Provence or Swiss Alps?

Provence has a real seaside. There is the long sand of Pampelonne, the clear shallows of Porquerolles and the Hyères peninsula, and the turquoise calanques near Cassis, with swimming from June into early October. Stay on the coast, though, because the Luberon is a long drive from it.

The Swiss Alps offer lake bathing instead, from tidy lidos on Lake Thun and Lake Brienz to the Caumasee near Flims, in clean but cool water. Ticino's lakes are warmer, but even there a swim is a break between hikes rather than the point of the trip.

Provence is one of France's great places to eat. It has bouillabaisse in Marseille, daube and aïoli inland, truffles around Carpentras and the weekly markets of Aix, Apt and Saint-Rémy, with rosé, Bandol and Châteauneuf-du-Pape to drink. Outside Marseille, though, there is little besides French and Provençal cooking.

In the Swiss Alps the pleasure is fondue, raclette and rösti on a hut terrace at the top of a lift, with unusual Valais wines such as Petite Arvine. Beyond that the choice narrows to hotel dining rooms and very costly cooking in the smart resorts, and there is no market life at all.

For sightseeing, Provence is far richer. Roman Arles and Orange, the papal palace and walls of Avignon, Cézanne's Aix, the MuCEM in Marseille and the Cistercian abbeys of Sénanque and Le Thoronet add up to a trip in their own right, spread over several towns.

The Alps' heritage is quieter and part of the scenery. There are sgraffito houses in Guarda, the castles of Sion and Bellinzona, the frescoes at Müstair and the World Heritage Albula and Bernina railway lines. It rounds out a mountain stay but would not justify one.

Neither is a party destination, but Provence has more places to go out and nightlife at more times of year. Marseille's Cours Julien and La Plaine give it a real year-round city scene, Aix has student bars and Saint-Tropez has a glossy circuit of summer beach clubs.

In the Alps, evenings depend on the snow. Verbier and Zermatt have lively après-ski and a few late clubs in winter, and St Moritz and Gstaad have smart hotel bars. In summer the hiking bases go to sleep early.

Provence has fine landscapes for a warm region, from the deep Gorges du Verdon and the white cliffs of the Calanques to the Camargue's flamingos and the bare summit of Mont Ventoux. Summer heat and fire closures, though, push serious walking into spring and autumn.

The Swiss Alps are in another league. They have the Eiger and Jungfrau above Lauterbrunnen, the Matterhorn, the Aletsch Glacier and the Swiss National Park, with thousands of kilometres of trails starting at cable-car stations. Add winter skiing at Zermatt, Verbier or St Moritz and summer via ferratas and guided glacier tours, and nowhere in Provence compares.

Provence is made for days out. From a base in the Luberon or Avignon, Gordes, Roussillon, Les Baux, Châteauneuf-du-Pape, the Pont du Gard and Nîmes are all within an hour or so, though most of them need a car.

The Alps have fewer outings of that quality, but they are easy by train: Bern, Thun and Lucerne from the Bernese Oberland, Gruyères and Chillon further west, and Bellinzona and Lugano from the southern side.

Children are easier to please in the Alps. Ski schools and nursery slopes at Grindelwald or Saas-Fee, summer toboggan runs, lake steamers, cogwheel trains and car-free villages such as Wengen make every day an outing with no need for a theme park. Altitude does call for care with babies.

Provence works best for families as a villa with a pool or a campsite near the shallow beaches of Hyères and Porquerolles. July heat, long drives and steep villages that are hard going with pushchairs make it tougher with small children, though older ones enjoy canoeing in the Verdon and the arenas of Arles and Nîmes.

This is the clearest practical difference between them. Trains link Provence's main towns, but the villages, abbeys, vineyards and gorges largely need a car. Expect narrow hill lanes, scarce parking in perched villages and summer jams on the road to Saint-Tropez.

In the Swiss Alps, trains, postbuses, steamers and cable cars run on linked timetables to almost every village, and Zermatt and Mürren ban cars outright. The catch is that crossing between the big regions takes a long day, so one or two bases work better than a tour.

Provence gives shoppers far more to browse. Its weekly markets sell printed fabrics, lavender and olive wood, L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue has its antiques dealers, and there is Moustiers faience and santons to look for, plus a proper mix of town-centre shops in Aix.

Alpine shopping is narrower. It is mostly luxury boutiques in St Moritz and Gstaad, watch and outdoor-gear shops in Zermatt and Interlaken, and things to eat, such as cheese from the dairy and Graubünden air-dried meat.

Provence is expensive in summer, especially Saint-Tropez and the villas of the Luberon. Marseille, Arles and the quieter Var villages are reasonable, though, and set lunches, market food and local wine keep daily spending in check. Spring and autumn are cheaper still.

The Swiss Alps cost a great deal more on every count: hotels, simple mountain meals and above all the lifts and railways. Self-catering, picnics, travel passes and quieter valleys such as Goms or the Ticino side all help, but there is no budget version of this trip.

Both are places for summer festivals, and Provence's are the bigger draw. The Avignon theatre festival fills the town with its huge fringe in July, and there is opera in the Archbishop's Palace courtyard at Aix and in Orange's Roman theatre. Marseille and Aix keep a regular programme going for the rest of the year.

The Alps answer with classical music, as the Verbier Festival and the Menuhin Festival around Gstaad bring fine soloists to tents and village churches. Outside summer there is little beyond brass bands and alphorn evenings, and there is no resident opera or theatre.

For rest and bathing, the Alps are far stronger. Leukerbad's open-air hot pools under the cliffs, the stone thermal bath at Vals, Bad Ragaz and Scuol make taking the waters a reason to come in its own right, and the car-free villages and quiet nights do the rest.

Provence relaxes you through its pace rather than its spas. Think market mornings, long lunches and a pool in the Luberon, lavender treatments in country hotels, and the thermal baths of Aix and Gréoux-les-Bains. The coast in high summer, however, is anything but calm.