Korčula or Puglia?

Korčula's swimming is excellent but mostly rocky. Most of its coast is pebble coves under pine, real sand is limited to Pržina and Bilin Žal near Lumbarda, and the clearest water is at places like Pupnatska Luka or off the flat rocks of Badija. The coves are small and fill early in summer.

Puglia gives you more coast and more kinds of it. In the Salento, long pale Ionian sands with shallow turquoise water run from Porto Cesareo to Pescoluse, while the Adriatic side has limestone coves at Polignano and sea stacks at Torre dell'Orso, and the Gargano adds sea caves. In August you will find paid lidos on the busiest stretches, but there is always more shore to try.

Korčula's food is plain Dalmatian cooking: grilled fish, black risotto and dishes slow-cooked under the peka bell, with much the same menu in every konoba. What stands out is the wine, with Grk from Lumbarda and Pošip from Čara and Smokvica, plus oysters at Ston across the channel.

Puglia is a destination for eating in its own right. You get burrata and stracciatella from the Murge, orecchiette with turnip tops, focaccia and panzerotti, sea urchins on the Bari waterfront and pasticciotto in Lecce. Add the meat grills of the Valle d'Itria, farm cooking at the masserie and good Primitivo and Negroamaro, and you can eat well for a whole trip without repeating yourself.

Korčula's heritage is mostly in one handsome walled town. There is the herringbone street plan, St Mark's Cathedral with its Tintoretto and the house said to be Marco Polo's, and you can see it all in a day or two, with the ancient cave of Vela Spila as a side trip.

Puglia has far more to see, spread across many towns. There is the honey-coloured baroque of Lecce, the conical trulli of Alberobello, Frederick II's octagonal Castel del Monte and a line of Romanesque cathedrals from Trani to Otranto. You will spend time driving between them, but there is enough to fill a week of sightseeing.

Korčula's evenings are a cocktail on the town walls at sunset, a long dinner and an early night, with a few harbour bars open late in high summer. Visitors who want to dance take a boat to another island.

Puglia has a real summer party scene. Gallipoli's beach clubs run into the small hours, there are DJ nights in beach bars along the Salento, and Lecce's squares fill with people drinking outside. Bari keeps bars open all year in its old town and the Umbertino district.

They are broadly level, but the landscapes differ. Korčula is a green island of pine, holm oak and vineyard terraces, best explored by kayak among the islets. Across the channel, Pelješac offers the climb up Sveti Ilija and the dependable windsurfing wind at Viganj, and Mljet's saltwater lakes are a boat ride away.

Puglia is mostly a gentle plateau of olive groves and dry-stone walls, best seen by bicycle. Its wilder country is in the Gargano, with the beech woods of the Foresta Umbra, sea caves and diving around the Tremiti islands. On both, spring and autumn are better than summer for walking.

From Korčula, outings mean ferries: across to Pelješac for the Dingač wineries and Ston's walls, to Mljet for the lake monastery, or by catamaran to Hvar. Dubrovnik and Split are close to three hours each way.

Puglia gives you far more within a short drive. From the Valle d'Itria you can reach Ostuni, Locorotondo, Cisternino, Polignano and Monopoli, and Trani and Molfetta lie along the coast north of Bari. Matera's cave dwellings are about an hour from Bari, and Lecce is close to Otranto and the Greek-speaking villages.

Korčula is safe and easy-going, and the sandy, shallow bays at Lumbarda suit small children. Beyond the beach there is little aimed at children, and the stepped lanes of Korčula Town are hard with a pushchair.

Puglia makes a family beach vacation easier. You get the shallow Ionian sands and gentle Gargano bays, villas and masserie with pools, and a piazza culture where children stay up late. There is a safari and amusement park at Fasano, and children usually love the trulli of Alberobello.

Both are easiest with your own wheels, but the scale is very different. Korčula is one long, narrow island with a single main road and infrequent buses. Taxi boats link the town, Lumbarda and the islets, and arriving or leaving means a ferry.

Puglia is a long region where you spend real time on the road, and covering both the Gargano and the Salento needs two bases. In return, a main-line railway serves Bari, Polignano, Monopoli and Lecce, so a car-free stay is possible along that coast.

Korčula has little shopping beyond souvenir lanes and a few craft studios. The best things to bring home are Grk, Pošip, olive oil and cukarini biscuits.

Puglia has proper craft traditions: the ceramic quarter of Grottaglie, papier-mâché figures from Lecce's studios, and linen and pottery across the Valle d'Itria. For ordinary fashion, Bari's streets around Via Sparano have the Italian chains.

Korčula costs what a popular Dalmatian island costs in summer, especially in and around the old town. Boat trips, car hire and drinks on the walls add up. Private apartments in Lumbarda or Vela Luka and inland konobas keep costs down.

Puglia works out easier on the budget, mainly because eating and drinking are cheap by Italian standards, from trattorias and street snacks to local wine. Rooms near the best Salento beaches and lido loungers are where costs climb. Both are noticeably cheaper in June and September than in high summer.

Korčula's draw is the Moreška, the old sword dance performed in Korčula Town through the summer, along with klapa singing in churches and squares. There is no theatre or opera.

Puglia has formal and folk traditions alike. There is opera and ballet at Bari's Teatro Petruzzelli and a summer opera festival in the ducal palace courtyard at Martina Franca. The Salento's pizzica fills village festivals and comes together each August at the Notte della Taranta in Melpignano.

On Korčula, relaxation mostly means doing very little: vineyard villages, long shaded lunches and quiet evenings, with spa treatments limited to the larger hotels near Korčula Town.

Puglia offers more comfort while you slow down. Restored masserie among the olive groves often have their own pools and spas. There are also small thermal spots: sulphur springs in the sea caves at Santa Cesarea Terme, the spa at Torre Canne and mud treatments by the salt pans of Margherita di Savoia.