Hallstatt or Padua?

Neither is a swimming destination, and the water is very different. Hallstatt has a cold, clear Alpine lake right at hand, with a jetty in the village and a lido at Obertraun. It is good for a bracing dip after a hike, in a short summer season.

Padua has no water of its own, but the Adriatic sand at Sottomarina or the Venice Lido is about an hour away. The sea there is warmer, shallow and calm for children, though the beaches are flat and lined with umbrellas.

Padua is by far the better place to eat. It has twin markets under the Palazzo della Ragione, Venetian dishes such as bigoli with duck sauce and baccalà, Euganean wines and the evening spritz, which together give you a real food culture to explore over several days.

Hallstatt's guesthouse dining rooms serve schnitzel and goulash. Smoked or pan-fried char from the lake is the one local speciality, and kitchens close early. For anything more, go to the patisseries in Bad Ischl.

Padua has far more to see: Giotto's Scrovegni Chapel, the UNESCO-listed fresco cycles, Donatello's work at the Basilica of Saint Anthony, the anatomical theatre at Palazzo Bo and the Orto Botanico of 1545. Together they fill two or three full days.

In Hallstatt the main sight is the village itself, along with seven thousand years of salt mining, told in the mine, the small museum and the painted skulls of the Beinhaus. It is memorable and unlike anywhere else, but you can see it in a day.

Padua has a real evening life, if a gentle one. The aperitivo crowd fills Piazza delle Erbe and Piazza dei Signori, and in term time students keep the wine bars around the old ghetto busy. It is not a city for clubbing.

Hallstatt has nothing after dark beyond dinner and a walk by the lake, which is exactly what people who stay the night come for.

Nature is Hallstatt's strength. The Dachstein rises straight above the lake, with the Five Fingers platform, the Giant Ice Cave, the waterfalls of the Echerntal and the classic walk to the Gosausee, and there is ski touring in winter. You hardly need to travel for any of it.

Padua's outdoors is gentler and further away. The volcanic Euganean Hills, about 15km out, have vineyards and good cycling, there are level towpaths along the Brenta, and the lagoon suits birdwatching. Proper mountain walking means about an hour and a half's drive to Monte Grappa or Asiago.

Padua is one of the best bases in Italy for outings. Venice is under half an hour by train and Vicenza is closer still. Verona, Treviso, Bologna and Ferrara are all easy without a car, and the Brenta villas and Arquà Petrarca are nearer to hand.

The Salzkammergut trips from Hallstatt are lovely, from Bad Ischl's Kaiservilla to St Wolfgang and Gmunden, and Salzburg makes a long day. By bus and the lakeside railway they are slow, so many visitors rely on a car.

Both work with children without being built for them, in different ways. Hallstatt has the stronger single outings, with the miners' slides in the salt mine, the ice caves and boats on the lake, but its lane is steep, crowded and hard with a pushchair.

Padua is flat, largely pedestrianised and relaxed about children in restaurants, and Prato della Valle is a good place for them to run. Its frescoes hold little for them, though, so families rely on trips to Gardaland or the Adriatic.

Padua is easier, both in town and beyond it. The centre is flat and arcaded and you can walk it all, a tram runs from the station, and the main railway lines make Venice, Verona and Bologna simple trips without a car.

You can cross Hallstatt on foot in minutes, but the lanes are steep and stepped. The station is across the lake, reached by a short boat crossing, and buses are limited, so many visitors hire a car.

Neither is a shopping destination, but Padua gives you more to browse. There are fashion and shoe shops under the arcades, university bookshops, delicatessens for cheese and Euganean wine, and a monthly antiques market in Prato della Valle. Hallstatt's lane of souvenir shops is worth half an hour for salt from the mine and carved wood.

Padua is clearly the cheaper place to stay. Hotels are moderately priced for the region, market food and a standing spritz cost little, and you can walk everywhere in the centre. That is why many people sleep here and visit Venice by day.

Hallstatt has few rooms and visitors from all over the world, so rooms and meals cost what they do in an Alpine resort, and the mine and the cable car add up. Staying in Obertraun or Bad Ischl lowers the cost.

Padua has a modest but steady programme. The Teatro Verdi puts on theatre and some opera, there are chamber concerts in the Sala dei Giganti and the Basilica, and students keep live music going. The Fenice in Venice and the Verona Arena are also within reach.

Hallstatt has only its brass band and the odd church concert. For more, you go to Bad Ischl's summer operetta or to Salzburg.

Padua has the real spa draw. Abano Terme and Montegrotto Terme, about 12km away, form a large thermal district with hot mineral pools and mud treatments. Many spa hotels take day visitors, so a soak after a morning's sightseeing is easy.

Hallstatt's calm is of a different kind: misty mornings and empty evenings by the lake, though the crowds in the middle of the day break it. For brine baths you go to Bad Ischl or Bad Aussee.