Cornwall or Yorkshire Dales?

This is Cornwall's clearest advantage. The county has every kind of beach, from the long surf strands of Polzeath and Gwithian to Kynance Cove under its serpentine cliffs and the calm coves of the south coast. The Atlantic is cold, but the sand, the surf and the scenery make a proper seaside vacation.

The Dales are inland, and the nearest real beach is a long drive away. Swimming here means a cold plunge in the Wharfe near Burnsall or under the falls at Keld, and only after a dry spell, since the rivers rise fast after rain.

Cornwall eats better, and the reason is the sea. Crab, lobster and hake come in through Newlyn, Padstow has built a seafood reputation, and there are serious dining rooms in Porthleven and Falmouth as well as the everyday pasty and cream tea.

The Dales offer country cooking: Wensleydale cheese from Hawes with fruit cake, bitter from Masham's old breweries, moorland game and a few ambitious inns in Wharfedale. It is satisfying food but limited in range, and for variety you have to drive to Harrogate or York.

Neither region gathers its heritage in one town, but Cornwall's single sights are bigger. St Michael's Mount on its tidal island, Tintagel, the mining engine houses at Botallack, Tate St Ives with the Hepworth sculpture garden, and the Eden Project's biomes all justify a dedicated visit.

The Dales answer with castles and abbeys on a smaller scale. Skipton Castle is very well preserved, Richmond has its Norman keep and Georgian square, and Bolton Priory and Jervaulx stand in ruins. The Ribblehead Viaduct and the lead-mining remains tell the story of a working landscape rather than an artistic one.

Cornwall has at least one place for a late night: Newquay fills with surfers, students and stag groups in summer, and Falmouth's university keeps its bars busy. Elsewhere the evening means a harbour pub or a sundowner terrace.

In the Dales, a night out is a pint of local bitter by the fire with walkers comparing routes. Skipton is slightly livelier at weekends, but anything resembling a club means driving to Leeds.

Both are excellent outdoors, but the landscapes have little in common. Cornwall is all coast: the South West Coast Path around the granite cliffs of Penwith and the Lizard, Atlantic surf at Bude and Sennen, kayaking on the Fal, and seals, dolphins and basking sharks offshore.

The Dales give the edge to walkers who prefer hills. Malham Cove and its limestone pavement, the Three Peaks above Ribblesdale and the Pennine Way make for longer and higher days on foot. Below ground, Gaping Gill and Ingleton offer caving that Cornwall has nothing to match.

The Dales are much better placed for days out. Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal are about half an hour from the eastern dales, York is roughly an hour, and Durham, Haworth's Brontë parsonage, Saltaire and the Lake District towns are all within reach. The Settle to Carlisle line makes a day out on its own.

From a Cornish base, outings mostly mean another harbour town: St Ives, Mousehole, Fowey or the ferry to St Mawes. They are charming but alike. The Isles of Scilly and Plymouth's Barbican add some variety at either end of the county.

Cornwall is the easier family choice. Lifeguarded beaches, rock pools and bodyboarding fill the days, and the Eden Project, the seal sanctuary at Gweek and Newquay's zoo and aquarium help when it rains. The cold water and the summer traffic are the main drawbacks.

The Dales work well for outdoor families. Children can paddle at Bolton Abbey, walk through the show caves near Ingleton and ride the steam railway near Skipton, and older children can try gorge scrambling. A run of wet days is harder to fill, though, because there are few indoor attractions.

Both regions expect you to drive on narrow, walled or high-hedged lanes, and both jam at their famous spots in summer. The Dales are slightly easier, because distances are short and once you have chosen a village like Grassington, Hawes or Settle, many walks begin at the door.

Cornwall's bigger problem is summer queues on the main roads and scarce parking in St Ives, Padstow and Port Isaac. Its branch lines to St Ives, Falmouth, Newquay and Looe do make a car-free stay in one of those towns workable, which the sparse Dales buses can't offer in the higher valleys.

Cornwall has more worth browsing, mostly art and craft. St Ives packs in galleries, potteries and studios, Chapel Street in Penzance has antiques and makers' shops, and Newquay sells surf gear.

In the Dales, shopping means market days in Skipton, Richmond and Hawes, plus local cheese, wool crafts and outdoor gear. It is pleasant on a wet afternoon, but for anything more you go to Harrogate or York.

The Dales are the cheaper of the two. Their main pleasures, the fells, waterfalls and many of the ruins, cost nothing, and youth hostels, bunkhouses and campsites keep a group's spending well down. Cottages and inns are still priced like the rest of rural England in summer.

Cornwall is expensive in its main season. Coastal cottages book out early and cost a lot, seafood dinners sit at the upper end, and parking and attraction tickets keep adding to the bill. Spring and autumn take some of the pressure off.

A play at the Minack Theatre, on terraces cut into the cliffs above Porthcurno with the open sea as the backdrop, is one of the most memorable evenings either region can offer. Cornwall has more around it too: touring shows at Truro's Hall for Cornwall, a large surf and music festival on the cliffs near Newquay each August, male voice choirs and Padstow's ancient May Day.

Richmond's Georgian Theatre Royal, a tiny playhouse from 1788, is the Dales' answer, and a charming one. Beyond it, little happens outside the Swaledale and Grassington festival weeks, when concerts fill village churches and halls. The rest of the year it comes down to brass bands and folk sessions in pubs and chapels, and serious concerts mean a drive to Harrogate or York.

Cornwall's way to unwind is bracing: a wood-fired sauna on the beach followed by a cold swim in the sea, a habit many locals keep up through winter, or a spa hotel above Watergate Bay, Carbis Bay or St Mawes. It works best in spring and autumn, because the summer crowds and traffic take much of the calm away.

The Dales restore you through quiet instead: stone villages, fires in the pubs and nights dark enough to see the stars. For proper bathing, Harrogate's Victorian Turkish Baths, with their tiled steam rooms and hot rooms, are a short drive from Nidderdale and Wharfedale. Cornwall has nothing like them, and they make a fine end to a walking trip.