Lake Garda or Provence?

Provence wins for the beach because it has the Mediterranean. Pampelonne has long fine sand, Porquerolles and the Hyères peninsula have pale, shallow water, and the calanques near Cassis are turquoise inlets you reach on foot or by boat. Bear in mind that a base in the Luberon or Alpilles is a long drive from any of it.

Lake Garda offers calm freshwater bathing from pebble shores, jetties and grassy lidos, best around Sirmione, Lazise and the Valtenesi bays. It works well for lounging and easy swimming, but you won't find a stretch of sand to compare with the Var coast.

Food is a much bigger reason to visit Provence. Weekly markets in Apt, Carpentras and Saint-Rémy shape the day, Marseille has its fish stew and North African bakeries, and winter brings truffles. Country restaurants in the Alpilles range from simple bistros to serious tasting menus.

Garda's real strength is its wine: Lugana, Bardolino, Chiaretto and Amarone from the hills just beyond. The cooking is simpler, with lake fish, risotto and polenta. The harbour fronts lean on pizza and set menus, so the good meals are found by driving up to agriturismi above the shore.

Provence has far more history to see, and it is spread across several towns. You have the Palais des Papes in Avignon, the Roman arena and cloisters of Arles, the theatre at Orange, excavated Vaison-la-Romaine, and Marseille's MuCEM. Plan for more than one base.

Lake Garda's sights fit into half-days. There is Sirmione's moated castle and the Roman villa ruins at the tip of the peninsula, d'Annunzio's strange Vittoriale with its warship in the hillside, and castles at Malcesine and Riva. These make a pleasant addition to a lake stay rather than a reason to come.

Lake Garda's evenings are built around the table rather than the dance floor. Desenzano is the one town with a real going-out crowd, as young people from Brescia and Verona fill its waterfront bars and the big clubs just outside town on summer weekends. Riva and Bardolino keep a modest bar life in the warm months. Once the season is over, there is almost nothing to do on the lake after dinner.

Provence gives a night owl far more choice, and Marseille is the main reason. Around Cours Julien and La Plaine it has a proper city scene of rough-edged bars, cocktail bars, rooftops and clubs that run into the small hours, and unlike Desenzano it does not depend on summer weekends. Saint-Tropez adds a short, glamorous beach-club season. Aix's student squares and Avignon in festival month keep the inland towns up later than anywhere on Garda.

Both are excellent for the outdoors, but the landscape works differently. At Garda it is concentrated in the narrow north, where the lake runs between mountain walls. From one base in Riva, Torbole or Arco you can climb limestone, try a via ferrata, ride mountain-bike trails, windsurf in the reliable afternoon wind or take the cable car up Monte Baldo.

Provence's landscapes are spread out and very varied, so you need to drive between them. There is the deep turquoise canyon of the Verdon, the white cliffs of the calanques, the bare climb of Mont Ventoux, flamingos in the Camargue and lavender on the Valensole plateau. In high summer some areas close on days of high fire risk.

Both are superb bases for day trips, but the trips are of different kinds. From the southern shore of Garda the train reaches famous cities: Verona in well under an hour, then Vicenza, Padua and Venice along the same line, with Mantua and Bergamo also within reach.

Provence's day trips are mostly countryside done by car: the hilltop villages of Gordes and Roussillon, the canals of L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, the wine villages around Châteauneuf, and the Pont du Gard just across the Rhône. On the coast, ferries go to Porquerolles and across the gulf to Saint-Tropez.

Lake Garda is the clear choice for children. The south-east shore has Italy's largest theme park, an aquarium, water parks and a safari zoo close together, along with large campsites full of pools and children's activities. Older children can bike or try windsurfing in the north.

A family trip to Provence usually means a rented house with a pool. The sandy shallows around Hyères suit toddlers, and canoeing on the Sorgue or riding in the Camargue suits older children. Expect July heat, long drives and steep perched villages that are hard with a pushchair.

Getting around is about equally awkward in both, for different reasons. At Garda, the ferries and hydrofoils are a pleasant way to go from town to town, and trains run only from Peschiera and Desenzano. The narrow, tunnelled shore roads clog in summer, so staying in one town and using the boats works best.

In Provence, trains link Marseille, Aix, Avignon and Arles easily, but the abbeys, gorges and perched villages are hard to reach without a car. On the coast in summer, the ferry across the gulf is better than the jammed road into Saint-Tropez.

Provence gives you much more to bring home. L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue is one of France's largest antiques centres, the markets sell printed fabrics and olive-wood bowls, and there is Marseille soap, Moustiers faience and painted santons. Aix has proper fashion shopping, and Saint-Tropez has luxury boutiques in summer.

At Garda, shopping is mainly the weekly lakefront markets plus olive oil, Lugana wine, Limone's lemon products and climbing gear in Arco. For anything more, you go to Verona or Milan.

Both are expensive in summer, and both are cheaper in spring and autumn. At Garda, the costs come from lakefront hotels in Sirmione and Limone, plus theme-park tickets and ferry fares for a family. Campsites, hill agriturismi and Valtenesi villages bring costs down.

Provence's peak prices are higher at the top end, with Luberon villas and the Var coast in July. Marseille, Arles and Avignon cost less, and market food with a set lunch keeps everyday spending down.

Provence has a real summer festival season. The Avignon theatre festival takes over the Palais des Papes courtyard and almost every hall in town in July. Aix stages international opera in the Archbishop's Palace, and Orange puts on opera in its Roman theatre. Marseille keeps a year-round programme with a strong rap and world-music scene.

Garda has summer shows at the Vittoriale amphitheatre and band concerts in the squares. Its best evening out is the opera in Verona's arena, outside the lake area itself.

Garda is the better place for spas. Sirmione's warm sulphur springs rise from the lake bed and feed thermal pools that look out over the water. Near Lazise, open-air thermal pools sit in an old villa park, and there are hotel spas along the western shore at Gardone and Salò.

Provence relaxes you more through its pace than its spas: market mornings, long lunches and a farmhouse pool. Treatments use lavender and olive oil, and there are older spa towns at Aix, Gréoux-les-Bains and Digne. Its coast is far from calm in high summer.