Capri or Puglia?

Capri is a place to swim rather than lie on sand. There are pebble coves at Marina Piccola and Marina Grande and rock platforms with ladders into deep, very clear water. The best swimming is off Punta Carena or from a boat under the Faraglioni. Space is tight in summer.

Puglia has far more coast and far more variety. The Ionian Salento has long pale sands and shallow turquoise water, the Adriatic side has rocky coves at Polignano a Mare and sea stacks at Torre dell'Orso, and the Gargano adds cliffs and coves around Vieste. For a beach vacation as such, Puglia is much the better bet.

Capri's own dishes are few: insalata caprese, ravioli capresi, torta caprese and lemons in every form. The best meals are in the family trattorias of Anacapri rather than the restaurants with a view around the Piazzetta. It is enjoyable for a few days, and then there is nothing new to try.

Puglia gives a food lover much more. There is orecchiette with turnip tops, burrata from around Andria, raw sea urchins on the Bari waterfront, Lecce's pasticciotto and the butcher-grill houses of the Valle d'Itria, with Primitivo and Negroamaro to drink. Neither place is about tasting menus, but Puglia's food is broader, more deeply regional and cheaper.

Capri has a few strong sites: the ruins of Tiberius's Villa Jovis high on the eastern headland, Villa San Michele in Anacapri and the Certosa di San Giacomo. Two days is enough to see them.

Puglia's heritage is spread out but much richer: the baroque of Lecce, Alberobello's trulli, the octagonal Castel del Monte and Romanesque cathedrals at Trani, Bari and Otranto. Seeing them means driving between towns, and the museums are modest. Even so, Puglia fills a week or more where Capri fills a weekend.

A night out on Capri means the Piazzetta: dressed-up aperitivo once the last ferry has gone, then piano taverns with Neapolitan song. It is glamorous and expensive, and there are no clubs.

Puglia has more choice and more noise. In July and August Gallipoli's beach clubs run into the small hours, beach bars along the Salento coast hold DJ nights and Lecce's lanes fill with people drinking. Bari's bars stay open all year, while the rest of Puglia goes quiet outside summer, just as Capri does.

Both are good for time outdoors, in very different ways. Capri packs its drama into one limestone block: the Faraglioni, the Arco Naturale, cliffs dropping into the sea, the chairlift up Monte Solaro and the Sentiero dei Fortini. You can cover it all in a few days on foot and by boat.

Puglia is mostly gentle olive country, best seen by bicycle in the Valle d'Itria. Its wilder side is the Gargano, with its beech woods and sea caves, plus the cliff paths around Otranto and Leuca. Capri has more spectacle in a small space, while Puglia has far more ground to cover and diving around the Tremiti islands.

Every day out from Capri starts with a boat: to Sorrento in half an hour, to Naples, the Amalfi Coast or Ischia, or to Pompeii on a long day. Rough seas cancel sailings, and the boats are crowded in summer.

Puglia has more within reach and needs only a car. Choices include the white towns of the Valle d'Itria, the harbour towns north of Bari, Otranto and the Grecia Salentina from Lecce, and the cave dwellings of Matera about an hour from Bari. You also set your own times rather than following a ferry timetable.

Capri is hard going with children. There are no sandy shallows, steps are everywhere, the buses are packed and nothing is built for children. Older children who swim well enjoy the Blue Grotto and the chairlift, but little ones are better off elsewhere.

Puglia is much easier. The shallow Ionian sands of the Salento and the bays of the Gargano suit small children, masserie with pools are common and there is the safari park at Fasano. The catch is the August heat and the need for a car.

Capri is the easier place to get around. Everything is close, a funicular climbs from Marina Grande to the town, and small buses and open-topped taxis cover the rest, so nobody needs a car. The drawbacks are steep walking and long queues in summer.

In Puglia you need a car for almost anything off the main rail line between Foggia and Lecce. The region is so long that seeing both the Gargano and the Salento means two bases. Roads are good and the old town centres are easy to walk, but buses to inland towns are slow and infrequent.

For shopping, Capri is the stronger choice, which is unusual for somewhere so small. Via Camerelle and Via Vittorio Emanuele are lined with luxury boutiques, and handmade sandals and the island's own perfumes give it a character of its own.

Puglia's best buys are crafts and food: ceramics from Grottaglie, papier-mache from Lecce, linen from the Valle d'Itria, olive oil and Primitivo. For fashion there is the grid of streets around Via Sparano in Bari, but nothing to match Capri's luxury lanes.

Capri is one of the most expensive places in Italy, from the rooms to the sunbeds to cocktails on the Piazzetta. Buses, walks and the bakeries of Anacapri are the ways to save. Staying in Sorrento is cheaper, but you lose the island's evenings.

Puglia is far easier on the budget. Food and wine cost less than in most of Italy, and although summer rooms near the best beaches and restored masserie are expensive, June, September and inland bases bring costs down. Remember to budget for car hire.

Capri has almost none. There are a few summer concerts at the Certosa or Villa San Michele and Neapolitan song in the piano taverns, and opera means taking the boat to Naples.

Puglia has a real programme. Bari's Teatro Petruzzelli puts on opera, ballet and concerts, and each summer Martina Franca stages rare operas in the courtyard of its ducal palace. The pizzica of the Salento is heard at village festivals all summer and comes together in August at the Notte della Taranta in Melpignano.

Neither has a real spa culture. On Capri the wellness is in the upmarket hotel spas, and the calm comes early in the morning and in the evening, once the day-trippers have left. For thermal water you take the boat to Ischia.

Puglia is easier to slow down in. Masserie among the olive groves, many with pools and their own spas, keep things quiet all day rather than only in the mornings and evenings. There are also small thermal spas at Santa Cesarea Terme and Torre Canne.