Lake Garda or Tuscany?

Tuscany has the better coast, and it is a sea coast with sand: Elba's clear bays at Fetovaia and Cavoli, the pine-backed strands of the Maremma, and the long rows of umbrellas on Versilia. The catch is that it lies a long drive from Florence and the hill towns.

Garda's swimming is lake bathing from pebble shores, rock shelves and jetties, with lawns and loungers behind. At Sirmione, Lazise or the Valtenesi bays it sits right beside where you sleep, which counts for a lot, but there is no surf and little sand.

Tuscany eats and drinks considerably better. Its food tradition is one of Italy's best known, from Florentine T-bone and pappardelle with boar to lampredotto at the market stalls of San Lorenzo, and wine country such as Chianti, Montalcino and Montepulciano makes estate lunches and cellar visits a large part of the trip.

Garda has solid lakeside cooking and good wine of its own, with lake fish, Bardolino, Lugana and Amarone close by. The best of it is in the agriturismi above the shore, though, because the busy harbour fronts lean on pizza and tourist menus.

The gap here is very wide. Tuscany is the cradle of the Renaissance, with the Uffizi, the David, Brunelleschi's dome, Siena's cathedral and Pisa's marble square, and towns like Lucca, Arezzo and Cortona that would be highlights anywhere else.

Garda offers a pleasant round of castles at Sirmione, Malcesine and Riva, the Roman Grotte di Catullo and d'Annunzio's strange Vittoriale. That is enough for a few rewarding afternoons, and for anything weightier visitors take the train to Verona.

Neither is a party destination, but Tuscany offers more after dinner. Florence has student crowds on the steps of Santo Spirito and wine bars in Oltrarno, and in summer the Versilia beach clubs and dance halls run until dawn.

At Garda, evenings are an aperitivo and a promenade stroll. Desenzano, with its lakefront bars and nearby clubs on summer weekends, is the only real exception.

For scenery that brings mountains and water together, Garda comes out ahead. The soft south of moraine hills and vineyards narrows into a fjord in the north, where the slopes rise straight out of the lake, so a morning on high ground and an afternoon on the water fit easily into one day. Spring and autumn suit the trails and cliffs, while summer belongs to the lake.

Tuscany's best-known landscape is worked land: the cypress lanes of Chianti, the clay Crete Senesi and the Val d'Orcia, green in spring and gold by early summer, best seen at walking or cycling pace. Its wilder country lies at the edges, in the Apuan Alps above the Carrara quarries, the beech forests of the Casentino and the pine woods of the Maremma, and each of those is a separate trip rather than part of one base.

Both are outstanding bases, and Tuscany has the most of all. Siena, Lucca, Pisa, San Gimignano and the Montalcino and Pienza loop are within easy reach, and Bologna, Umbria and the Cinque Terre lie just beyond the border.

Garda's strength is the railway along its southern shore. From Peschiera or Desenzano, Verona is under an hour away, Venice is a fast train ride, and Vicenza, Padua, Mantua and Bergamo are all easy days out.

Children are better served by the lake, mostly because days stay close to the water and need little driving. Teenagers have the northern shore, where they can bike, climb or take a first windsurfing lesson, while younger ones are happy with a gelato on the harbour front. The drawbacks are pebbles underfoot, so water shoes help, and summer roads that clog between the towns.

Tuscany takes more planning: a farmhouse with a pool and animals, then a few days on the sandy, shallow beaches of Versilia, the Maremma or Elba's sheltered bays, which are kinder to small swimmers than Garda's shingle. Its outings made for children are fewer and spread across the region, such as the Pinocchio park at Collodi, the climb up Pisa's leaning tower and a bike ride along Lucca's walls, so each one is a separate drive rather than part of a cluster on one shore. The hard part is Florence, where the galleries and July heat above 30°C wear young children out quickly.

Tuscany is easier to get around, at least along its main rail line, where Florence, Pisa, Lucca, Arezzo and Viareggio connect well without a car. The hill country, the Maremma and the islands are a different matter and need a car or a ferry.

At Garda only Peschiera and Desenzano have trains. Boats link the towns slowly, and the shore roads are narrow and jammed in summer, so the lake works best if you stay put and travel by water.

Tuscany is far better for shopping, and craft is the reason. Florence has leather workshops around Santa Croce, goldsmiths on the Ponte Vecchio, marbled paper in Oltrarno and the luxury street of Via de' Tornabuoni, while Volterra alabaster and Pietrasanta marble add regional specialities.

Garda's offer is the weekly market and what you can carry home from it: olive oil, Lugana and Bardolino wine, lemon products from Limone and climbing gear in Arco.

Both are pricey in summer, with little to separate them on cost. What differs is where the savings are. At Garda, the many campsites, camping villages and hill agriturismi undercut the lakefront hotels, although theme parks and ferries add up for families.

In Tuscany, central Florence and Forte dei Marmi are the expensive end and car hire is an extra cost. Trattoria meals, cellar-door wine and towns such as Lucca, Arezzo or the Maremma help balance the bill.

Tuscany has a real musical life of its own. There is the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino with its opera house and orchestra, Puccini recitals in Lucca all year with his operas staged outdoors at Torre del Lago in summer, and the Accademia Chigiana's concerts in Siena.

Garda has summer shows at the Vittoriale's amphitheatre and band concerts in the squares. Its best evening of music is borrowed from outside the region: opera in Verona's arena, under an hour from the southern shore.

Both sit on hot springs, but Tuscany has more of them and they are more varied. It has the grand old spa town of Montecatini, the free terraced pools at Saturnia, the steaming medieval square of Bagno Vignoni and the white pools of Bagni San Filippo, and a farmhouse stay in the Val d'Orcia is restful in itself.

Garda's thermal waters are concentrated at Sirmione, with pools looking over the lake, and in the open-air villa park near Lazise. Pair them with a hotel spa on the western Riviera and it makes a good, compact spa trip, best taken outside August.