Cinque Terre or Lake Garda?

Both have a real summer swimming season, but the water is different. Cinque Terre has the open sea, clear and salty, mostly reached from rock shelves and slipways at Vernazza, Manarola and Riomaggiore. Monterosso's Fegina beach is the only proper stretch of sand and pebble.

Garda is freshwater bathing in a lido style: lawns, loungers and jetties along the south and east shores at Sirmione, Lazise, Bardolino and Desenzano. If you want long, lazy days by the water, Garda has much more room. If you want a quick swim in the sea between walks, choose the Ligurian coast.

Cinque Terre's cooking is narrow but very local: trofie with pesto, farinata, Monterosso anchovies and the rare sweet Sciacchetrà. Too many village menus are written for day-trippers.

Garda has more variety and better wine. There is lake fish with risotto, carne salada in the north, its own olive oil, and Bardolino, Chiaretto, Lugana and Amarone all close at hand. On both, the best meals are a little above the coast. At Garda that means the agriturismi in the hills, and there are many more of them.

At Cinque Terre the sight is the whole place: terraced cliffs and colour-washed villages, listed together for the way people shaped them. Beyond the striped parish churches and the Doria tower, there is little to go inside.

Garda has more individual sights to fill its half-days. These include Sirmione's moated Scaliger castle and the Roman villa ruins at its tip, and d'Annunzio's odd Vittoriale estate with its beached warship. Castles stand over Malcesine, Torri del Benaco and Riva.

Neither is a party destination, but Garda at least has somewhere to go. Desenzano draws students and visitors from Brescia and Verona to its lakefront bars and nearby clubs on summer weekends, and Riva and Bardolino have some livelier bars in season.

Cinque Terre's evening is a glass of white wine at sunset and then early quiet. A few bars in Monterosso and Riomaggiore stay open a little later, and for anything more you take the train to La Spezia.

Cinque Terre is about one great walk. The Sentiero Azzurro follows the cliffs between the villages, the Sentiero Rosso runs higher along the ridge, and the sea below is a marine reserve for kayaking and diving.

Garda offers more kinds of outdoor sport. At its northern end the cable car climbs Monte Baldo to about 1,760m for ridge walks and paragliding. Arco's limestone draws climbers, via ferrate and bike trails climb the valleys, and Torbole's reliable afternoon wind makes it a windsurfing and kitesurfing classic.

Cinque Terre has a good choice of outings along its railway. Portovenere and Lerici are on the gulf, Pisa and Lucca are about an hour and a quarter or more away, and Portofino and Genoa are to the north.

Garda's southern shore is on the Milan to Venice line, which puts some of Italy's great cities within reach. Verona is under an hour away and Venice about an hour and a half, with Vicenza, Padua, Bergamo and Mantua also close. That makes Garda's range broader and richer.

This is where the two differ most. Cinque Terre is a vertical place of steps and steep alleys, with crowded trains in summer and nothing built for children. Older children who like walking can enjoy it, and families with toddlers stay in flat Monterosso.

Garda's south-east shore is set up for families. Gardaland and its aquarium, water parks and Parco Natura Viva are all near Peschiera, along with campsites that have pools and children's clubs. The shallow shores and ferry rides make even an ordinary day easy.

Cinque Terre is the easier of the two without a car. The coastal train links all five villages a few minutes apart, ferries call at most harbours in season, and the trails connect the rest. The hard parts are packed summer carriages and the climbs.

At Garda the railway touches only the southern tip. Ferries are pleasant but slow from end to end, and seeing the whole lake usually means driving narrow, tunnelled, congested shore roads and then hunting for parking.

Market day is what sets the two apart. Desenzano, Lazise and Bardolino fill their lakefronts each week with clothes, leather and household stalls, Riva and Arco have shops for outdoor gear, and Garda olive oil, Lugana and Limone's lemon products make good things to take home.

Cinque Terre has no browsing of that kind, only small shops selling produce and souvenirs. The best buys come in jars and bottles: pesto, anchovies, lemon liqueur and Sciacchetrà.

Both are costly in season, and in both the room is the big expense. Cinque Terre is tighter because its villages have so few rooms. Budget travellers often stay in La Spezia or Levanto instead, while cheap focaccia and trains help with the daily costs.

At Garda it is easier to save money by staying a little inland. There are many campsites, agriturismi in the hills and Valtenesi villages, though theme parks and ferries soon add up for a family.

Cinque Terre has almost nothing to attend beyond the odd church concert and saints'-day bands. Plays and orchestras mean a trip to La Spezia or Genoa.

Garda's offer is also seasonal but much fuller. There are concerts in the Vittoriale's open-air amphitheatre and band nights on town squares, and above all there is the opera festival in Verona's Roman arena, an easy evening out from the southern shore.

Garda has a real spa tradition. Sirmione's warm springs rise from the lake bed and feed thermal pools, a villa park near Lazise has open-air thermal bathing, and there are hotel spas along the western shore.

At Cinque Terre, rest comes only from the car-free calm and a terrace above the sea. That calm lasts in spring, in autumn and early in the morning, but not on a crowded summer afternoon.