Black Forest or Lake Garda?

Only at Lake Garda can swimming shape a stay. In July and August the water turns properly warm, and the south and east shores offer the long grassy lidos of Lazise, Bardolino and Desenzano, the rock shelves below Sirmione and the cove at Punta San Vigilio. Expect pebbles, jetties and lawns rather than sand.

The Black Forest has only its lakes and heated pools. Titisee and Schluchsee have small beaches and boat hire, but the water stays cool and the season is short, so swimming is a refresher after a walk rather than a reason to go.

The Black Forest eats better overall. Its cooking leans towards France, Baiersbronn has a remarkable cluster of top restaurants, and even an ordinary inn serves smoked ham, trout, venison and the famous cherry cake, with fruit brandies on the side. Pinot Noir from the Kaiserstuhl and the seasonal farm wine taverns make it as good for drinking as for eating.

Garda's strength is its wine, Bardolino, Chiaretto and Lugana, with Amarone country just beyond, along with its own olive oil and lake fish served with risotto or bigoli. On the busiest harbour fronts, though, many places serve pizza and set tourist menus, so the good meals take more finding, usually in the trattorias and agriturismi of the hills.

Neither has one great centre, but the Black Forest's scattered heritage carries more weight. Freiburg's red sandstone Minster and its car-free old town with little water channels, Baden-Baden's nineteenth-century spa quarter and the UNESCO-listed monastery at Maulbronn are all worth travelling for. The half-timbered towns of Gengenbach and Schiltach fill the gaps.

Garda's sights are a string of lakeside castles and old lanes. The best are the moated castle and Roman villa ruins at Sirmione and d'Annunzio's strange Vittoriale estate at Gardone. Together they make good half-days rather than a cultural trip.

Both regions go quiet early, and each has one town that stays up later. In the Black Forest that town is Freiburg, where students fill the pubs, wine bars and a few clubs on term-time weekends. Baden-Baden's casino offers a dressier evening.

At Garda the night out is seasonal. Desenzano's lakefront bars and the big clubs nearby fill on summer weekends, Riva and Bardolino have a few lively bars, and elsewhere an evening means aperitivo and a promenade stroll.

The Black Forest is above all walking country. The Westweg crosses its rounded, fir-covered mountains from end to end, the Feldberg looks out to the Alps, and the Wutach and Ravenna gorges and the moorland of the northern national park make classic outings. In winter the same hills offer cross-country skiing and small downhill slopes.

Lake Garda's outdoors is steeper and more varied. In the narrow, fjord-like north, the rotating cable car up Monte Baldo leads to ridge walks and paragliding, climbers come to Arco's limestone walls and via ferrate all year, and Torbole's steady afternoon wind makes it a classic spot for windsurfing and sailing.

Both are superb bases for outings, but in different directions. The Black Forest's edge is the border with France and Switzerland: Basel is a short train ride from Freiburg, Strasbourg's cathedral is under an hour from Offenburg, and Colmar and the Alsace wine villages make an easy drive, with Heidelberg and Lake Constance at either end.

Garda's outings are Italian art cities strung along the Milan to Venice railway. Verona is well under an hour from the southern shore and Venice is a straightforward day out. Vicenza, Padua, Bergamo and Mantua all lie within reach.

Europa-Park at Rust and Gardaland near Peschiera give each region a big theme park, so the real choice is what fills the other days. In the Black Forest those days go on farm stays, summer toboggan runs, treetop walks and cable cars up the Feldberg, with sledging in winter. The catch is the driving between sights.

Garda's south-east shore makes a summer water vacation of it: campsites and resort villages with pools, shallow pebble shores and ferry hops for gelato, while older children can bike or windsurf in the north. Heat and traffic on the shore roads are the main strain.

The Black Forest is easier without a car. The Rhine valley line connects Baden-Baden, Offenburg and Freiburg quickly, the Schwarzwaldbahn and Höllentalbahn climb into the hills, and the free local transport cards many hosts provide make day trips by train simple. Away from the railways, buses to the villages are sparse.

At Garda the railway touches only the southern shore. Ferries are a lovely but slow way to travel the length of the lake, and the narrow shore roads clog in summer with little parking. Picking one town and using the boats works better than touring the whole lake.

Neither is a shopping destination, but the Black Forest has more to browse. There are cuckoo clock workshops around Triberg, wood carving and blown glass, Freiburg's independent shops and department stores, and a small upmarket fashion quarter in Baden-Baden.

Garda's shopping happens mainly at the weekly lakefront markets in Desenzano, Lazise and Bardolino. The best things to take home are olive oil, Lugana wine and Limone's lemon products, and serious shoppers head to Verona or Milan.

The Black Forest is a little kinder to the budget. Valley guesthouses and farm stays are fairly priced, inn meals are filling, and the free transport cards cut costs, though Baden-Baden and the famous northern restaurants are expensive.

At Garda, summer lakefront hotels in Sirmione, Malcesine and Limone charge for the view, and ferries and theme parks add up. Camping villages, agriturismi in the hills and travel in spring or autumn bring the cost down.

The Black Forest has a real stage life. Baden-Baden's Festspielhaus, one of Germany's largest halls, brings international orchestras, opera and ballet, with its Easter festival as the high point. Freiburg adds year-round opera, drama and a respected baroque ensemble, and the villages have their Fastnacht processions.

Garda offers little beyond summer: concerts in the Vittoriale's open-air amphitheatre and band music in the town squares. Its best evening, opera in Verona's Roman arena, lies outside the region.

For taking the waters, the Black Forest is in a different league. Baden-Baden's Friedrichsbad, with its hot rooms and pools under a nineteenth-century dome, and the Caracalla baths sit in a town of parks built for slow days. Badenweiler, Bad Wildbad and other spa towns surround it, and forest bathing trails and hotel saunas fill in the rest.

Garda has one real anchor, Sirmione's warm sulphur springs with pools overlooking the lake, plus the open-air thermal pools in a villa park near Lazise. It is restful in spring and early autumn, but the southern towns are crowded in August.