Lucca or Munich?

Lucca is the one for sand and sea, though it is inland too. Regional trains reach Viareggio in about 25 minutes, and from there a broad, gently shelving shore runs north to Forte dei Marmi, with rows of umbrellas at the beach clubs or the wilder, pine-backed Lecciona dunes. By high summer the water is warm enough for long, unhurried swims.

Munich's swimming is freshwater: the gravel banks of the Isar at the Flaucher, and the Starnberger See and Ammersee by S-Bahn. The lakes are clear and pleasant on a hot afternoon, but their alpine-fed water stays noticeably cooler than the Versilia sea. They are a break in a city trip, not a reason to make one.

Both cities eat hearty regional food, and the difference lies mostly in what is on the plate. Lucca leans on farro soup, tordelli in ragù, chickpea cecina and chestnut flour, with mild local olive oil and Montecarlo wines, served in family trattorias whose menus start to repeat after a few days.

Munich's cooking is built around beer: roast pork with crackling, white sausage before noon and Obatzda under the chestnut trees, with the Viktualienmarkt for grazing. A tier of starred restaurants and some good Italian, Turkish and Balkan cooking give it a little more variety over a longer stay.

Lucca's appeal is the town as a whole: complete Renaissance walls, the stacked arcades of San Michele in Foro, the oval Piazza dell'Anfiteatro and the tomb of Ilaria del Carretto in the cathedral. Its museums are modest, and two unhurried days cover it.

Munich has far more to fill a week. The Kunstareal alone holds the Alte Pinakothek's old masters, the Blue Rider painters at the Lenbachhaus and classical sculpture at the Glyptothek, before you reach the Residenz, Nymphenburg and the Deutsches Museum. Its old town, though, was largely rebuilt after the war and lacks Lucca's intact medieval fabric.

Lucca is a town for early nights: an aperitivo in Piazza San Michele, a long dinner and a stroll on the walls, with the centre calm by midnight. Anyone who wants to dance has to reach the Versilia coast clubs and get back late by car or taxi.

Munich offers a proper night out, starting in a beer hall and moving on to the cocktail and gay bars of Glockenbach and Gärtnerplatz, student pubs in Schwabing, or techno clubs that keep going until morning at weekends. It stays orderly rather than wild, except during Oktoberfest.

Both have mountains about an hour away, but Munich's reach is greater. Trains run to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, the Zugspitze and Tegernsee for alpine hiking in summer and skiing in winter, and within the city the vast English Garden has surfers riding the Eisbach wave.

Lucca's outdoors is gentler: the 4km tree-lined ring of the walls, cycle paths along the Serchio and olive-covered hills. The Apuan Alps add sharp marble peaks and serious hiking, and Lake Massaciuccoli suits birdwatchers, but for winter sports Munich is the base.

Both make excellent bases, and the difference lies in how the outings are laid out. From Lucca the great names sit close together on one railway line: Pisa's Campo dei Miracoli about half an hour away, Florence a little over an hour, with Pistoia and the old spa town of Montecatini on the same line. The villa gardens of Marlia and Collodi's Villa Garzoni are nearer still, and with an early start the Cinque Terre or San Gimignano fit into a long day.

Munich's excursions fan out much further, from Augsburg's Fuggerei at half an hour to Nuremberg's castle, Regensburg on the Danube, and Salzburg and Innsbruck over the Austrian border. The royal castles are the classic outing, with Neuschwanstein about two hours away and Herrenchiemsee on its island in the Chiemsee, while the painted villages of Oberammergau and Mittenwald make gentler days.

Lucca is calm and easy with children, with the walls to ride by bike or family quadricycle, the Pinocchio Park at Collodi nearby and beaches under half an hour away. Beyond those, its sights are mostly churches and palaces.

Munich has much more made for young visitors: the Hellabrunn zoo along the Isar meadows, the hands-on sections of the Deutsches Museum, the aquarium in the Olympic Park and beer gardens with playgrounds. Pushchair-friendly transport and big green parks make a longer stay with small children easier.

Inside its walls Lucca is a pleasure to cross on foot or by bike, and trains to Pisa, Florence and Viareggio leave from just outside the southern gate. The trouble starts in the countryside, where sparse buses make a car the simpler way to reach villas and hill villages.

Munich pairs a walkable, pedestrianised core with one integrated network of U-Bahn, S-Bahn, trams and buses that reaches the museums, Nymphenburg, the airport and the lakes. Most of its day trips run on regional trains too, so a car is rarely needed at all.

Lucca's shopping is small-town: fashion and jewellery behind old Liberty shopfronts on Via Fillungo, delicatessens for olive oil and buccellato, and a monthly antiques market around the cathedral that is the real draw.

Munich has the depth Lucca lacks, from luxury houses on Maximilianstrasse to department stores along Kaufingerstrasse and independent boutiques in Glockenbach. Tracht tailors offer a purchase you will not find elsewhere, and the Christmas markets add craft stalls in December.

Lucca is the easier of the two on the wallet. Trattoria meals and regional trains are fairly priced, the walls and many churches cost nothing, and staying just outside the walls keeps rooms reasonable, though summer and festival dates fill up.

Munich is Germany's most expensive city, and hotels are where it hurts, especially during Oktoberfest and the trade fairs. Beer-garden picnics, free parks and lakes and token Sunday museum entry help, but the overall bill runs well above Lucca's.

Lucca's music revolves around Puccini: regular recitals of his arias in a central church, a season at the Teatro del Giglio, and open-air opera by the lake at Torre del Lago in summer. Beyond these, the scene is small.

Munich is a major music city. The Bavarian State Opera at the National Theatre, three orchestras of real standing, chamber opera in the rococo Cuvilliés Theatre and German-language drama at the Residenztheater and Kammerspiele give a far wider choice on any given night.

Lucca has no baths of its own, so relaxing there means traffic-free lanes and slow lunches, and a spa day means a train to Montecatini Terme or the warm cave pools of Monsummano.

Munich has a bathing culture inside the city: the Art Nouveau Müller'sches Volksbad, German-style public saunas with infusion rituals, and the huge thermal complex at Erding about forty minutes out. If you want proper spa time on your vacation, it offers more without leaving town.