Ischia or Umbria?

This is a contest between an island and a region with no coast at all. Ischia has dark volcanic sand at Maronti, sunset swims at Citara, calm shallow water at San Montano and small coves reached by water taxi, with a warm sea from June into October.

Umbria's swimming is at the lido beaches on Lake Trasimeno, which are warm and shallow but cloudy and soft underfoot, or in cold river pools and a farmhouse pool. The nearest sea beach is a drive of two hours or more.

Both cuisines are built from a few local products, but Umbria's are the stronger ones. Ischia has its rabbit braised in terracotta, grilled fish in the harbours of Sant'Angelo and Forio, and Biancolella white wine from the slopes of Epomeo. Many visitors eat half-board in their hotel, though, and the good tables have to be found.

Umbria eats better and more widely. It has black truffle on strangozzi, the pork butchery of Norcia, porchetta vans at the markets, Castelluccio lentils and Trevi oil, and estates to visit for Sagrantino and Orvieto. Ischia is the place for seafood, which Umbria barely has.

The gap here is wide. Ischia has the Aragonese Castle on its rock off Ischia Ponte and the Pithekoussai finds at Lacco Ameno, including Nestor's Cup, and after that mostly attractive villages and the Mortella gardens. Anyone who wants more heritage takes the ferry to Naples.

Umbria has art of the first rank in several towns. There is the Basilica of St Francis in Assisi with its frescoes by Giotto and Cimabue, Signorelli's Last Judgement in Orvieto, the Perugino and Piero della Francesca paintings in Perugia, and Gubbio, Spoleto, Spello and Montefalco after that. The region could fill a week of sightseeing several times over.

Neither is a place to go out, and in both an evening means a long dinner and a stroll. On Ischia, the late evenings are along the waterfront at Ischia Porto, with cocktail terraces and a couple of summer discos in July and August. In Umbria, Perugia's student population keeps the cathedral steps and a few wine bars busy, and this lasts beyond the summer. On Ischia the late nights are for resort guests in summer, while Perugia's are student nights through the academic year.

Ischia's landscape is one volcano. You can walk through chestnut woods and vineyards up Monte Epomeo, see steam vents on the south coast and snorkel or dive in the marine reserve, but a week covers it.

Umbria has more variety and more space. It has the Monti Sibillini above 2,000m, the Castelluccio plain in flower, rafting and canyoning in the Valnerina, the Marmore Falls, hiking on Subasio and Cucco, and a cycle path on the old Spoleto to Norcia railway. Anyone coming for the outdoors on land will find more to do here, though Ischia has the sea.

Ischia's outings all begin at the ferry quay, and what lies across the water is good: Procida's pastel harbour and Terra Murata, Naples with its archaeological museum, the Phlegraean Fields by way of Pozzuoli, and Capri or Sorrento in summer. Each one means a crossing there and back, though, and Pompeii by boat and local train takes up a long day.

Umbria offers more outings, and closer ones. From a base near Perugia or Spoleto, Gubbio, Todi, Spello, Bevagna, Norcia and the Montefalco wineries are short drives apart, so a new town fits easily into a morning. Cortona, Montepulciano and Siena lie over the Tuscan border, and Rome is a little over an hour by train from Orvieto.

Neither has much built for children, and both suit a slow trip, but Ischia is the easier of the two. The calm water at San Montano and Maronti and the thermal parks with pools at different temperatures make beach and pool days, and boat trips help keep older children busy.

In Umbria, a family stays at a farmhouse with a pool and animals, swims at Lake Trasimeno and makes outings to the Marmore Falls or the amusement park near Perugia. Days spent on frescoes and steep cobbled lanes are hard work with a pushchair.

The two islands of transport ask for opposite approaches. Ischia works best without a car of your own. You settle in one village, explore it on foot and use the island's bus loop, the little open microtaxis and the boats for everything else, and in Sant'Angelo there is no traffic at all. The drawback is summer, when buses on the coast road crawl and fill up, and every arrival and departure means a crossing from Naples or Pozzuoli.

Umbria works the other way round, and with a car it is the easier of the two. Drives between towns are short and the roads quiet, and the hill towns keep cars below their walls, with escalators and funiculars up into Perugia, Orvieto and Spoleto. Without a car, the railway through Perugia, Assisi and Spoleto helps, but buses to Gubbio or Todi are sparse and the farmhouse countryside is hard to reach at all.

Neither is a shopping destination, but Umbria has more worth bringing home. Ischia has one evening strip between Ischia Porto and Ischia Ponte, selling linen, sandals and jewellery, along with ceramics, limoncello and cosmetics made with its thermal waters.

Umbria's shopping is craft and food. There is majolica from Deruta's workshops, hand-loomed linen in Montefalco and Bevagna, cashmere outlets near Perugia, Norcia's hams and truffles, and wine bought direct at the estates.

Both are ordinary Italian destinations rather than luxury ones, and Umbria is a little cheaper. On Ischia, half-board spa hotels and fair ferry and bus fares keep costs moderate, but sunbeds, thermal park entry and boat trips add up in summer.

In Umbria, farmhouse stays cost less than across the border in Tuscany, village set lunches and local wine are cheap, and most churches are free. The extra cost is the hire car.

Umbria has two festivals people travel for, and Ischia has none on that scale. Umbria Jazz fills Perugia in July, with free bands in the squares, and the Festival dei Due Mondi brings opera, dance and theatre to Spoleto's Roman theatre in early summer.

Ischia offers chamber music at the Mortella gardens, summer screenings and concerts at the Aragonese Castle, and band music on village saint's days. For opera, you cross to Naples.

Ischia is about thermal bathing in a way Umbria is not. Hotels pipe hot spring water into their pools, the terraced parks at Citara, Lacco Ameno and Casamicciola step down to the sea, and at Sorgeto you can sit in hot water in the rock pools by the shore. There are steam caves at Cavascura and mud treatments.

Umbria's restorative side is quiet rather than water. It means slow country days, yoga or massage at a farmhouse and silence in Assisi's hermitages, with only small historic spas at San Gemini and Nocera Umbra.