Cinque Terre or Swiss Alps?

Cinque Terre has the sea, and that settles it. Monterosso's Fegina beach gives you proper sand and pebble for a full day by the water, and in the other villages you swim off the rocks at Manarola or the harbour at Vernazza between walks.

The Swiss Alps have only lake bathing. The lidos on Lake Thun and Lake Brienz are clean but cool, and Lake Lugano in Ticino is warmer but only for a short summer. In the Alps a swim is a break between hikes, never the purpose of the trip.

Both regions eat well within a narrow range, but from opposite larders. Cinque Terre cooks from the sea and the terraces: trofie with pesto, focaccia, Monterosso anchovies, fried fish in paper cones and the sweet Sciacchetrà wine. Watch out for menus written for day-trippers in the busiest villages.

The Alps are cheese country, with fondue, raclette and rösti served on hut terraces at the top of the lifts, plus the little-exported wines of Valais. Zermatt and St Moritz add expensive fine dining, which the Ligurian coast does not offer.

Neither region has a major museum, and the heritage in each is tied to the landscape. In Cinque Terre the villages themselves are the sight: Vernazza's harbour, Corniglia on its ridge and the UNESCO-listed terraces. They are close together and seen in a day or two.

The Alps spread their interest across a much larger area. There are Carolingian frescoes at Müstair, Sion's twin hilltop castles, sgraffito houses in the Engadine and the open-air museum at Ballenberg. You get more variety, but you travel further between each sight.

Evenings in Cinque Terre mean a sunset drink on a harbour wall and an early night. A few bars in Monterosso and Riomaggiore stay open a little later, and for anything more you go to La Spezia.

The Alps have real nights out, but only in winter, when après-ski fills the terraces in Verbier and the bars at the foot of Zermatt's pistes. In summer the hiking bases go to sleep almost as early as the Ligurian villages.

Cinque Terre is a fine walking coast. The Sentiero Azzurro runs along the cliffs through vineyards, the Sentiero Rosso follows the ridge above, and the marine reserve offers kayaking and diving. It is a small area, though, and the whole coast can be walked in a few days.

The Swiss Alps work on another scale. The Eiger and Jungfrau rise above Lauterbrunnen, the Matterhorn above Zermatt, and the Aletsch glacier and the Swiss National Park are within reach. Lifts take you straight into high country, and the region adds world-class skiing, paragliding and guided glacier tours.

Both make excellent bases for outings, but the outings are of different kinds. From Cinque Terre the coastal railway leads to Tuscan cities, Pisa and Lucca, and to Genoa, Portofino and the castle towns of the Gulf of La Spezia. You get art cities and harbours, all on one line.

From the Alps, how far you can go depends on your base. The Bernese Oberland puts Bern, Thun and Lucerne within easy reach, and the west opens up Gruyères and Chillon on Lake Geneva. The destinations are smaller, but they come with beautiful train rides.

With children, the Alps are much the easier choice. Grindelwald, Wengen and Saas-Fee have ski schools and nursery slopes in winter and adventure playgrounds and toboggan runs in summer, and simply riding the cable cars and lake steamers is an outing in itself. Car-free villages let children walk about freely.

Cinque Terre is built of stairways, so pushchairs are useless and Corniglia is hundreds of steps above its station. It suits older children who like walking. Families with little ones should stay in flat Monterosso, by the beach.

Both are places where a car is a burden. Cinque Terre is simply one coastal train line with short hops between the villages, plus summer ferries. It is easy to use, but the carriages and platforms are crammed in season.

The Alps have a far larger network of trains, postbuses, steamers and lifts on connected timetables, reaching almost every village. The catch is distance: crossing from the Bernese Oberland to the Engadine takes a full day, so pick one or two bases.

In Cinque Terre, what you bring home is mostly edible: pesto, jarred anchovies, lemon liqueur and Sciacchetrà, with some ceramics and linen.

The Alps offer a little more. St Moritz and Gstaad have luxury fashion and jewellery streets, and Zermatt and Interlaken sell watches and serious mountain gear. The best things to take home are still dairy cheese and Brienz woodcarving.

Neither is cheap, but Cinque Terre hurts less. Rooms in the villages are dear for what you get, but focaccia, takeaway fish, simple trattorias and the cheap train keep daily costs down. Staying in La Spezia or Levanto cuts the bill further.

The Alps are expensive across the board: hotels, mountain lunches and especially the lifts and railways. Self-catering and travel passes help, but there is no cheap way to do them.

For live music, the Alps are well ahead, but only in summer. The Verbier Festival and the Menuhin Festival around Gstaad bring top classical performers to ski resorts and village churches.

Cinque Terre has little beyond the odd church concert and the bands at saints' day processions. For a play or an orchestra, both regions send you to a city.

This is where the two differ most. The Alps have a long bathing tradition: Leukerbad's open-air hot pools beneath the cliffs, the stone thermal bath at Vals, Bad Ragaz and Scuol. Add the grand hotel spas and the stillness of car-free villages, and the whole region is made for recovery.

Cinque Terre offers a terrace above the sea and quiet evenings once the day visitors leave, and not much more. Come in spring or autumn if calm is what you want.