Hallstatt or San Marino?

Neither is a beach destination, but San Marino comes closer. In Hallstatt, swimming means a cold, bracing dip in Hallstätter See, from the jetty at the northern end of the village or the lido at Obertraun. The steep shores leave little room for a towel.

From San Marino, the sandy Romagna shore at Rimini and Riccione is about half an hour down the hill. The water there is warm and shallow, and the beaches are lined with umbrellas and beach clubs. You go there for the day rather than staying by the sea, but it is a proper beach day, which Hallstatt cannot offer.

San Marino eats better because it draws on the cooking of the Romagna and Montefeltro hills: hand-rolled tagliatelle, passatelli in broth, piadina, and the republic's own Sangiovese wine. The best meals are in the family trattorias of Borgo Maggiore rather than on the summit terraces.

Hallstatt's choice is narrower. Guesthouses serve Austrian standards, the one real highlight is char and whitefish from the lake, and kitchens close early. Neither place is worth a trip for the food, but San Marino has the countryside just over the border to fall back on.

In both places the town itself is the main sight, and neither needs much more than a day. San Marino has a little more to see: three towers on the Monte Titano ridge, the cliffside path between Guaita and Cesta, and the Palazzo Pubblico and basilica of one of the world's oldest republics.

Hallstatt's history goes back much further but covers less ground. It has seven thousand years of salt mining, the mine itself, the burial finds that gave the Hallstatt culture its name, and the painted skulls of the Beinhaus. It is the more unusual story, but there is less to fill a second day.

Neither has a night out to speak of, and both go quiet once the day visitors leave. The difference is what lies nearby. In Hallstatt an evening means dinner and a walk by the dark lake, with nowhere livelier within easy reach. From San Marino, the late seafront bars and clubs of Rimini and Riccione are a drive down the hill in summer.

This is the widest gap between the two. Hallstatt sits beneath the Dachstein massif, with the Krippenstein cable car, the Five Fingers platform over a sheer drop, the ice cave and the Mammoth Cave, and the walk to Gosausee. There are via ferratas in summer and freeride and ski touring in winter.

San Marino's outdoors is gentler: paths around a limestone ridge of about 740m, woods down to Borgo Maggiore and quiet cycling roads through the Montefeltro hills. It is lovely for a morning walk, but there is no high mountain country to fill a week.

San Marino has the stronger and more varied list of outings: the fortress of San Leo, Renaissance Urbino, Ravenna's Byzantine mosaics, Rimini's Roman arch and bridge, and the beach. Bologna is within range by train from Rimini.

From Hallstatt, the outings are mostly the lake towns of the Salzkammergut, such as Bad Ischl with its Kaiservilla, St Wolfgang and Gmunden, with Salzburg as a long day out. In both places a car makes the difference. Without one, Hallstatt depends on buses and the lakeside railway, and San Marino on its single bus to Rimini.

For families the two are much the same, and both have steep, crowded streets that are hard work with a pushchair. Hallstatt's best moments are underground and up high: the salt mine with its wooden slides and underground lake, and the Krippenstein cable car and ice caves for older children.

San Marino's towers and battlements are a hit on the summit, but most of its family attractions are down on the coast: Italia in Miniatura, Fiabilandia, waterparks and shallow beaches. It suits families with a car who want the sea as part of the trip.

Hallstatt is the easier of the two to manage. The village takes a few minutes to cross and is mostly free of traffic. A boat links it to the railway across the lake, and regional buses reach Obertraun, Gosau and Bad Ischl, though there are fewer outside summer.

San Marino's centre is also walkable, but nearly every street climbs or drops, and its only regular public link is the bus from Rimini. Buses between the republic's villages are infrequent, and you really need a car for the hill towns around it.

San Marino gives a shopper more to do. Lower taxes than in Italy bring Italian buyers in for perfume, watches, leather and spirits, an outlet centre on the valley floor adds fashion brands, and collectors seek out the republic's stamps and coins. Hallstatt has a single lane of souvenir shops, where salt from the local mine is the one buy really worth taking home.

San Marino is noticeably easier on the wallet. Its hotels and the trattorias in the lower villages are priced like provincial central Italy, the sights cost little, and only the summit terraces and the most convenient hotels charge extra for the view.

Hallstatt has few rooms and visitors from all over the world, so rooms, meals and the paid attractions all cost a lot. Budget travellers usually sleep in Obertraun, Bad Goisern or Bad Ischl and come in for the day.

Neither has a programme to plan an evening around, so the difference lies in the occasional event. Hallstatt has its brass band, church concerts and folk music on feast days, and Bad Ischl's summer operetta is half an hour away. San Marino's highlight is the Medieval Days festival each summer, with costumed musicians, crossbow contests and flag-throwers, and for a real season it looks to Bologna or Pesaro.

Hallstatt has the better claim to a restful stay, partly because it sits in a spa region. Bad Ischl's historic brine baths and thermal complex are half an hour away, Bad Aussee and Bad Goisern have their own spa traditions, and early mornings on the misty lake are calm in themselves.

San Marino has no bathing tradition and only a few hotel spas, so the rest it offers is the quiet of the walls in the evening. The thermal spas on the coast and in the Apennines need a separate outing. In both places, crowds fill the streets in the middle of the day.