Austrian Alps or Lake Garda?

Both offer lake bathing from grass and pebble lidos rather than sand, and in both the season runs from June to early September. In the Austrian Alps the warmest water is in Carinthia, where Velden and Pörtschach on the Wörthersee plan their summers around the lidos. The Salzkammergut lakes are cooler, though, and the high lakes stay chilly.

Lake Garda makes swimming the centre of the stay. Its south and east shores, from Sirmione's rock shelves to the long lidos of Lazise, Bardolino and Desenzano, have more places to swim and a sunnier summer to enjoy them in. The cooler, windier north suits windsurfers better than sunbathers.

Neither is a place to go for a wide range of food, and the two are broadly level. The real difference is what is on the plate. The Alps serve hearty mountain food such as Kaiserschmarrn, Gröstl and Käsespätzle, which taste best on a hut terrace. Salzburg adds its cafés and cakes, and Kitzbühel and the Arlberg have serious fine dining.

Garda eats lighter and drinks better, with lake fish, risotto and its own olive oil, and Bardolino, Lugana and Amarone produced close by. Both have their traps. In Austria it is the near-identical menus of the big ski villages. At Garda it is the pizza and set menus on the busiest harbours, and the agriturismi in the hills are the better choice.

The Austrian Alps have far more to see. Salzburg alone, with its baroque old town, fortress, Residenz and Mozart's birthplace, outweighs anything on Garda's shores. Innsbruck's Hofburg and Hofkirche, Hallstatt's salt-mining heritage and the Admont abbey library add depth across the region.

Garda's sights make pleasant half-day outings: Sirmione's moated castle and Roman villa ruins, d'Annunzio's Vittoriale with a warship set into its hillside, and the castles at Malcesine and Riva. Its bigger cultural attractions are the cities beyond the lake.

In winter the Austrian Alps have some of the loudest après-ski anywhere. It starts in the slopeside huts and carries on in late-opening village clubs in Ischgl, St Anton and Saalbach, and Innsbruck's students keep a bar scene going all year. Outside the ski season, however, the resorts go quiet early.

On Garda an evening usually means an aperitivo, a long dinner and a stroll along the promenade. Desenzano is the one real exception, with lakefront bars and clubs nearby that fill on summer weekends.

Both are excellent outdoor country, but the Austrian Alps work on a bigger scale. The glaciers and the Grossglockner in the Hohe Tauern, the high Tyrolean valleys and some of Europe's most extensive skiing give serious terrain in every season. Almost every valley has marked trails and staffed huts above it.

Garda's outdoor life is concentrated in the north. Arco's limestone walls, the cable car up Monte Baldo from Malcesine and the reliable wind at Torbole make it a superb base for climbing, mountain biking and windsurfing. It has no glaciers, though, and no ski areas on the Austrian scale.

Garda's southern shore lies on the railway between Milan and Venice. Verona is under an hour away, Venice, Vicenza, Padua and Bergamo are all within easy reach, and Mantua is about an hour by road. Few lake bases have so many great cities nearby.

The Austrian Alps have good outings too: Hallstatt and the Salzkammergut from Salzburg, Berchtesgaden and Munich across the border, and Hall in Tirol and Rattenberg from Innsbruck. These are mostly lakes and small towns rather than major art cities.

Both are strong choices for families, but in different ways. The Austrian Alps have children's ski schools, nursery slopes and purpose-built family hotels with pools and kids' clubs. In summer there are toboggan runs and play areas on the mountains, and Innsbruck's Alpine Zoo and the Hellbrunn trick fountains fill the rest days.

Garda's south-east shore centres on Gardaland, with more water parks and a safari park nearby, and large campsites and shallow lidos alongside them. The main drawbacks at Garda are summer heat and traffic. In the Alps they are wet days and steep paths.

The Austrian Alps are easier to travel around. Trains run through the Inn valley and to Salzburg and the Gastein valley, Postbuses climb into the side valleys, and many resorts give guests a card for local transport. Within one valley, a car is optional.

At Garda, the railway only touches the south, at Peschiera and Desenzano. Ferries link the towns pleasantly but slowly, and the shore roads are narrow and congested in summer. The easier plan is to stay in one walkable town and use the boats.

The Austrian Alps have more to shop for. Salzburg's Getreidegasse and Innsbruck's old town sell dirndls, loden coats and felt hats. There are also wood carvings from Tyrolean workshops, crystal from Wattens and the Christmas markets in December, and Kitzbühel and Lech have a few luxury boutiques.

Shopping at Garda mostly means weekly markets and things to eat and drink: olive oil, Lugana and Bardolino wine, and lemon products from Limone. Anyone who wants more makes the trip to Verona or Milan.

Neither is cheap, but Garda is a little easier on the budget. In winter the Alps add lift passes, ski hire and lessons to the hotel bill, and Arlberg and Kitzbühel are among the most expensive addresses in the mountains. Quiet valleys, farm stays and summers in Carinthia cost less.

At Garda the cost lies in the lakefront hotels of Sirmione, Limone and Malcesine and in theme park visits for families. Campsites, agriturismi and villages set back from the water bring the cost down, and so does going in spring or autumn.

For music and theatre the Alps are far ahead. In summer the Austrian Alps have the Salzburg Festival in July and August, opera on the floating stage at Bregenz, the Schubertiade and the festivals at Erl. Salzburg keeps a calendar running through the rest of the year with Mozart Week and concerts at the Mozarteum.

Garda has summer shows in the Vittoriale's amphitheatre and band concerts in the town squares. Its best musical evening is outside the region, at the opera in Verona's Roman arena.

Both have thermal springs, but the Austrian Alps make wellness a central part of the trip. Bad Gastein's radon springs and healing gallery, the Aqua Dome in the Ötztal, Bad Ischl, and hotel sauna worlds in almost every valley give more choice and a deeper tradition.

Garda's spa life centres on Sirmione's sulphurous springs and the open-air thermal park near Lazise, with hotel spas along the western Riviera. It is restful in spring and early autumn, but the August crowds in the southern towns work against a quiet stay.