Paris or Nice?

This is the widest gap between the two. Nice has the sea on its doorstep: about 7km of pebble shore below the Promenade des Anglais, with clear water warm enough for swimming through the summer, and calmer, sandier coves at Villefranche, Beaulieu and Juan-les-Pins a short ride away. The stones are the one drawback, and water shoes or a rented lounger take care of them.

Paris has no coast at all. Its summer riverbank beaches, the swimming spots on the Bassin de la Villette and its Art Deco pools are fine for cooling off, but they don't add up to a seaside trip. The cool Channel at Deauville is two hours away by train.

Nice has a distinct regional kitchen, closer to Italy than to Paris. Socca, pissaladière and stuffed vegetables taste best eaten simply in family places in Vieux Nice or bought at the Cours Saleya market for a picnic. That makes for some very good days of eating, though the range stays narrow.

Paris goes much deeper. It has neighbourhood markets such as Aligre, zinc-counter bistros, natural wine bars, inventive neo-bistros in the eastern arrondissements and the haute cuisine tradition. On top of that come the North African kitchens of Belleville and the Vietnamese pho of the 13th. A trip built around food could run for weeks here without repeating itself. In both cities, avoid the set menus near the main sights.

Nice's culture fills two or three good days, while the Louvre alone could fill a week in Paris. In Nice the highlights form a short, focused list: Matisse among the Roman ruins of Cimiez, Chagall's biblical cycle and MAMAC. The ochre lanes of the old town and the Belle Époque villas frame them.

Paris adds the Musée d'Orsay, the Pompidou and the Orangerie, plus Notre-Dame and the Sainte-Chapelle. Haussmann's boulevards and the Seine embankments tie it all together, so the walk between sights is part of the visit. The cost is long queues and the need to book ahead.

In Nice the night out is mostly dinner and drinks in the lanes of Vieux Nice, with the port bars and the summer beach clubs for later. Clubs are few, and out of season the city winds down early.

Paris has a much bigger scene that runs much later. There are the crowded bars of Oberkampf, the Canal Saint-Martin and Belleville, cocktail bars in South Pigalle and the Marais gay scene. After the bars close, house and techno clubs and summer barges keep going until dawn. Expect selective doors and expensive drinks.

Nice sits where the Alps meet the sea, so the outdoors here covers a lot. There are coastal paths around Cap Ferrat, classic corniche cycling routes and limestone gorges inland. The larch forests and high lakes of the Mercantour are about two hours away, and Auron's ski slopes are close enough for winter skiing. Diving and paddleboarding are easy to arrange as well.

Paris is gentler. It has the formal gardens, the cliffs and lake of the Buttes-Chaumont, and the woods of Boulogne and Vincennes. Forty minutes out by train, Fontainebleau offers forest trails and climbing on its famous sandstone boulders. These are good for walking and cycling, but there are no mountains or coast.

Both are excellent bases, and the real difference is in the kind of outing. From Nice the trips run along one coast and its hills: Monaco, Èze, Menton, Antibes, Cannes, Saint-Paul-de-Vence and even Sanremo across the Italian border. Most take under an hour by train or bus and mix sea, villages and art.

From Paris the theme is châteaux and cathedrals: Versailles, Fontainebleau, Chartres and Monet's garden at Giverny. Fast trains add Reims and its Champagne houses, Rouen and the Loire, so the list is slightly longer and stretches over a whole region.

Nice is easy with children day to day. The flat promenade suits pushchairs, the Promenade du Paillon has water jets to splash in, and Parc Phoenix has gardens and animals. However, the pebbles are hard on small feet, and there is no big zoo or theme park.

Paris gives children much more to do. Disneyland and Parc Astérix are within easy reach, and in the city there are the Cité des Sciences, the Jardin d'Acclimatation, the Vincennes zoo and the carousels and toy boats of the Luxembourg. The trade-offs are metro stairs, small hotel rooms and long queues.

You can manage either city without a car. Nice's centre is small and flat, with the tram linking the airport, the port and the old town and buses climbing to Cimiez. The coastal trains are the key to its day trips but are packed in summer.

Paris is easier still for a visitor. The metro is so dense that a station is rarely more than a few minutes away, the RER reaches the airports and Versailles, and the riverside centre is made for long walks. Stairs without lifts and crowded rush-hour lines are the trade-off.

Nice is pleasant browsing. It has the high street on Avenue Jean Médecin, luxury houses around rue Paradis, olive oil and Provençal fabrics in Vieux Nice, and a Monday antiques market on the Cours Saleya. Serious shoppers on the Riviera tend to head to Monaco or Cannes.

Paris is a reason to travel in itself. The great fashion houses have their flagships on Avenue Montaigne, and Galeries Lafayette and Le Bon Marché are sights in their own right. Beyond fashion there are the Marais designers, the covered passages, the Saint-Ouen flea market and the bouquinistes along the Seine.

Neither city is cheap, but Nice is the easier of the two on a budget. Its city museums cost little, the trams and coastal trains keep day trips inexpensive, and socca and market picnics make simple meals easy. The costs pile up with summer seafront hotels and private beach loungers, so spring and late autumn are the cheaper times to go.

Paris costs more on almost every front: small, expensive hotel rooms, full admission at the big museums and pricey terrace drinks. Free permanent collections at the city's own museums, bakery lunches and staying in the outer arrondissements all help.

Nice has a solid regional calendar. The red-and-gold Opéra de Nice stages opera, ballet and Philharmonic concerts, and the city has two big annual dates: the long-running Nice Jazz Festival in July and the Carnival in February. Outside those, it is worth an evening or two rather than being a reason to go.

Paris could fill every night of a stay. It has the Palais Garnier and the Opéra Bastille, the Philharmonie, chamber concerts in the Sainte-Chapelle, Molière at the Comédie-Française, jazz cellars around the rue des Lombards and cabaret in Pigalle.

Neither city has a bathing tradition, so the difference lies in how you rest. Nice offers thalassotherapy along the coast and a slower Riviera rhythm of early swims and evening walks on the promenade, at its calmest out of season. Paris has the tiled hammam of the Grande Mosquée and its hotel spas, but in a fast, loud city calm comes in short spells, such as an hour in the Luxembourg gardens.