Lake Como or Tuscany?

Tuscany has a real sea coast, which Lake Como cannot offer. On Elba there are sandy bays such as Fetovaia and Biodola in clear water. The Maremma has pine-backed strands and the small bay of Cala Violina, and Versilia has long stretches of sand lined with private beach clubs. The catch is distance: from Florence or the hill towns, the coast is a long drive.

On Lake Como, swimming means lidos, pebble strips and stone jetties at Lenno, Menaggio or the more open upper lake. The water is pleasant in high summer but cold below the surface, and the season is short. Treat a swim there as part of the day, not the reason for the trip.

Lake Como's kitchen is small and local. It centres on perch fried in butter and sage over risotto, salted shad, polenta and Valtellina cheese, best eaten in hill-village trattorias and the old cellar-like crotti rather than on the pricey lakefront terraces.

Tuscany is on a different level for eating. It has Florentine T-bone over coals, lampredotto from street carts and the market halls of San Lorenzo and Sant'Ambrogio. Above all there is the wine, with cellar visits in Chianti, Montalcino and Montepulciano that can fill a whole trip.

This is where the two differ most. Florence alone has Brunelleschi's dome, the Uffizi, Michelangelo's David and the Bargello within walking distance of each other. Siena, Pisa, Lucca, Pienza and Arezzo each add a world-class sight of their own.

Lake Como offers a gentler kind of sightseeing. It has aristocratic villas and terraced gardens such as Villa Carlotta and Villa del Balbianello, most reached by boat, plus Como's marble cathedral and its 1930s rationalist buildings. There are no major museums, and the villages themselves are much of the attraction.

Neither is a party destination, but Tuscany has a real night out when you want one. Students and visitors crowd the steps of Santo Spirito in Florence, and in summer the Versilia beach clubs and dance halls stay open until dawn.

Lake Como offers a terrace drink and little else. Como town has a few wine and cocktail bars, while Bellagio and Varenna empty after the last ferry, so anyone after more heads to Milan.

Both are outstanding, but in different ways. Lake Como's appeal is drama: a deep glacial lake with peaks over 2,000m rising straight from the shore and snow on the northern summits into spring. There is serious walking on the Grigna and the Sentiero del Viandante, and the breva wind draws windsurfers and kitesurfers to the upper lake.

Tuscany's best-known landscape is farmed and gentle. Cypress lanes, vineyards and the Val d'Orcia's rolling fields make ideal country for cycling and walking between towns. Its wilder side is the Apuan Alps, the Casentino forests and the Maremma's coastal park, and Elba adds diving and sailing.

Lake Como has good outings. Milan's Duomo and Last Supper are about an hour away by train, and Bergamo and Lugano are close. A ferry hop between Bellagio, Varenna and Menaggio fills a day without any planning.

Tuscany has far more choice. Siena, Lucca, Pisa, San Gimignano and the Montalcino and Pienza wine loop are all within easy reach, and Bologna, Assisi and the Cinque Terre lie just beyond the border. The main limit is time, not options.

Tuscany is much easier with children. A farmhouse with a pool and animals can be paired with shallow, lifeguarded sandy beaches in Versilia or Maremma. There are also outings made for children, such as the Pinocchio park at Collodi and cycling on Lucca's walls.

Lake Como is safe and calm but harder work. Boat rides, the Brunate funicular and gelato make good days out, but steep stepped villages, narrow roads without pavements and hotels aimed at couples get in the way. The flatter upper lake, with its campsites, is the easiest base for families.

On Lake Como you travel by boat. Ferries cross the central triangle of Bellagio, Varenna and Menaggio in minutes, and a stay there without a car works well. Driving the narrow, tunnelled shore roads in summer is best avoided.

Tuscany is a little easier overall but uneven. Florence is walkable, and the rail line to Pisa, Lucca and Arezzo makes a car-free trip simple. Chianti, the Val d'Orcia and the Maremma, though, really need a hire car, with parking outside the walls of each town.

Lake Como has one real speciality, Como silk. You can buy scarves, ties and fabric in town and at mill outlets, and the Silk Museum tells the story of the trade. Serious fashion shopping means a trip to Milan.

Tuscany gives a shopper far more. Florence has leather workshops around Santa Croce, goldsmiths on the Ponte Vecchio, marbled paper in Oltrarno and the luxury houses of Via de' Tornabuoni. Around the region you will find alabaster in Volterra, ceramics in Montelupo and the big designer outlets in the Arno valley.

Both are expensive in season, but Lake Como more so. The central lake is lined with grand villa hotels, lakefront dining charges for the view, and even modest rooms fill early. Staying in Como town, Lecco or the upper lake campsites keeps costs down.

Tuscany gives you more room to economise. Trattoria meals and wine from the cellar door are reasonable, and Lucca, Arezzo and the Maremma cost less than Florence. Car hire, though, adds a cost that a ferry-based stay on the lake avoids.

Tuscany has the stronger programme, built around opera. Florence has the long-running Maggio Musicale Fiorentino with its own opera house. Puccini's operas are staged outdoors by the lake at Torre del Lago, and Lucca and Siena hold summer concert series.

Lake Como's main venue is Como's Teatro Sociale, a handsome old opera house, along with summer concerts in villa gardens and churches. For a night at La Scala you take the train to Milan.

Tuscany sits on hot springs and has bathed in them for centuries. You can soak in Saturnia's open terraced pools, the steaming medieval bath at Bagno Vignoni or the grand pump rooms of Montecatini, then rest at a farmhouse in the Chianti hills.

Lake Como's calm comes from its pace. Quiet villages after the day-trippers leave and villa hotel spas with pools over the water help, but there are no thermal baths and no public bathing tradition anywhere near the shore.