Bled or Pisa?

Pisa has the real beach, but the swimming in summer is similar in warmth. Its coast starts about 12km away, with long sandy beaches backed by pine woods at Tirrenia and Calambrone, shallow water for paddling and rows of rented loungers. The water near the river mouth is rarely clear, though.

Bled swaps sand for lake swimming from grassy lidos, wooden piers and rocks along the shore path, and some people swim out to the island. The water warms up nicely in high summer, but the season is short, and Bohinj nearby is colder still.

Bled's eating is narrow. There is the tall cream slice on a lakeside terrace, and after that trout, žlikrofi or sausages in inns and hotel dining rooms that mostly feed day visitors. The better meals are in farm guesthouses out in the valleys, and anyone who travels to eat will run out of options within a couple of days.

Pisa eats far better, if simply. Wood-oven cecina, ribollita, wild boar and salt cod are served in the trattorias and wine bars around the morning market at Piazza delle Vettovaglie, where the student trade keeps prices honest. Only the menus by the tower let it down, and the seafood is better out towards the coast.

Pisa is far ahead here. The cathedral, baptistery, tower and Camposanto make one of Italy's great ensembles, and beyond them lie Piazza dei Cavalieri, the little Gothic Santa Maria della Spina on the Arno, and the medieval collections of San Matteo, enough for two unhurried days.

Bled offers a single striking picture rather than a programme: the cliff-top castle with its small museum and printing workshop, the pletna boat to the baroque island church and its wishing bell, and the old spa villas along the shore. Half a day to a day covers it.

Neither is a party town, but Pisa at least has evenings. During term, students fill the small squares around the old market with drinks and talk past midnight, Borgo Stretto and the river draw the aperitivo crowd, and in summer the beach bars take over.

Bled ends with a terrace drink and a walk along the lit shore. With a couple of hotel bars, no clubs and a village asleep before midnight, a night out means the trip to Ljubljana.

This is Bled's great strength. The flat lake circuit, the climbs to Ojstrica and Osojnica, the Vintgar Gorge, Bohinj, the Savica waterfall and the Pokljuka pastures are all within half an hour. Add rafting, canyoning, paragliding, the road over Vršič to the Soča valley and winter skiing at Vogel, and there is real Alpine country to explore.

Pisa's outdoors are gentler but worth having: deer in the pine woods and dunes of San Rossore, olive-terrace paths on Monte Pisano, and birdwatching on Lake Massaciuccoli. For proper mountains you have to drive to the Apuan Alps.

Pisa sits in one of Europe's richest regions for day trips. Florence is about an hour by train and Lucca under half an hour, with the Cinque Terre, Viareggio and the marble towns of Carrara along the coast. Volterra, San Gimignano and Siena are within a drive.

Bled is a good base too, but for a smaller spread of places: Ljubljana within the hour, medieval Radovljica next door, Postojna cave with cliff-built Predjama Castle, the Venetian port of Piran, and Carinthian lakeside towns across the Austrian border.

Bled has the edge for families who like being outside. Children get to row a boat to the island and ring the bell, swim from shallow lidos, ride the summer toboggan on Straža and walk the gorge boardwalks, and the flat lake path suits pushchairs. A rainy day is the weak spot, with nothing big indoors.

Pisa is easy for families, being flat and compact, and everyone wants the photo holding up the tower. Younger children cannot climb it, though, and the best family days are on the sandy beaches or bikes in San Rossore, with summer heat and crowds to plan around.

Both centres are walkable, but Pisa connects far better. The airport shuttle train runs straight to a station that serves much of western Tuscany, so Florence, Lucca and the coast need no car, and buses and bikes cover the rest.

Bled's lakeside is easy on foot, and buses and two small stations link it to Ljubljana and Bohinj. The mountains are a different matter. Pokljuka, Vršič and the trailheads are poorly served, so most people end up hiring a car and then struggling to park by the lake in summer.

Bled has almost nothing to buy. Lakeside stalls sell honey, lace and painted beehive panels, and a small supermarket covers the basics.

Pisa's shopping is ordinary Italian, but that still puts it well ahead. There are chains along the pedestrian Corso Italia, smarter clothes and old pastry shops under the arcades of Borgo Stretto, and a monthly antiques fair by the river. For serious fashion, people make the short trip to Florence.

Pisa is the somewhat cheaper stay. Central rooms are mid-range, student trattorias are good value and walking costs nothing, though the tower climb and the loungers on the beach add up.

Bled carries a resort premium, especially for lakeside rooms and terrace meals in high summer. Staying in a village guesthouse, at the campsite, or in Radovljica or Bohinj brings costs down, and the trails and viewpoints are free, but the boat, castle and gorge all charge entry.

Pisa has a proper stage and Bled does not. The horseshoe-shaped Teatro Verdi runs opera, ballet, concerts and drama from autumn to spring, and university chamber series and church recitals fill some gaps. Bled has only occasional summer concerts in the castle or churches and folk evenings put on for visitors, so anything more means Ljubljana.

Bled is the more restful place, thanks to its setting and its history as a nineteenth-century cure resort. Warm springs feed the lake's eastern end and supply several hotel spas and pools, and the real treatment is the stillness: early walks by the water and slow boat rides once the summer crowds thin out.

Pisa has the deeper bathing tradition, but it lies outside the city, at the Roman-era springs of San Giuliano Terme and the public pool at Casciana Terme. In town, the calm comes from riverside evenings and long lunches.