Corsica or French Alps?

This is Corsica's strongest card, and the gap is wide. The south has Palombaggia, Santa Giulia and Rondinara, the Agriates hide Saleccia and Lotu at the end of a boat ride, and the sea stays warm enough to swim from early summer well into autumn.

The Alps swap sea for lakes. Annecy's clear water, the jetties at Talloires and the pebbly lidos at Évian make a good summer afternoon, but the beaches are small, crowded at weekends and only swimmable for about ten weeks.

Both are mountain kitchens, and neither is far ahead. Corsica's is about cured pork, brocciu, chestnut flour and wild boar, with Patrimonio wine and grilled fish on the coast. Its best meals come from village inns and the markets of Ajaccio and Bastia.

The Alps cook around melted cheese, fondue, raclette and tartiflette, with lake perch and Savoie whites. The difference is at the top: the shores of Lake Annecy, Megève and Courchevel have celebrated restaurants that Corsica cannot match, though the everyday resort menus repeat themselves quickly.

Corsica has a slight edge, mostly because of how its towns sit in the landscape. Bonifacio on its white cliffs, Calvi's citadel, upper Corte and the Genoese towers make a strong road trip, with Napoleon's birthplace, the Palais Fesch and the Filitosa stones as set pieces.

The Alps give a looser mix: Annecy's canals, the ducal château in Chambéry, Grenoble's fine-arts museum and Briançon's Vauban walls. The painted Baroque churches of the high valleys are lovely, but most visitors fit them in between days in the mountains.

The Alps have more to offer, but mainly in winter. Val d'Isère, Val Thorens and Méribel run loud après-ski from late afternoon into the clubs, and in summer Annecy's terraces and student Grenoble keep things going.

Corsica's evenings are dinners and a drink by the harbour. Only Porto-Vecchio's hillside clubs and Calvi's beach bars stay lively, and only in July and August.

Both are outstanding, and the Alps edge ahead on sheer scale. Mont Blanc, the Aiguille du Midi cable car, the Tour du Mont Blanc and the Vanoise and Écrins parks are among the world's great mountain sights, and winter adds huge ski areas, which Corsica lacks.

Corsica's appeal is mountains meeting the sea. The GR20, the Bavella needles and the Restonica lakes sit within reach of the red cliffs of Piana and the sea caves of Scandola, so a single trip can mix hiking with diving and sea kayaking.

The Alps have more within reach. From Annecy or Lake Geneva, Geneva, the Lavaux terraces by ferry, Yvoire and even Lyon all make easy days, and Chamonix sits about an hour from Aosta through the tunnel.

Corsica's outings stay on the island and depend on your base: Sartène from the south, the Balagne villages from Calvi, Cap Corse from Bastia. The crossing from Bonifacio to Sardinia is the one trip abroad.

The Alps make life easier with children. Ski schools with snow gardens, car-free resorts like Avoriaz and Flaine, the rack railway to the Mer de Glace and Annecy's shallow lake beaches give a structure that Corsica does not have.

Corsica works for a simpler beach vacation. The calm bays near Porto-Vecchio and the campsites with pools are good, but there are no attractions built for children, and the winding drives are tiring for young passengers.

Neither is easy without wheels, but the Alps are less of a struggle. Trains reach Annecy, Chambéry, Grenoble, Bourg-Saint-Maurice and the Chamonix valley, and once you are in a ski resort the lifts link whole valleys.

In Corsica a car is all but essential. The little railway between Ajaccio, Corte, Bastia and Calvi is lovely but skips the south, buses are sparse, and the narrow coastal roads crawl in summer.

The Alps offer more, though it is specialised. Chamonix is one of Europe's best places to buy climbing and ski gear, and Courchevel and Megève have luxury boutiques, with Geneva close for anything else.

Corsica's shopping is mostly things to eat and drink, plus craft: charcuterie, chestnut flour, wine and hand-forged knives from the Ajaccio and Bastia markets and the Balagne workshops.

Both are expensive, in different seasons. Corsica's prices peak in July and August, when coastal rooms, resort meals, car hire and the ferry crossing all add up. June, September and inland campsites help. In the Alps the costly part is winter, with lift passes, equipment and school-vacation chalets in Courchevel or Val d'Isère, while summer stays and towns like Grenoble and Chambéry are noticeably cheaper.

Neither is a destination for the stage, but what each has differs. In Corsica it is polyphonic singing in village churches, plus summer jazz in Calvi. In the Alps it is Grenoble's arts centre and chamber orchestra, the Évian chamber music gatherings and mountain festivals in summer. For opera you would need Lyon or Geneva either way.

The Alps have a long spa tradition and Corsica does not. Aix-les-Bains, Évian and the thermal baths at Saint-Gervais can carry a whole stay, and winter resorts add hot tubs facing the snow.

In Corsica, rest comes from siestas, long lunches and quiet mountain villages. Formal options stop at hotel spas and a few modest springs such as Pietrapola.