Nice or Verona?

This is Nice's clearest advantage. The pebble shore runs for about 7km below the Promenade des Anglais, so a swim fits into any day, and the sandy bays at Villefranche, Beaulieu and Juan-les-Pins are close by for anyone who dislikes stones.

Verona has no coast at all. Swimming means Lake Garda, about half an hour away: calm, warm water off Sirmione's limestone shelves and lidos on the southern shore. It's pleasant, but it's an outing with narrow, busy beaches rather than part of daily life.

The two cities are equally good places to eat, but in very different ways. Nice cooks closer to Liguria than to Paris and eats in the street: hot socca from wood ovens, pissaladière and pan bagnat, with the Cours Saleya market for a picnic.

Verona's cooking is richer and comes from inland: Amarone risotto, bigoli with duck, and bollito with pearà, eaten in wood-panelled osterie. Wine is the real draw, with Valpolicella and Soave poured at the counter. It has little street food, though, and both cities have tired tourist menus on their main squares.

Verona has more history to show. Its Roman Arena, Roman theatre, Scaliger tombs and the Romanesque Basilica of San Zeno make a centre that is layered over two thousand years, and Castelvecchio adds a fine art museum in Carlo Scarpa's setting.

Nice's strengths lie elsewhere. It has Belle Époque villas, the onion domes of the Russian cathedral, and above all modern art: Matisse in Cimiez, Chagall's biblical cycle and MAMAC. Each city fills two or three days, but Verona's sights carry more weight.

Nice has the livelier evenings, though neither city is a party destination. Vieux Nice fills its lanes with pubs and cocktail bars, and in summer the beach clubs and the promenade keep people out late. For anything glossier, people go to Monaco or Cannes.

Verona's nights centre on the aperitivo, a spritz or a glass of Valpolicella in Piazza delle Erbe. The students of Veronetta keep a few bars busy later. Most streets empty early, apart from summer nights when the opera crowd leaves the Arena close to midnight.

Nice has the wider outdoor range, because the Alps meet the sea right beside it. There are rocky coastal paths at Cap Ferrat and Cap d'Ail, classic cycling on the corniches, diving and paddleboarding offshore, and the larch forests and high lakes of the Mercantour. In winter you can ski at Isola 2000 and be back by the sea the same day.

Verona's countryside is gentler: vineyard walks in Valpolicella, the Adige cycle route, and the Lessinia plateau. It gets more dramatic at Lake Garda, where Monte Baldo offers ridge walks and paragliding and the northern end has excellent wind for sailing.

Both cities are superb bases for days out, and you need no car for most of the trips from either. The difference is in what you see. From Nice, a run of coastal towns are each a short train ride apart: Monaco, Menton, Èze, Antibes and Cannes, with Grasse, Saint-Paul-de-Vence and the Italian market at Ventimiglia also close.

From Verona the trips are mostly great art cities. Venice is a little over an hour by train, and Vicenza's Palladio, Padua's Giotto chapel and Mantua are closer still. Lake Garda's harbours and the wine towns of Soave and Valpolicella add variety.

Verona has more to keep children busy, though most of it is outside the city. Gardaland, the lake's water parks and the safari section at Parco Natura Viva are all about half an hour away, and the flat, mostly pedestrian centre is easy with a pushchair. You'll need a car or a transfer for most of these.

Nice gives you small pleasures close at hand instead: the long, flat promenade, the water jets and playgrounds of the Promenade du Paillon, and Parc Phoenix. The pebble beaches and the old town's steps are the catches.

Both cities are easy without a car, and Nice has the edge thanks to public transport. A tram runs from the airport to the centre and the port, buses climb to the Cimiez museums, and the coastal trains reach most day trips.

Verona relies on walking. The centre inside the river loop is small and largely closed to traffic, but there is no tram, and Valpolicella, the Lessinia and parts of Garda are poorly served by bus, so a car helps there.

Both are good for a browse rather than a shopping trip, and the serious shopping happens elsewhere: Monaco and Cannes for Nice, Milan for Verona. Nice has more variety, with Avenue Jean Médecin, luxury houses around rue Paradis, Provençal soaps and fabrics in the old town, and a Monday antiques market on the Cours Saleya.

Verona's shops line the marble-paved Via Mazzini. The best things to take home are edible: Amarone, Garda olive oil and a star-shaped pandoro.

Verona is easier on the budget, though neither city is cheap. Food is fair value in Veronetta's student osterie, local wine costs little, and the walkable centre means you spend almost nothing on transport. Rooms are the main expense, especially on opera nights and during trade fairs.

Nice costs more, especially for sea-view rooms and beach loungers in summer. Its cheap trams and coastal trains, inexpensive museums and socca lunches help, and spring and late autumn are noticeably cheaper.

Verona is the clear choice here, and in summer it's the main reason many people come. Grand Verdi and Puccini productions fill the Roman Arena on most evenings, with the Roman theatre staging Shakespeare, dance and jazz alongside, and the Teatro Filarmonico keeps a season going through the cooler months.

Nice offers a solid regional programme at its red-and-gold Opéra, plus two big events: the Nice Jazz Festival in July and the Carnival in February. Outside those, there is little to plan a trip around.

Verona has a slight edge because of its warm springs. Sirmione's sulphurous thermal pools face Lake Garda, a spring-fed lake near Lazise is set in an old villa garden, and Caldiero's waters have been used since Roman times. In town, the Giardino Giusti's terraces offer quiet.

Nice relies on hotel spas and thalassotherapy along the coast, so its calm comes more from its rhythm: an early swim and an evening walk on the promenade. It is most restful out of season.