Dolomites or Sicily?

Sicily is the clear choice for swimming. Its coast keeps changing as you go round the island: the long white sweep of San Vito Lo Capo, the marl cliffs of the Scala dei Turchi, the reserve beaches at Vendicari, and the clear water off Favignana and the Aeolian Islands. You can swim from early summer well into autumn.

The Dolomites' famous high lakes, such as Braies and Carezza, are for looking at, not swimming in. Real bathing means Lake Caldaro on the wine route, the lidos at the north end of Lake Garda, or a village pool. You swim on lawns, not sand.

Both are rewarding, but Sicily has more depth and more variety. You can eat standing at the stalls in Palermo's Ballarò and Capo markets, have granita with brioche for breakfast and pasta alla Norma in Catania, and each corner of the island has its own dishes, from Trapani's fish couscous to Modica chocolate and Etna wines.

The Dolomites offer a tighter mix of Alpine and Italian cooking: speck, canederli, strudel and an Italian espresso to follow. A hut lunch on a sunny terrace is one of the joys of a stay. Alta Badia has unusually serious kitchens for a cluster of villages, and the autumn Törggelen evenings south of Bolzano are worth timing a trip around. Outside the two valley cities, though, nearly every menu is local.

Sicily is far richer here. Greek, Roman, Arab, Norman and baroque Sicily are all on show, in the temples of Agrigento and Segesta, the theatres of Syracuse and Taormina, the gold mosaics of the Palatine Chapel and Monreale, and the honey-stone towns of Noto and Ragusa Ibla. It takes a week and several bases to see the best of it.

In the Dolomites the mountains themselves are the UNESCO heritage. The built sights are pleasant extras for a rainy day: Ötzi the Iceman in Bolzano, the frescoed rooms of Trento's Castello del Buonconsiglio, Bressanone's cloister and the First World War tunnels on the passes.

Neither is a place for serious nightlife, but Sicily has more going on after dark. Catania's historic centre fills with students and locals until late, Palermo drinks in the street around the Vucciria, and in summer open-air clubs open at Mondello and below Taormina.

In the Dolomites the evening is mostly a winter après-ski drink in Selva, Canazei or Cortina, and it ends early. In summer the villages are quiet well before midnight, because everyone is up for the next day's walk.

Both are superb outdoors, in very different ways, but the Dolomites rank among the great mountain landscapes. You can walk the Alpe di Siusi, circle the Tre Cime, follow the Alta Via 1 hut to hut or clip onto a via ferrata, and in winter ski the Sella Ronda. Lifts from almost every village put all of it within easy reach.

Sicily's wild side is volcanic and coastal. You can walk Etna's lava fields with a guide, climb Stromboli at dusk to watch it erupt, follow the Zingaro cliff path and dive around the islands. The catch is the season: Sicily is for spring and autumn, when the interior is green, while the Dolomites are at their best from June to October.

Sicily has the edge, because good outings start from any base. From Syracuse the baroque towns of Modica and Scicli are close, from Taormina you reach the Etna wine villages, from Palermo Cefalù and Erice, and ferries make the Egadi or Aeolian Islands an easy day out.

The Dolomites have strong trips too, but they depend on where you stay. From Bolzano, Merano, Trento and Verona are an easy train ride and Innsbruck is just over the Brenner. From a high valley, every outing starts with a slow pass road.

The Dolomites are the easier family destination, at least in summer. Nearly flat paths across the Alpe di Siusi and the Armentara meadows, lifts in place of climbs, huts with farm animals, summer toboggan runs and hotels built around children make the days simple. Winter brings well-run ski schools.

Sicily welcomes children warmly, and a beach stay on a shallow bay such as San Vito Lo Capo works well. Beyond the beach, though, there is little built for families, and long drives, steep hill towns and summer heat make touring tiring.

The Dolomites are easier without a car. Trains run up the Adige and Puster valleys, buses climb to the resorts on a single regional pass, and once you are in a village the lifts do the rest. Moving between valleys is the slow part, on hairpin pass roads that are busy in high summer.

Sicily nearly always needs a hire car. Coastal trains are sparse and slow, inland roads wind, and driving in Palermo or Catania is chaotic. Island ferries can be cancelled in rough seas. Ortigia, Taormina and Cefalù are lovely on foot once you get there.

Neither is a fashion destination, and both are best for crafts and food, but the crafts differ. In the Dolomites you bring home Val Gardena wood carving, loden from Bolzano's arcades, speck and grappa, and in December the Advent markets of Bolzano, Merano and Bressanone are a reason to go.

Sicily offers Caltagirone majolica, Trapani coral, Palermo puppets and an edible haul of Modica chocolate, Bronte pistachio and Pantelleria capers. For clothes, Via Libertà in Palermo and Via Etnea in Catania give more choice than Cortina's short line of boutiques.

Sicily is much cheaper. Street food and pastry cost little, trattoria lunches are reasonable, and guesthouses and agriturismi in Palermo, Catania and the south east are fairly priced even in summer. Only Taormina, the Aeolians and the August beach resorts push prices up.

The Dolomites are expensive in both ski season and high summer. Cortina and Alta Badia are among the dearest resorts in Italy, and lift passes and guided climbs add to the bill. Staying in Val di Fassa or Bolzano, or going in June or September, softens the cost.

Sicily has much more to see on stage. Palermo's Teatro Massimo, one of Europe's largest opera houses, has a full season. Greek tragedy is played each spring and early summer in the ancient theatre of Syracuse, and Taormina's Greek theatre hosts summer concerts with Etna behind the stage. The opera dei pupi, the island's knightly puppet theatre, is a uniquely local night out.

The Dolomites offer orchestral seasons in Bolzano and Trento and an autumn festival in Merano's old spa halls. Their most memorable shows are summer concerts on alpine meadows and hut terraces.

The Dolomites are the better place to be pampered. South Tyrol's mountain hotels build saunas and heated outdoor pools around views of the rock walls, and the farmers' hay bath is still offered below the Alpe di Siusi. Merano, a spa town since the nineteenth century, has public thermal baths in its centre beside the river promenade, the one real public bathing culture in the region.

Sicily relaxes you through its pace more than its spas. You can try Vulcano's mud, the hot springs at Sciacca or a swim in Pantelleria's crater lake, but the real cure is a long lunch at a countryside agriturismo or a few slow days on Salina.