Tuscany or Umbria?

Tuscany gives you a real choice of coastline. Elba has the clearest water and sandy bays like Fetovaia and Cavoli, the Maremma has wilder pine-backed strands and the cove of Cala Violina, and Versilia offers miles of sand lined with organised beach clubs.

Umbria has no sea at all. Swimming means the small lidos on Lake Trasimeno, where the water is warm and shallow but often cloudy and muddy underfoot, or else the farmhouse pool. The sea is a drive of two hours or more.

Both regions cook hearty country food and grow serious wine, but Tuscany has more of both. Florence adds a city food culture with the San Lorenzo and Sant'Ambrogio market halls, lampredotto carts and Oltrarno trattorias. The wine route runs from Chianti through Montalcino and Montepulciano to Bolgheri, and the coast adds fish stew.

Umbria's table is narrower but very focused: black truffle shaved over strangozzi, the pork butchery of Norcia, Castelluccio lentils and tannic Sagrantino from Montefalco. Seafood is the obvious gap, and Tuscany fills it.

Tuscany has one of the great concentrations of art anywhere. The Uffizi, the Accademia, the Bargello and Brunelleschi's dome all sit in one walkable centre in Florence, and Siena's Campo and Pisa's marble square are close by. The cost is heavy summer crowds in Florence.

Umbria offers first-rate art in smaller settings. Giotto's frescoes in the basilica at Assisi, Orvieto's mosaic-fronted cathedral and Perugia's gallery of Perugino are the peaks. There are few big museums, so the pleasure is in moving from one intact hill town to the next.

Neither region is a party destination, but Tuscany has more going on. Students fill the steps of Santo Spirito in Florence, Oltrarno has plenty of wine bars, and in summer the beach clubs and dance halls of Versilia run until dawn.

Umbria's only lively evenings are in Perugia, where university and language students gather on the main street and cathedral steps. There are no clubs, and the rest of the region goes quiet after dinner.

Tuscany's countryside is the classic farmed one of cypress lanes and gold wheat over the Crete Senesi, ideal for gentle cycling. It also has a wilder side in the marble peaks of the Apuan Alps, the Maremma park and the sailing and diving waters around Elba.

Umbria is greener and more wooded, and its most dramatic scenery is inland. The Monti Sibillini and the flowering plain of Castelluccio lie in the east, there is rafting and canyoning in the Valnerina, and the Marmore Falls make a striking stop. What Umbria lacks is Tuscany's coast.

Tuscany's day trips cover more ground and include bigger names. From Florence, Siena, Lucca, Pisa and San Gimignano are all easy to reach. Bologna is under an hour by fast train, and the Cinque Terre are about an hour from Pisa. From the south of the region you can drive to Assisi and Orvieto, and from the coast the ferry runs to Elba or Giglio.

Umbria's outings are shorter hops. From a base near Perugia or Spoleto you can see a different hill town each day, such as Gubbio, Todi, Spello or Norcia, with little time in the car. Cortona and Montepulciano lie just over the border, and from Orvieto the train reaches Rome in a little over an hour.

Tuscany gives children more variety. You can split the stay between an agriturismo and the shallow, lifeguarded beaches of Versilia or Elba. Add the Pinocchio park at Collodi, a climb up the leaning tower and bike rides along Lucca's walls.

Umbria works for a quiet farmhouse week with a pool, a paddle in Lake Trasimeno, the Marmore Falls and an amusement park near Perugia. After that, the frescoed churches and steep cobbled streets offer young children little, and pushchairs struggle.

Getting around is about as easy in either region, but in different ways. In Tuscany you can travel without a car along the rail line linking Florence, Pisa, Lucca and Viareggio. Chianti, the Val d'Orcia and the Maremma need a car on winding roads, and the islands need ferry planning.

Umbria is easier to drive, with short distances and light traffic. Escalators, lifts and funiculars carry you from car parks up into Perugia, Orvieto and Spoleto. A single rail line covers Perugia, Assisi and Spoleto, but buses to Gubbio or Todi are infrequent.

Tuscany is the stronger shopping destination by a wide margin, and Florence is why. It has leather workshops around Santa Croce, goldsmiths on the Ponte Vecchio, bookbinders in Oltrarno and luxury houses on Via de' Tornabuoni. The Arno valley outlets and the summer boutiques of Forte dei Marmi add more.

Umbria sells crafts and food rather than fashion. You can buy painted majolica in Deruta, cashmere from outlets around Perugia, and hams and truffles in Norcia. There are no luxury streets.

Tuscany is the more expensive of the two in season, and some places cost far more than others. Hotels in central Florence from spring to autumn, villas in Chianti and beach-club umbrellas in Versilia are the big costs, and Forte dei Marmi is one of Italy's most expensive resorts. You can bring the bill down by staying in Lucca, Arezzo, Pistoia, the Maremma or the Garfagnana, and by going in spring or autumn rather than July and August.

Umbria costs less overall, and you can see its expensive spots coming: rooms in Assisi and Orvieto in summer and around religious festivals, and any meal built around truffles. In both regions most visitors need a hire car, and that adds noticeably to the bill.

Tuscany's stage life is mostly opera and lasts through the year. Florence has the Maggio Musicale with its own opera house, Lucca holds Puccini recitals, and his operas are staged by the lake at Torre del Lago in summer.

Umbria's music comes mainly in two major summer festivals. Umbria Jazz fills Perugia's streets in July, and the Festival dei Due Mondi brings opera, dance and theatre to Spoleto. Outside that window there is much less to see.

Tuscany is built on hot springs. You can bathe free in Saturnia's terraced cascades, see the steaming medieval pool at Bagno Vignoni, find the white limestone pools of Bagni San Filippo, or visit the grand pump rooms of Montecatini.

Umbria's calm comes from its slow pace and quiet rather than from bathing. Its spas, such as San Gemini and Nocera Umbra, are small. Its strengths are the silence of Assisi's hermitages on Monte Subasio and country houses offering yoga or massage. Visitors who want warm open-air pools drive over the border to Tuscany.