Dolomites or Lake Como?

Neither place has sand, and in the Dolomites swimming takes some effort. The famous high lakes such as Braies and Carezza are for looking at. Real bathing means the lidos and lawns at Lake Caldaro on the wine route, or the drive to Riva on Lake Garda, so a visitor who wants a daily swim has to stay down in the valleys.

On Lake Como the water is right outside the door. There are lidos and stone jetties at Bellagio, Lenno and Menaggio, and longer shores on the upper lake around Gravedona and Domaso. The lake is still pebble and steep, with cold water a metre down, but a swim fits into an ordinary day rather than needing its own outing.

The Dolomites eat better and with more variety. There are South Tyrolean speck and canederli, Ladin dishes in Gardena and Badia, Trentino polenta and trout, and lunch on a hut terrace after a morning on the trail. Alta Badia also has a remarkable number of serious kitchens for such small villages, and the Lagrein and Gewürztraminer slopes south of Bolzano add autumn Törggelen evenings.

Lake Como's table is narrower: perch with risotto, missoltini, Valtellina cheeses and Nebbiolo. The best meals are up in the hill-village trattorias and crotti. Down on the waterfront, the terraces often charge for the view.

On Lake Como, the sights and the lake are one experience. Villa Carlotta, Villa del Balbianello and Villa Melzi, with their gardens, are reached by boat between the old villages of Bellagio, Varenna and Tremezzo. Como adds a marble cathedral, Romanesque churches and Terragni's rationalist buildings from the 1930s.

The Dolomites keep their heritage in the valley towns. Ötzi lies in Bolzano, Trento has the frescoed rooms of the Buonconsiglio, and Bressanone has its cloister near Novacella Abbey. First World War tunnels run along the high passes. All of this makes good bad-weather outings, but few visitors build the trip around it.

Both places go quiet early, and the difference is in the form the evening takes. In the Dolomites it is winter après-ski at the foot of the slopes in Selva, Canazei and Cortina, which is over by early evening, while summer villages are asleep by eleven. Lake Como offers dinner and a drink by the water, with a few cocktail bars in Como town, and for a real night out you take the train to Milan.

The Dolomites are in a class of their own for anyone who wants to be up in the mountains. From most villages a lift carries you straight into the high country, among the pale towers of the Sella and the Sassolungo, along the ridge of Seceda or out onto the Alpe di Siusi, the gentlest high pasture in the Alps. The Tre Cime and the Marmolada glacier crown the range. From June to October the great passes draw road cyclists as well as walkers, and in winter the Dolomiti Superski links a dozen valleys.

Lake Como's beauty is the meeting of mountain and water. Wooded slopes drop straight into a deep glacial lake, and most visitors take it in from the shore and the ferry. The Sentiero del Viandante and the Grigna summits give good walking in spring and autumn, and the afternoon breva wind makes the upper lake around Domaso and Colico a real spot for windsurfing and kitesurfing.

The best Dolomite outings start from Bolzano. Merano, Bressanone, Trento and the wine villages are all within an hour, and Verona and Innsbruck are reachable by train or road. From a high village, though, every outing begins on a slow pass road.

Lake Como has more on its doorstep and easier ways to reach it. Milan, with the Duomo and the Last Supper, is about an hour by train, as is Bergamo's walled upper town, and Lugano is just across the border. On the lake itself, hopping by ferry between Bellagio, Varenna and Menaggio fills a day without any planning.

Children are far better served in the Dolomites in summer. There are nearly flat walks on the Alpe di Siusi and the Armentara meadows, huts with playgrounds and animals, adventure parks and hotels built around family stays. In winter, gentle nursery slopes take over. The weak spot is rainy days, with no zoos or theme parks.

Lake Como welcomes children but does little for them. Boats, the funicular up to Brunate and gelato will fill a day. Bellagio and Varenna are all steps and narrow roads, though, and the flatter upper lake near Domaso and Colico, with its campsites, makes the easier base.

In both places it is easy to get around one area and slow to cover the whole. The Dolomites rely on valley trains, buses over the passes and ski lifts that link entire valleys, but moving between valleys means hairpin roads, so most visitors hire a car. Lake Como runs on its ferries, which cross the central basin in minutes, and on trains up the eastern shore. There a car is more burden than help, with narrow shore roads and scarce parking.

Neither is a shopping destination, and each has its own thing to take home. In the Dolomites it is carved wood from Val Gardena's workshops, speck, mountain cheese and wine, with the Advent markets of Bolzano, Merano and Brunico in December. On Lake Como it is silk, sold in Como town and at mill outlets, and for serious fashion Milan is only a train ride away.

Both are expensive in season, so neither suits a tight budget, but the ways to save differ. In the Dolomites, you can base yourself in Val di Fassa, Val di Fiemme, Bolzano or Trento and come in June or September, though lift passes and guided climbs soon add up. On Lake Como, Como town, Lecco and the campsites of the upper lake cost less than the villa-lined central lake, and ferries and trains are reasonably priced.

In the Dolomites the most memorable music is played outdoors in summer. Trentino's mountain festival puts musicians on alpine meadows and hut terraces, and a jazz festival tours castles, wineries and village squares. Bolzano and Trento keep orchestral seasons through the year, and Merano holds an autumn festival in its old spa halls.

Lake Como's best stage is indoors: Como's Teatro Sociale, an early nineteenth-century opera house with a proper season. In summer, concerts move into villa gardens and lakeside churches, and La Scala in Milan is close enough for an evening out.

The Dolomites have the edge for unwinding. South Tyrol's mountain hotels are built around saunas facing rock walls and heated outdoor pools, the hay bath tradition survives below the Alpe di Siusi, and Merano has public thermal baths in the town centre.

Lake Como's calm comes from its pace, with drifting days of gardens and ferries and quiet villages at night. The villa hotels near Cernobbio and Tremezzo have serious spas, but there are no thermal baths anywhere on the lake.