Paris or Toulouse?

Neither city is a beach destination, and each is about two hours from the sea. They differ in which sea it is. From Paris the train goes to Deauville and Trouville on the cool Channel, while from Toulouse the trip goes to Narbonne and Gruissan on the Mediterranean, where the water is warm in summer.

Swimming in town differs as well. Paris has summer sand on the riverbanks, swimming spots on the Bassin de la Villette and in the Seine, and some fine Art Deco pools. Toulouse instead has supervised lake swimming at Sesquières and La Ramée on its edge.

Eating in Paris is about range. One day can run from the Marché d'Aligre and a zinc-counter bistro to a natural-wine bar, a small neo-bistro in the east of the city or the haute cuisine that set the standard for fine dining. Couscous in Belleville and pho in the 13th add the cooking of its immigrant communities.

Toulouse goes deep in one regional tradition instead: cassoulet, duck confit, foie gras and Fronton reds, best eaten at the counters upstairs in the Victor Hugo market. Beyond that, the international choice and the top tier of restaurants are modest, so a week there brings less variety.

The gap in sights is wide. In Paris, the Orangerie, the Musée Rodin, the Pompidou and the medieval Cluny would each lead the list in a smaller city, and that is before the Louvre, Notre-Dame and the Sainte-Chapelle. The Haussmann boulevards and the townhouses of the Marais make the streets between them part of the visit.

Toulouse has fewer monuments, but they are impressive: Saint-Sernin, one of Europe's largest Romanesque churches, the palm-tree vault of the Jacobins and the Assézat mansion, all in a centre of rose-red brick. Its aerospace heritage adds a distinctive extra in the Cité de l'espace and the aircraft museum, and the essentials fit into a short stay.

Paris offers much more after dark. Bars run east from Oberkampf to the Canal Saint-Martin and Belleville, South Pigalle has the cocktail bars, the Marais has a gay scene, and house and techno clubs and summer barges keep going until dawn. Expect selective doors and high drink prices.

Toulouse goes out above its size thanks to its students, with cheap terraces on Place Saint-Pierre spilling onto the quays. However, it is not a clubbing city, and it goes noticeably quiet in July and August when the students leave.

Toulouse has the edge outdoors because the Pyrenees are close, at roughly one and a half to two hours away. They offer serious hiking, cycling climbs and winter skiing. Nearer the city, the Canal du Midi towpaths and the Aveyron gorges offer long flat rides and cliff-top walks.

Paris offers gentler outings: the Bois de Boulogne and Vincennes, the cliffs and lake of the Buttes-Chaumont, and Fontainebleau's sandstone boulders and trails about forty minutes away by train. There is nothing mountainous within reach.

Paris has more trips, and they are easier. Versailles, Chartres, Giverny and Fontainebleau are each about an hour or less away, and fast trains bring Reims and its Champagne houses, Rouen, the Loire at Tours and even Brussels within a day out.

Toulouse's two best outings rank among the finest in southern France: walled Carcassonne and brick Albi, both about an hour by train. Moissac's cloister and Montauban are close as well. Beyond those, Cordes-sur-Ciel, Foix and Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges really call for a car.

Paris gives children more to do. Disneyland and Parc Astérix are each about forty minutes away, the Cité des Sciences is a huge hands-on museum, and the parks have puppet shows, carousels and toy boats on the Luxembourg pond. Getting around with them is harder, though, with stairs in many metro stations and small hotel rooms.

Toulouse's attractions are fewer but very memorable: walking through a Mir module at the Cité de l'espace and inside a Concorde at the aircraft museum. Its flat centre is also much easier with a pushchair.

Both centres are good for walking. The difference is what happens beyond them. In Paris the metro is dense enough that a station is always close, and the RER reaches Versailles, Disneyland and the airports, although stairs, rush-hour crowds and pickpockets on tourist lines come with it.

Toulouse fits inside its ring of boulevards, and two metro lines, trams and riverside cycle paths cover the city well. The space centre and the lakes take a bus ride, though, and the Pyrenees and most rural trips are far easier by car.

These two are far apart. Paris has the flagships of the great fashion houses on Avenue Montaigne, Galeries Lafayette and Le Bon Marché, the independent designers of the Marais, the covered passages, the Saint-Ouen flea market and the bouquinistes along the Seine.

Toulouse offers mainstream chains on Rue d'Alsace-Lorraine and a few boutiques and antiques shops around Saint-Étienne, with no luxury district at all. Its best souvenirs come from the markets: violet sweets, cassoulet in jars and Armagnac.

Toulouse is clearly the cheaper stay. Its hotels cost far less than the capital's, the set lunch is a daily habit, and the student bars keep drinks cheap. A good dinner with wine still adds up, as it does anywhere in Western Europe.

In Paris, small and costly rooms, terrace drinks and full museum admissions take the budget quickly. Picnics by the river, bakeries, the free permanent collections of the city's own museums and a room in the outer arrondissements soften the cost.

What separates the two cities' stages is breadth. Paris has two opera houses, with ballet at the Palais Garnier and most of the opera at the Bastille. It also has the world-class Philharmonie, the Radio France orchestras and concerts in the Sainte-Chapelle. Jazz cellars around the rue des Lombards, Pigalle cabaret and the Comédie-Française widen the choice further, though most theatre is in French.

Toulouse focuses on classical music and does it well. The Théâtre du Capitole stages opera and ballet with its own company, and the Orchestre National du Capitole plays in the Halle aux Grains, a round hall that was once a grain market. A late-summer piano festival in the Jacobins cloister and Rio Loco by the river in early summer complete a solid regional programme.

Neither city is built for a wellness break, but Paris offers a little more within the city. The hammam of the Grande Mosquée, with its tiled steam rooms and mint tea, and smaller neighbourhood hammams give it something beyond the hotel spas.

Toulouse has hotel spas, a few day spas and big open-air pools in summer, along with a slower southern pace by the Garonne. For real hot springs you must go to Luchon or Ax-les-Thermes, up to two hours away, which works best as an overnight trip.