Cinque Terre or Tuscany?

The seas warm up equally in summer, but the shores differ. Cinque Terre is mostly cliff. Monterosso's Fegina is its only proper beach, and elsewhere you swim off the rocks and slipways at Vernazza or Manarola, which is lovely between walks but no good for a day on the sand.

Tuscany has a real choice of coast: Elba's clear sandy bays and coves, the pine-backed strands of the Maremma and Cala Violina, and the long sands of Versilia lined with beach clubs. The catch is distance. From Florence or the hill towns the sea is a long drive, so a beach vacation means basing yourself on the coast.

Cinque Terre eats well but narrowly: trofie with pesto, focaccia and farinata, Monterosso's anchovies and fried fish in paper cones. In the busiest villages many menus are aimed at day-trippers. The sweet Sciacchetrà is the rare bottle worth seeking out.

Tuscany can carry a whole food trip by itself. There is Florentine steak, ribollita and lampredotto from street carts, the market halls of San Lorenzo and Sant'Ambrogio, and a wine route through Chianti, Montalcino and Montepulciano with estate lunches on the way. Add pecorino in Pienza and white truffles at San Miniato in autumn.

This is where the two are furthest apart. In Cinque Terre the sight is the place itself: terraced cliffs and colour-washed villages, with striped parish churches, a watchtower and a small castle, but no museums of any size.

Tuscany is where the Renaissance began. Florence alone has the Uffizi, the Accademia and Brunelleschi's dome in a centre you can walk, and then come Siena's Campo, Pisa's cathedral square, San Gimignano's towers, Lucca's walls and Piero della Francesca's frescoes in Arezzo. A week only scratches the surface.

Neither is a party destination, but Tuscany at least has a night out. In Cinque Terre the evening means a sunset drink on a harbour wall and a few later bars in Monterosso and Riomaggiore, and the villages are asleep before midnight. Florence has student crowds on the steps of Santo Spirito and wine bars in Oltrarno, and in summer the beach clubs and dance halls of Versilia keep going until dawn.

Both are excellent outdoors, in different ways. Cinque Terre is one compact walking coast: the cliff path between the villages, the higher ridge route through pine and chestnut, and a marine reserve for kayaking and diving, all reachable without a car.

Tuscany spreads its outdoors across a whole region. There is gentle cycling and walking through Chianti and the Val d'Orcia, steep ridge hikes in the Apuan Alps, beech forest in the Casentino and wild cattle in the Maremma park. You get more variety, but you travel further between places.

Cinque Terre has good outings by rail and boat: Portovenere and Lerici across the gulf, medieval Sarzana and the Carrara quarries, with Pisa, Lucca and Genoa all within reach by train.

Tuscany goes further, because nearly every day trip is to a major town. From Florence you can reach Siena, San Gimignano, Volterra and Lucca, the wine country makes a loop through Montalcino and Pienza, and Bologna and Umbria's Assisi and Orvieto lie just over the border. Cinque Terre itself is an easy day out from Pisa.

Cinque Terre is hard going with small children. The villages are made of steps, Corniglia sits high above its station, the summer trains are packed and nothing is designed for children. It works for older children who like walking, and families with toddlers stay in Monterosso, which is mostly flat and has a beach.

Tuscany is far easier. Agriturismi have pools and animals, the beaches of Versilia and the Maremma are shallow and lifeguarded, and there is Pinocchio's park at Collodi and cycling on Lucca's walls. Just keep visits to the Florence galleries short.

Cinque Terre is the easier of the two without a car. A local train links all five villages a few minutes apart, ferries call at most harbours in season, and the trails connect the villages on foot. A car is more hindrance than help here. The effort comes from the crowded platforms in summer and the steep stairways.

Tuscany only works car-free along the rail line from Florence to Pisa, Lucca, Arezzo and Viareggio. Chianti, the Val d'Orcia and the Maremma need a car, old town centres are closed to visitors' traffic, and the islands mean planning ferries in advance.

In Cinque Terre the shopping is mostly edible: pesto, jarred anchovies, lemon liqueur and terrace wine, plus some ceramics and linen.

Tuscany is a proper shopping destination. Florence has leather around Santa Croce, goldsmiths on the Ponte Vecchio, marbled paper in Oltrarno and luxury houses on Via de' Tornabuoni. Other towns have their own crafts, such as alabaster in Volterra and ceramics in Montelupo, and there are large designer outlets in the Arno valley.

Both are expensive in season, and in both the room is the main cost. Cinque Terre's village rooms are few and in high demand, and access to the park paths is paid. Focaccia, fried fish and the cheap train keep daily spending modest, and many people stay in La Spezia or Levanto instead.

Tuscany is a little kinder to a budget because it has cheaper corners. Lucca, Arezzo, Pistoia, the Maremma and the Garfagnana cost noticeably less than Florence and Siena. Car hire is the extra cost to plan for.

Cinque Terre has almost nothing to offer here: the odd church concert in summer and bands for the saints' feast days.

Tuscany has opera and chamber music of real standing. Florence has the Maggio Musicale with its own opera house, and the Teatro della Pergola for drama. Puccini's music is played year-round in Lucca and staged outdoors each summer at Torre del Lago, and Siena's Accademia Chigiana holds concerts in palaces.

Cinque Terre has no spas. Its restfulness comes from car-free villages and a terrace over the sea, which works in spring or early in the morning but not on a crowded summer afternoon.

Tuscany is built on hot springs: the pump rooms of Montecatini, the free terraced pools at Saturnia, the medieval bath at Bagno Vignoni and the white limestone pools of Bagni San Filippo. A farmhouse stay in the Val d'Orcia adds the slow days in between.