Saint-Tropez or Nice?

Both have clear water that is warm enough to swim in through the summer, but the beaches themselves are very different. Nice's shore is a 7km band of pebbles directly below the Promenade des Anglais, a few minutes from most hotels. That makes it handy but hard on bare feet, and the sandy coves are at Villefranche, Beaulieu or Antibes.

Saint-Tropez has the better sand. Pampelonne is a long run of fine, pale beach with public stretches between the clubs, and the coves at Escalet and Cap Taillat are wilder. All of them lie several kilometres outside town, though, so going to the beach is an outing rather than a stroll.

Nice has a cuisine of its own and the street food to go with it: socca from wood ovens, pissaladière, stuffed vegetables and pan bagnat. Add the Cours Saleya market and the modest family places in Vieux Nice and around the port. Eating well and simply is easy, as long as you avoid the promenade terraces.

Saint-Tropez cooks much the same Provençal food with more polish and much higher bills. Grilled fish and rosé at Pampelonne and the cream-filled tarte tropézienne are its pleasures, but good everyday eating is hard to find, and much of the town closes in winter.

Nice has far more to see. The ochre lanes of Vieux Nice, the Belle Époque villas of Cimiez, the onion domes of the Russian cathedral and a strong set of art museums, from Matisse and Chagall to MAMAC, fill two or three days.

Saint-Tropez has one excellent small museum, the Annonciade, where pointillist and Fauvist paintings show the harbour as Signac and his circle knew it. The citadel and the lanes of La Ponche complete a pleasant day, and after that most visitors are there for the setting.

Saint-Tropez has the bigger name and the bigger summer nights. Afternoon parties at the Pampelonne beach clubs lead to champagne on the harbour and then to a few famous clubs that stay open until dawn, with table service and a dress code. Out of season it goes almost silent.

Nice is more modest and more mixed. A night out means pubs, wine bars and cocktail bars in the narrow lanes of the old town, where students, locals and visitors share the streets. Its clubs are ordinary, but there is somewhere for a drink all year, even if evenings end earlier in winter.

Both have fine coastal walking, but Nice reaches further. The Alps rise behind it to the Mercantour National Park, about two hours away, with its high lakes and ibex. The ski slopes of Isola 2000 are within reach in winter, and the corniches above the coast are classic road-cycling routes.

Saint-Tropez is gentler and closer to the sea. It has the Sentier du Littoral round the capes of Camarat and Taillat, the cork-oak forests of the Massif des Maures, and good sailing and snorkelling in the gulf. The island national park of Port-Cros is a ferry ride away.

On day trips the two are far apart. From Nice, coastal trains and buses reach Monaco, Menton, Èze, Antibes, Cannes, Grasse, Saint-Paul-de-Vence and even Sanremo across the Italian border. Most take under an hour and none needs a car.

From Saint-Tropez the outings are smaller and slower: the hill villages of Ramatuelle and Gassin, the canals of Port Grimaud by boat, wine tastings on the estates and a longer day on Porquerolles. They are charming, but they depend on roads that jam badly in summer.

Nice is easier with children. The flat promenade, the playgrounds and water jets of the Promenade du Paillon and the gardens and small animals of Parc Phoenix give them plenty to do, and the trams make getting about simple, although the pebbles are hard on small feet.

Saint-Tropez has the better beaches for toddlers, with gently shelving sand at Pampelonne and Gigaro. Beyond that, little is aimed at children, and the traffic and prices make a long family stay hard work.

Nice is simple to get around. The old town, the port and the promenade are all within a flat walk of each other, trams run from the airport to the centre, and regional trains cover the coast, so you only need a car for the mountains.

Saint-Tropez itself is tiny and walkable, but it has no railway, the buses are slow and the beaches lie kilometres out of town. Most visitors rely on a car, a scooter or taxis, and in July and August the single road along the gulf can be jammed for hours. The passenger boats from Sainte-Maxime are the calmer way in.

Saint-Tropez packs an unusual amount of luxury into a few lanes behind the port. It has the big fashion houses, resort wear and jewellery, its own hand-stitched leather sandals, and linen, baskets and pottery at the Place des Lices market. Much of it closes for the winter, though.

Nice offers more range and less glamour. There are chain stores on Avenue Jean Médecin, designer names around rue Paradis, olive oil, soaps and Provençal fabrics in the old town, and a Monday antiques market on the Cours Saleya. It is good for browsing rather than a reason to come.

Neither is cheap, but Nice is much easier on a budget. Cheap trams and coastal trains, socca, market picnics and inexpensive museums let you spend sensibly, especially in spring and late autumn.

Saint-Tropez is one of the most expensive places on the Mediterranean. Rooms, loungers and even a coffee on the port are priced for yacht owners, and taxis or parking come on top. Many visitors on a budget stay across the gulf and come over for the day.

Nice has a real season. The red-and-gold Opéra stages opera, ballet and philharmonic concerts, the Théâtre National puts on drama, and the city adds the long-running Jazz Festival in July and the Carnival parades in February.

Saint-Tropez offers open-air summer concerts on the citadel and in gardens, and the Bravade procession each May, a striking piece of local tradition. Beyond that there is little to attend, and for opera or theatre people drive to Nice or Toulon.

Neither town has a bathing tradition, and in both, spa time means the treatment rooms of the bigger hotels. What differs is the setting. Nice adds thalassotherapy centres along the coast, and its early swims and evening walks on the promenade work in most seasons.

Saint-Tropez is the more secluded retreat in May, June and September, with long lunches and pétanque under the plane trees. In high summer it becomes crowded and loud.