Cinque Terre or Corsica?

Corsica is far ahead. The far south has some of the best pale-sand bays in the Mediterranean at Palombaggia, Santa Giulia and Rondinara. The Agriates and the long bay at Calvi add more in the north, and the sea stays warm enough to swim into October.

Cinque Terre is better for a swim than for a beach day. Fegina at Monterosso is the only proper stretch of sand, and in summer the umbrellas stand in close rows. Elsewhere you swim off the rocks below Manarola or the harbour at Vernazza, which makes a fine dip between walks but not a lazy day on the sand.

Both cuisines are regional and fairly narrow, but Corsica's has more to it. It is mountain cooking: cured pork such as lonzu and figatellu, brocciu cheese in everything from omelettes to fiadone, chestnut flour and wild boar. Serious wines from Patrimonio and Sartène go with it, and the best food is in inland inns and the markets of Ajaccio and Bastia.

Cinque Terre does a handful of things well: trofie with pesto, focaccia, Monterosso's anchovies and fried fish in a paper cone, with Sciacchetrà to finish. Many village menus are written for day-trippers, so the better meals are in Monterosso or the hilltop settlements.

Cinque Terre's heritage is the terraced coast and its five villages, which take a day or two to see. Striped Gothic churches and the Doria watchtower are modest extras.

Corsica has more to see, but it is spread out. There is Bonifacio's old town on its white cliffs, the citadels of Calvi and Corte, Napoleon's birthplace and the paintings of the Palais Fesch in Ajaccio, and the carved standing stones of Filitosa. It suits a week of sightseeing by car rather than a stroll between neighbouring villages.

Neither place is for nightlife, but Corsica at least has a summer scene. There are open-air clubs in the hills behind Porto-Vecchio, beach bars in Calvi that stay busy late, and bars in Ajaccio and Bastia that stay open all year. In Cinque Terre the evening is a glass of wine at sunset on a harbour wall, with a few later bars in Monterosso and Riomaggiore. For anything more, you take the train to La Spezia.

Both are superb for walking, but on very different scales. In Cinque Terre, the Sentiero Azzurro along the cliffs and the higher Sentiero Rosso on the ridge make a compact network through vineyards and woods. You can walk it in sections and ride the train back, and there is kayaking and diving in the marine reserve.

Corsica goes much further. It has peaks over 2,700m, the GR20 along its spine, the red granite of Piana, the sea cliffs of Scandola and the jagged needles of Bavella. On top of that come canyoning in the rivers and diving around the Lavezzi islands. It will fill a week or more outdoors, not just a few days on coastal paths.

The coastal railway makes Cinque Terre the better base for outings. La Spezia, medieval Sarzana and the marble quarries above Carrara are a short ride away, Pisa and Lucca lie a little over an hour south, and to the north the line runs past Sestri Levante's two bays and Santa Margherita to Genoa. Portovenere's headland church is reached by boat in season, and the castle town of Lerici sits on the same gulf, a bus ride from La Spezia.

Corsica's day trips are mostly to other Corsican places: Sartène, the Balagne villages, Cap Corse and Corte by rail. The one outing off the island is the short ferry from Bonifacio to Sardinia. Slow mountain roads mean each base has only its own handful of trips.

Corsica is much easier with children. One base near a calm southern bay, a campsite or resort with a pool, and short outings to river pools or sea caves make a relaxed vacation. The drawbacks are the long, winding drives and the lack of any zoo, aquarium or theme park.

Cinque Terre means steps, steep alleys, crowded summer trains and narrow paths, so it works best with older children who like walking. With small children, Monterosso is the only comfortable base, with a mostly flat town and a gently shelving beach.

Getting around is far simpler in Cinque Terre. A local train links all five villages with Levanto and La Spezia, only minutes apart, and summer ferries sail between most of the harbours. The village centres are car-free, so a car is only a burden. The effort comes from crammed summer carriages and endless stairways.

Corsica almost requires a car. The roads are narrow and winding and take far longer than the map suggests. The scenic narrow-gauge railway between Ajaccio, Corte, Bastia and Calvi skips the south, and buses between towns are infrequent.

Neither is a shopping destination, but Corsica has a little more choice. There are hand-forged knives, charcuterie and cheese from the Ajaccio and Bastia morning markets, pottery from the Balagne villages and a few summer boutiques in Porto-Vecchio and Calvi. Cinque Terre's best buys are things to eat and drink: pesto, jarred anchovies, lemon liqueur and a bottle of Sciacchetrà.

Both are expensive in the main season, for different reasons. In Cinque Terre it is the scarce, small village rooms and the paid entry to the park paths. Food and the train stay cheap, and many travellers on a budget sleep in La Spezia or Levanto.

In Corsica the bill comes from resort rooms in Porto-Vecchio, Bonifacio and Calvi, plus car hire and the ferry crossing. Campsites, inland villages and a June or September trip bring it down.

Corsica has a living musical tradition worth seeking out: polyphonic singing by unaccompanied male voices, heard in village and town churches. Summer adds jazz in Calvi and guitar evenings among the vineyards around Patrimonio. Cinque Terre has little beyond the odd church concert and the bands at saints' day processions, so a play or an orchestra means going to La Spezia or Genoa.

In Cinque Terre, calm depends on timing. A sea-view terrace in a car-free village is restful in spring or early in the morning, but much less so on a crowded summer afternoon, and beyond a few guesthouse massages there is nothing in the way of treatments.

Corsica is the easier place to slow down. Long lunches, siestas in the heat and mountain villages where little happens after dark set the pace. Hotel spas around Porto-Vecchio, Calvi and Ajaccio and simple thermal springs such as Pietrapola add a little more, though not enough to build a trip around.