Hallstatt or Pisa?

Neither is a beach destination, but Pisa comes closer. Its coast at Tirrenia and Calambrone has long sandy beaches backed by pine woods, and the shallow sea is warm enough in midsummer for long, easy paddling. Viareggio is a short train ride away.

Hallstatt offers a cold, clear Alpine lake, with a jetty in the village and a lido at Obertraun. It is good for a bracing swim after a hike rather than an afternoon on the sand, and the steep shores leave little room to lie out.

Pisa eats noticeably better. The trattorias and wine bars around the morning market at Piazza delle Vettovaglie serve Tuscan staples such as ribollita and game. Hot cecina, the chickpea flatbread from wood ovens, is a cheap local habit worth picking up.

In Hallstatt you choose from a handful of guesthouse dining rooms serving schnitzel and dumplings, and kitchens may close early. Lake char or whitefish is the one local dish. For coffee and pastry, the imperial-era cafés of Bad Ischl make a better outing.

Hallstatt's history goes back a long way but is quick to see. Seven thousand years of salt mining, the mine itself, the prehistoric finds that gave the Hallstatt culture its name and the painted skulls of the Beinhaus can all be covered in a day.

Pisa has much more to see. Beyond the marble buildings of the Piazza dei Miracoli are Vasari's palace on Piazza dei Cavalieri, the small Gothic church of Santa Maria della Spina on the Arno and the medieval painting in San Matteo. That is enough for two unhurried days.

Pisa has an evening life and Hallstatt essentially does not. During term, students fill the small squares around the old market late into the night, and Borgo Stretto and the riverbanks fill up for aperitivo, though there are few clubs.

An evening in Hallstatt is dinner, a glass of wine by the water and a walk along the lake in the dark. That quiet is exactly what overnight guests come for.

Here Hallstatt is far ahead. The Dachstein massif rises straight from the lake, with the Five Fingers platform, the karst plateau, the ice caves and the Echerntal waterfalls all close by, and ski touring on the Krippenstein in winter.

Pisa's outdoors is gentler. The San Rossore park on the edge of the city has pine forest, wetland and dunes, the Monte Pisano has paths through olive terraces, and the Apuan Alps lie further out. It is good for cycling and spotting deer, but it is no match for Alpine country.

Both make good bases, but Pisa reaches much further. From its rail hub, Lucca is under half an hour away, Florence about an hour and the Cinque Terre a little more, all without a car. Volterra and San Gimignano are within driving range.

From Hallstatt the outings are to the lake towns: the Kaiservilla in Bad Ischl, the altarpiece at St Wolfgang and the lake castle at Gmunden, with Salzburg as a long day. Buses are limited, so a car makes all of them much easier.

Pisa is a little easier with children. The centre is flat, the lawn around the tower gives them room to run, and the shallow sandy beaches and cycling in the park fill whole days, though younger children cannot climb the tower.

Hallstatt has stronger single attractions: the slides and underground lake in the salt mine, the ice caves and the boats. But the steep, crowded lane is hard going with a pushchair, so families often stay in Obertraun and visit for a few hours.

Both centres are walkable, but Pisa's is flat and well connected. A shuttle train runs from the airport, the station is a main rail hub for western Tuscany and buses run to the beaches, so a car is rarely needed.

Hallstatt is tiny, steep and largely closed to traffic. Getting there is harder: the station is on the far shore and you cross the lake by boat. Bus services are thin outside summer, so many visitors hire a car.

Pisa has ordinary Italian shopping: chains along Corso Italia, smarter clothes, shoe shops and old pastry shops under the arcades of Borgo Stretto, and a monthly antiques market by the river. Hallstatt's lane is mostly souvenir shops, and salt from the local mine is the one thing worth taking home.

Pisa is clearly the cheaper stay. Mid-range rooms, student trattorias and a walkable centre keep daily spending moderate. The main extras are the tower climb and beach loungers in summer.

Hallstatt has few rooms and visitors from all over the world, so prices are well above the Austrian norm, and the salt mine and cable car add up. Many visitors stay in Bad Goisern or Bad Ischl and come in for the day.

Pisa has a real if modest programme. The horseshoe-shaped Teatro Verdi stages opera, ballet and concerts from autumn to spring, and the university runs chamber music series. Hallstatt has its brass band on feast days and the odd church concert, so music lovers staying there go to Salzburg or to Bad Ischl's summer operetta.

Neither town has a bathing culture of its own, so both rely on nearby springs. From Hallstatt it is Bad Ischl's salt-brine baths and thermal complex, with Bad Aussee close by. From Pisa it is the bath palace at San Giuliano Terme, whose waters were used in Roman times, and the public thermal pool at Casciana Terme.

The calm is different too. In Hallstatt it comes on misty mornings and in the empty evenings by the lake. In Pisa it comes from slow lunches and walks along the river, away from the tower.