Amalfi Coast or Umbria?

Here the two are far apart. The Amalfi Coast offers real sea swimming: clear, deep water in grey-pebble coves at Positano, Atrani and Furore, many of them best reached by boat. Anyone who wants sand and room to spread out heads for Maiori.

In Umbria, the swimming is in fresh water. Lake Trasimeno's lidos are shallow and warm, good for paddling but rarely clear, and most visitors end up in the pool at their farmhouse. If you want the sea, you are looking at a drive of two hours or more.

Both eat very well, but one cooks from the sea and the other from the hills. On the Amalfi Coast that means scialatielli with clams, Cetara's anchovies and colatura, and lemons in everything from cakes to limoncello. The best meals are often a short climb away from the waterfronts.

Umbria offers black truffle over handmade strangozzi, Norcia's pork, and Sagrantino and Orvieto wines tasted at the estates where they are made. It is the better place for a wine-focused trip, though seafood barely features.

Umbria is the richer place for art and history. Assisi's basilica holds frescoes by Giotto and Cimabue, Orvieto's cathedral has Signorelli's Last Judgement, Perugia has its national gallery, and Gubbio, Spoleto, Todi and Spello each add their own set piece.

The Amalfi Coast offers the striped cathedral and cloister of a former maritime republic, and the gardens of Villa Rufolo and Villa Cimbrone in Ravello. Above all it has the UNESCO-listed coast itself. There are no big collections, so for those you have to go to Naples.

Neither is a place to go out late, so evenings mean a long dinner and a stroll in both. On the Amalfi Coast, that comes with an aperitivo looking out to sea, a few cocktail bars in Positano and café tables in Amalfi's cathedral square, and much of it closes in winter.

Umbria's livelier corner is Perugia, where students fill the cathedral steps and the old-centre wine bars. The rest of the region goes quiet early.

The Amalfi Coast has the more dramatic landscape. The Lattari mountains drop straight into the sea, and you can take the Path of the Gods above Positano, then go kayaking or snorkelling past the sea caves and the Li Galli islets on another day.

Umbria is gentler and greener, with olive groves and oak woods, but it has a wide range of outdoor activities inland. Wildflowers cover the Castelluccio plain below the Monti Sibillini, there is rafting in the Valnerina, the Marmore Falls are worth a visit, and cyclists ride the old Spoleto to Norcia railway path.

Both are excellent bases for excursions, but the outings are of different kinds. From the Amalfi Coast they are big single destinations: Pompeii and Herculaneum, Capri by ferry, Paestum's Greek temples and a full day in Naples. On these slow roads, the boat is often the quickest way out.

In Umbria the day trip is the routine of the stay, a different hill town each day by car, from Gubbio to Bevagna. Cortona, Montepulciano and Siena are close by in Tuscany, and Rome is a little over an hour by train from Orvieto.

Umbria is the easier choice with children. A farmhouse with a pool, animals and space outdoors makes a relaxed base, Lake Trasimeno's shallow water suits small swimmers, and there is an amusement park outside Perugia. Its hill towns are still steep and cobbled, though.

The Amalfi Coast is harder going. Towns are built up the cliff with hundreds of steps, the beaches are pebbly, and the coast road has long stretches without a pavement. Families do best in flatter Maiori or Minori, with boat trips and the emerald grotto as highlights.

Getting around is much easier in Umbria. The roads are good, distances are short and traffic is light. You park below the walls of each hill town and ride up by escalator or funicular. Without a car, a rail line links Perugia, Assisi, Spello and Spoleto, though the countryside is hard to reach.

On the Amalfi Coast, everything depends on one narrow cliff road that jams in summer, and the buses on it fill quickly. From spring to autumn the ferries make the trip pleasant and double as sightseeing. A waterfront base in Amalfi or Positano saves a lot of climbing.

Both sell painted majolica, but the Amalfi Coast offers more variety. Positano's lanes are full of linen resort clothing and sandal makers who fit a pair while you wait, Amalfi sells its handmade paper, and Vietri sul Mare is full of ceramic workshops.

Umbria's shopping is more about food and craft. There are Deruta's roadside potteries, hand-loomed linens in Montefalco and Bevagna, cashmere outlets near Perugia, and Norcia's hams and truffles. Beyond that, Perugia's high street is fairly ordinary.

The gap here is wide. In high season the Amalfi Coast is among the most expensive coasts in Europe, with sea-view rooms in Positano and Ravello, sunbeds, boats and taxis all adding up. Staying in Maiori, Atrani or Agerola and travelling by bus and ferry helps.

Umbria is one of the more gently priced parts of central Italy. Farmhouse stays are noticeably cheaper than over the Tuscan border, and village lunches and local wine are good value. The main extra costs are a hire car and a weakness for truffles.

On the Amalfi Coast, music means Ravello, the town Wagner knew. In summer, orchestras play on a stage built out over the cliff in the gardens of Villa Rufolo, and a chamber series fills its churches and halls on many evenings. Elsewhere there are church concerts and brass bands at feast-day processions. The coast has no theatre or opera house, and out of season there is very little.

Umbria offers more, and in more forms. In July, Umbria Jazz takes over Perugia, with headline concerts in the arena and free bands in the squares. Spoleto's Festival dei Due Mondi brings opera, dance and theatre to its Roman theatre and opera house from late June. In the rest of the year there are occasional performances at Perugia's Teatro Morlacchi and in small 19th-century town theatres, plus a winter jazz edition in Orvieto around the New Year.

Neither has a strong thermal tradition, and in both the relaxation comes from the slow pace. Umbria is slightly better for it. Country houses offer pools, massage and yoga among the olive groves, Assisi and the hermitages on Monte Subasio are places for silence, and there are small historic spas at San Gemini and Nocera Umbra.

On the Amalfi Coast, the spas belong to the luxury cliff hotels. For quiet, choose Ravello, Atrani or Praiano, or come in May, June or September, because Positano and Amalfi are noisy in midsummer.