Saint-Malo or Toulouse?

On beaches the gap is as wide as it gets. Saint-Malo has about 3km of sand on the Grand Plage du Sillon, coves below the ramparts and a tidal sea pool at Bon-Secours, and at low tide you can walk out to the island forts. The Channel stays cool, so you will spend more time on the sand than in the water.

Toulouse has no coast at all. The Mediterranean beaches near Narbonne and Gruissan make a long day out. In practice a swim means the supervised lakes at Sesquières or La Ramée, or a hotel pool.

Toulouse eats better. Its south-western cooking is rich and varied, from cassoulet and duck confit to foie gras. The Victor Hugo market is a place to eat as well as to shop, Fronton and Gaillac wines come from nearby, and set lunches make eating well part of the daily routine.

Saint-Malo's food is narrower but has its own character: galettes with dry cider, kouign-amann, and Cancale oysters eaten by the harbour wall. The catch is the many tourist crêperies inside the walls. The better meals are in Saint-Servan and along the coast towards Cancale.

Toulouse has far more to see. Saint-Sernin, the Jacobins with its palm-tree vault, the painted rooms of the Capitole and the collections at the Hôtel d'Assézat, the Augustins and Les Abattoirs fill two full days. The aircraft and space museums add an unusual aerospace angle.

Saint-Malo is really one sight done well: the full circuit of ramparts, the rebuilt granite town, the cathedral and the low-tide walk to Chateaubriand's grave on the Grand Bé. It suits a day of wandering rather than a museum itinerary.

For an evening out, Toulouse is the place. Its large student population fills the terraces and cheap bars on Place Saint-Pierre, an older crowd drinks around Carmes and the Daurade, and clubs and an electronic scene keep going later. It all quietens in July and August, though, when the students leave.

Saint-Malo works the other way round. Its pubs and wine bars inside the walls are busiest in summer and close early the rest of the year. For clubbing you take the train to Rennes.

Saint-Malo has the better outdoors right on its doorstep. The GR34 runs both ways along the coast, to Pointe du Grouin and to the cliffs of the Emerald Coast. Tides of up to about 13m reshape the bay twice a day, and the Rance and the bay are good for kayaking, sailing and kitesurfing.

Around Toulouse the land is gentle plain, with canal towpaths for flat cycling. Its big asset is the Pyrenees, with hiking and skiing one and a half to two hours away, and the Aveyron gorges are closer. The dramatic landscapes there take a proper outing rather than a walk from the hotel.

Both are excellent bases, but the trips are of different kinds. From Saint-Malo they are coastal and medieval: Mont-Saint-Michel about an hour's drive away, half-timbered Dinan, the boat to Dinard and summer ferries to Jersey. Most are easiest by car.

From Toulouse you reach the walled and brick towns of the south. Carcassonne and Albi are each about an hour by train, which helps a lot if you have no car, and Moissac, Cordes-sur-Ciel and Foix are further out.

Both work well with children, in different ways. Saint-Malo is a beach-and-ramparts vacation: sandcastles, the sea pool, pirate stories, walks out to the island forts and the Grand Aquarium for a wet day. Parents need to watch the tides, and the water is cold.

Toulouse swaps sand for science. There is the Cité de l'espace, the walk-through Concorde at the aircraft museum, the mechanical creatures in Montaudran and a safari park, though high summer can be very hot for small children.

Toulouse is easier to get around. The flat centre inside the boulevards is walkable, and two metro lines, trams, buses and a bike scheme cover most of the rest. Only the space centre, the aircraft museum and the mountains take more effort.

In Saint-Malo you can walk between the walled town, the promenade to Paramé and Saint-Servan, but local buses are the only network. Mont-Saint-Michel and the coastal villages realistically need a car, and parking near the walls is hard in summer.

Neither is a shopping destination, but Toulouse has more choice. There are chains and a department store on Rue d'Alsace-Lorraine, independent boutiques and antiques around Saint-Étienne, and the Sunday market at Saint-Sernin. In Saint-Malo, shopping means local specialities such as striped sailor tops, salted butter and caramels, faience and cider, and for anything more you go to Rennes.

Neither is cheap, but Toulouse is a little easier on the budget. Outside trade-fair weeks its hotels cost well below resort levels, and the student quarters and set lunches keep everyday costs down.

Saint-Malo is priced like a seaside resort, and rooms inside the walls and on the beach are expensive in July and August. Prices fall in spring and autumn, and a galette with cider stays an inexpensive meal all year.

Toulouse has a full performing season. The Théâtre du Capitole stages opera and ballet with its own company, the Orchestre National du Capitole plays in the round Halle aux Grains, and jazz bars, small theatres and the Rio Loco festival fill in the rest.

In Saint-Malo, most of what happens on stage comes on festival dates, such as La Route du Rock for indie music. Between them there is a modest theatre programme and the odd concert in the cathedral, so on most nights there is little to see.

Saint-Malo is made for rest in a way Toulouse is not. Thalassotherapy is a long local tradition, with a large seawater centre on the Sillon seafront, and walks on the empty sand at low tide outside the summer complete the cure. Avoid August, when the crowds arrive.

In Toulouse you relax through the pace of life rather than through treatments: long lunches, shaded squares and rides along the canal towpaths. For hot springs you travel to Luchon or Ax-les-Thermes in the Pyrenees, ideally staying a night.