Brač or Puglia?

Both are serious beach destinations, and the real difference is what lies underfoot. Brač is almost all pebble and rock, from the shifting point of Zlatni Rat at Bol to the shallow town bays of Supetar and Sutivan. Lovrečina is one of its few sandy exceptions, so water shoes are worth packing.

Puglia offers a choice that Brač does not. The Ionian side of the Salento has long pale sands and shallow turquoise water, while Polignano a Mare has rock platforms and the Gargano has white cliffs and coves. The price is paid lidos and the August crowds of Italian families, whereas on Brač the crowds gather mainly at Zlatni Rat.

Brač has honest konoba cooking: octopus under the iron lid, spit-roasted vitalac and Dol's walnut cake, along with fine olive oil and the red wine from Bol. But the range is narrow, the waterfronts of Bol and Supetar cook for visitors, and the better tables are in inland villages.

Puglia is a far stronger place to eat. Everyday food there is worth planning a day around, from orecchiette with turnip tops and fresh burrata to raw sea urchins on the Bari waterfront and pasticciotto in Lecce. The butcher-grills of the Valle d'Itria and the masseria kitchens add a variety that Brač cannot match.

Brač's heritage is small in scale and charming: the Blaca hermitage built into its cliff, Škrip's Illyrian walls and Venetian tower, the stonemasonry school at Pučišća and a Tintoretto in the Dominican monastery at Bol. It gives you a few gentle outings rather than a reason for the trip.

Puglia's sights are of another order. It has Lecce's honey-coloured baroque, the conical trulli of Alberobello, Frederick II's octagonal Castel del Monte and a line of Romanesque cathedrals running from Trani to Otranto, with its mosaic floor. Neither place has big museums, and in Puglia seeing the best of it means driving from town to town.

Evenings on Brač mean a long dinner and a drink on the harbour. In July and August, Bol's beach bars and a few open-air dance venues keep things going, and for the rest of the year the island is quiet.

Puglia has much more on offer. In summer, Gallipoli's beach clubs run into the small hours and Lecce's lanes fill with people drinking, while Bari keeps its old-town bars open all year. Both coasts go quiet out of season, but Bari gives Puglia somewhere to go that Brač lacks.

Brač fits its landscape into a small space. A bare karst plateau rises to Vidova Gora, at 778m the highest point on any Adriatic island, and cliff paths lead to Blaca, while the windsurfing channel lies off Bol. Its terrain is steeper and more concentrated than most of Puglia's.

Puglia is broader and more varied. It has gentle olive country for cycling in the Valle d'Itria, the beech woods of the Foresta Umbra, sea caves and the Tremiti islands in the Gargano, and cliff paths and the Alimini lakes in the Salento. In both places, spring and autumn are the seasons for walking.

From Brač, a day out means a ferry. Split and Diocletian's Palace are under an hour from Supetar, Trogir lies beyond them, and in summer catamarans reach Hvar. Once the season ends the timetable thins and the choice shrinks.

Puglia is made for day trips. From a base in the Valle d'Itria, Ostuni, Locorotondo, Cisternino and Polignano a Mare are short drives away, Trani and other harbour towns line the coast north of Bari, and the cave city of Matera is about an hour off. All of them are reached by road, with no timetable to watch.

Brač works for a calm week at the beach. The north coast towns have shallow, sheltered bays, apartments with kitchens and harbour fronts where children can stay up late. Beyond that there is little made for children, and the water at Zlatni Rat gets deep quickly.

Puglia gives families more. The sandy Ionian shallows suit toddlers, and masserie and villas with pools are an easy way to stay. The safari park and amusement park at Fasano and the trulli of Alberobello break up the beach days. Both have fierce midsummer heat, and in Puglia you need a car.

Both are places to explore by car. On Brač the distances are short, but the road over the plateau to Bol is slow and winding, buses are infrequent, and every trip off the island depends on the ferries, with long queues on summer weekends.

Puglia covers far more ground, with four to five hours between the Gargano and Leuca, but its roads are good. A main-line railway through Bari, Polignano a Mare, Monopoli and Lecce means you can manage without a car along that stretch, which no part of Brač allows.

Shopping on Brač is a short list: stone carvings from the workshops of Pučišća, olive oil, honey, lavender and the harbour souvenir stalls. For anything more, people go to Split.

Puglia goes further. It has the ceramic quarter at Grottaglie, Lecce's papier-mache studios, linen from the Valle d'Itria, and the chain stores and boutiques around Via Sparano in Bari. Even so, neither is a destination for fashion.

Neither is a bargain in high summer. In July and August, Brač costs about what Western Europe does: hotels in Bol, waterfront meals and ferry fares for a car add up. Private rooms in the north coast villages and simple village konobas are the way to save.

Puglia is easier on a budget, mainly because eating out is cheap by Italian standards and the local wine is good value. Its costs are in high-season rooms near the Salento beaches, lido sunbeds and car hire. In both places, June and September cost noticeably less.

Brač has no theatre or concert hall. In summer there are open-air concerts on the squares of Bol and Supetar, and klapa singing on festival nights. For a proper programme you have to cross to Split.

Puglia has real stages. Bari's Teatro Petruzzelli is one of Italy's largest opera houses, and Martina Franca holds a summer opera festival in the courtyard of its ducal palace. There is also pizzica, the trance-like folk dance of the Salento, which comes together each August at the Notte della Taranta in Melpignano.

Neither place has a bathing culture. On Brač the spas are inside the larger hotels at Bol and Supetar, and the island's calm comes from quiet harbours such as Milna and Povlja and from long evenings over the water, best of all in June and September.

Puglia offers a little more on both counts. Its masserie among the olive groves often have pools and their own spas, and there are small thermal sites at the sulphur caves of Santa Cesarea Terme and at Torre Canne. Even so, the countryside matters more there than the treatments.