French Alps or Lake Como?

Swimming is about equal in the two places, and neither has the sea. Lake Annecy is the French Alps' best swimming lake, with grassy public beaches and wooden jetties at Sévrier, Talloires and Menthon-Saint-Bernard. There are also other lakes to choose from: the quieter Lac du Bourget, little Lac d'Aiguebelette, which is often the warmest, and the pebbly lidos on Lake Geneva.

On Lake Como you swim from lidos, pebble strips and stone jetties at Bellagio, Lenno and Menaggio, often between ferry rides. The water drops off steeply, so it suits confident swimmers more than toddlers. If you want longer, more open shore, go to the upper lake around Gravedona and Domaso.

The French Alps have the stronger food scene. Savoyard cooking centres on fondue, raclette and tartiflette, with Reblochon and Beaufort that you can buy straight from farms in the Aravis valleys. At the top end, the kitchens on Lake Annecy's shore, in Megève and in Courchevel are among the most decorated in France. Annecy's old-town markets are a pleasure to graze through.

Both regions serve lake perch. Lake Como fries it in butter and sage and serves it on risotto, and the best places to try it are hill-village trattorias and rustic crotti dug into the rock. The waterfront terraces lean towards generic food for day-trippers, and the range is narrower than in the Alps.

Lake Como is the stronger choice for sightseeing. Its lakeside villas and gardens, Villa Carlotta, Balbianello and Melzi among them, form a set of sights you reach by boat and can build several days around. Como town adds a marble cathedral, Romanesque churches and Terragni's 1930s rationalist buildings.

The French Alps have more scattered sights: Annecy's canals and island prison, the dukes' château in Chambéry, Briançon's Vauban walls and Baroque churches up the Tarentaise valleys. Grenoble's fine-arts museum is the one serious collection in either region. Still, most of these make half days between mountain outings rather than a reason to go.

The French Alps are far livelier at night, at least from December to April. People dance on tables at the mountain restaurants, then move on to bars and late clubs in Val Thorens, Val d'Isère and Méribel. In summer the action moves to Annecy's lakeside terraces and Grenoble's student bars.

Lake Como offers dinner by the water and a drink afterwards, with a few wine and cocktail bars in Como town. Bellagio and Varenna empty once the last ferry leaves, so a real night out means taking the train to Milan.

Both are mountain landscapes, but the French Alps are on another scale. You can ride the cable car from Chamonix to glaciers below Mont Blanc and walk the Tour du Mont Blanc. You can look for ibex in the Vanoise and Écrins, ski the huge linked areas of the Tarentaise, or cycle over the Galibier.

Lake Como is a landscape you mostly take in from the water and the terraces: wooded slopes rising straight out of a deep lake to peaks above 2,000m. There is good walking on the Sentiero del Viandante and the Grigna, and the afternoon breva wind makes Domaso and Colico a real windsurfing spot. There is no high mountaineering and no ski area to match the Alps.

Lake Como is slightly better for day trips, and it hardly matters where you stay. Milan is an hour by train from Como or Varenna, and Bergamo's upper town and Swiss Lugano are just as close. On the lake itself, a ferry hop between the central villages fills a day with no planning.

In the French Alps it depends on your base. Annecy and the Lake Geneva shore are well placed for Geneva, a ferry to Lausanne, Yvoire and Lyon. Chamonix is about an hour through the tunnel from Aosta in Italy. From the deep Tarentaise valleys, though, much of the day goes on the road.

The French Alps are much easier with children. Ski schools have snow gardens for the youngest, and in car-free resorts such as La Plagne and Les Arcs families can walk to the slopes. In summer there is the rack railway to the Mer de Glace, plus lift-served walks and Annecy's gentle lake beaches. Long transfer days and the cold do tire small children, though.

Lake Como is safe and welcoming, but there is little made for children beyond boat rides, the Brunate funicular and gelato. Steep stepped lanes in Bellagio and Varenna and shore roads without pavements make pushchairs hard work. The flatter upper lake, with its campsites, is the easiest family base.

Both are about equally awkward to get around, but in different ways. In the French Alps the lifts make moving around a ski resort simple. Getting there is the hard part, with Saturday queues up the Tarentaise valley and snow chains on the approach roads. In summer a car is close to essential for reaching lakes, passes and trailheads in separate valleys.

On Lake Como it is the other way round. Ferries link the central villages in minutes and trains run up the eastern shore from Milan, so you are better off without a car. The narrow shore roads, summer traffic and scarce parking make driving the worst way to travel.

The French Alps have a little more to shop for. Chamonix is one of Europe's best places to buy climbing and ski gear, Courchevel and Megève have luxury boutiques, and you can take home Beaufort, Génépi and Opinel knives from the Maurienne.

On Lake Como, silk is the thing to buy, as scarves and fabrics from Como's mills and factory outlets. Bellagio's lanes add leather and pricey boutiques. For wider choice, both regions send you over a border or to a big city: Geneva for the Alps and Milan for Como.

Both are expensive, but the cheaper times fall in different seasons. In the French Alps winter costs the most, with lift passes, equipment hire, ski school and school-vacation chalets. Summer and low-season ski weeks are noticeably cheaper, and Grenoble and Chambéry have ordinary French prices, though Annecy in high summer does not.

On Lake Como summer is the expensive season, with villa hotels around Bellagio and Tremezzo and lakefront restaurants that charge for the view. Spring and autumn cost less, and so do bases in Como town, Lecco or the campsites of the upper lake. The ferries and trains are a fair price.

Neither region is a reason to travel for the stage, and both send serious opera-goers to a nearby city. In the French Alps the year-round programme is in Grenoble, with its large arts centre and chamber orchestra. In summer there are chamber music gatherings at Évian and concerts in mountain churches.

Lake Como has its own historic opera house, the Teatro Sociale in Como town, with a real season, and summer concerts move into villas and gardens around the lake. For more, you go to La Scala in Milan.

The French Alps have a real spa tradition, and Lake Como does not. The Savoie has taken the waters since Roman times, in Belle Époque Aix-les-Bains, in Évian, and in the gorge baths of Saint-Gervais below Mont Blanc. Quieter cure towns like Brides-les-Bains make the treatment the whole point of the stay.

Lake Como has no thermal baths at all. Its rest comes from the slow pace of terraces, gardens and ferries, and from spas in the grand villa hotels near Cernobbio and Tremezzo, some with pools floating on the lake. The smaller villages away from Bellagio are the calmest places to stay.