Igueldo funicular fill the rest. Rainy spells and a short list of sights mean families often head out on excursions after a few days.

Both are easy to get around without a car. San Sebastian is so compact that walking the promenade covers almost everything, with bike lanes along the water. The Euskotren reaches the French border and Bilbao.

Nantes is spread a little wider and relies more on its trams and busway, which visitors pick up quickly, plus small ferries across the Loire. Its central station has fast trains to Paris in about two hours.

Nantes is the slightly better place to browse. The three-level Passage Pommeraye is worth seeing for itself, Rue Crébillon has a department store and fashion, and the independent and second-hand shops sit around Decré and Bouffay.

San Sebastian's shopping is mostly about food. Idiazabal cheese, tinned anchovies and txakoli from La Bretxa make the best souvenirs, with espadrilles and berets in the old town and surf shops in Gros. In both cities, look for local produce rather than luxury labels.

Nantes is clearly the cheaper stay. Its hotels are plentiful and moderately priced, the set lunches are good value, and only beach days in high summer push costs up.

San Sebastian is among Spain's priciest cities for a bed, with few rooms for the demand and steep rates in summer and festival weeks. Walks, beaches and buses cost little, but a long pintxo crawl adds up quickly. Coming outside the peak season saves the most.

Nantes has the fuller stage across the year. La Folle Journée fills the city with short classical concerts in winter, the regional opera plays the Théâtre Graslin, and the Lieu Unique in the old biscuit factory hosts contemporary theatre and dance. The giant street puppets show how much the city loves public spectacle.

San Sebastian's music is concentrated in summer. Jazzaldia takes over the Kursaal and Zurriola beach in July, and the Quincena Musical brings orchestras and opera in August. The rest of the year is quieter.

San Sebastian is the better choice for rest, thanks to its seaside past as a royal resort. Its historic bathing pavilion on La Concha is a seawater spa with pools that look straight onto the bay. Unhurried promenade walks and long lunches add to the calm.

In Nantes the seawater tradition is an hour away at La Baule and Pornic. In the city itself, relaxing means hotel spas and quiet hours in the Jardin des Plantes or by the Erdre.