Algarve or Tenerife?

The Algarve has the better beaches, and they come in several kinds. In the centre, small coves such as Marinha and Dona Ana lie under sea stacks and ochre cliffs. East of Faro, the islands of Culatra and Tavira have long natural strands with calmer water. Out west, the coast belongs to surfers.

Tenerife's swimming is mostly in sheltered man-made bays with imported pale sand along Costa Adeje and Los Cristianos, plus black-sand coves and rock pools in the north. Its advantage is the calendar, as you can swim there in winter when the Algarve sea is too cold.

The food is about as good in both, and it rewards leaving the resort strips in both. The Algarve's strength is seafood: clams in a copper cataplana, charcoal-grilled sardines and goose barnacles, best eaten in Olhão or Tavira.

Tenerife eats more from the land, with wrinkled potatoes and mojo, goat cheese and rabbit. It also makes its own volcanic wines, poured with home cooking in the farmhouse guachinches of the northern hills.

Tenerife has somewhat more to see. La Laguna's UNESCO-listed colonial grid, the balconied streets of La Orotava and the Guanche mummies in Santa Cruz together fill a few good days. The Algarve has attractive small towns, such as Moorish Silves, walled Faro and Tavira with its church spires, but they are best visited on days off the beach. Neither destination is worth the trip for its sights alone.

Both have the same kind of nightlife, but the timing differs. In the Algarve, late nights are a summer thing: Albufeira's Strip, the backpacker bars of Lagos and Vilamoura's dressier marina all quieten after September.

Playa de las Américas keeps its clubs open all year. On Tenerife, the student bars of La Laguna and local nights out in Santa Cruz add a Spanish side, and the Carnival makes late winter the island's peak.

Tenerife's landscape is on a different scale. A 3,715m volcano rises above lava fields and pine forest, the misty laurel woods of Anaga contrast with the arid south, and the skies above the clouds are good for stargazing. Add whale watching, diving and kitesurfing at El Médano, and there is something to do outdoors in every season.

The Algarve's nature lies along the coast. There is the Seven Hanging Valleys trail, kayaking into the Benagil caves, flamingos on the Ria Formosa and the wild Costa Vicentina, but it is gentler and less varied than Tenerife's.

Both offer a handful of good outings and run short after that. From the eastern Algarve you can drive across the border to Seville or up to walled Mértola, or take a boat to the car-free fishing islands.

From Tenerife, the outings go by sea. You can take a ferry to quiet, terraced La Gomera or a longer crossing to Las Palmas, or spend a day in the green north of the island itself.

Both work well for children, and the main difference is the season. The Algarve suits a summer week, with water parks inland from Albufeira, Zoomarine and shallow lagoon beaches, though the midday heat in July and August is hard on small children.

Tenerife suits a winter week, with calm breakwater bays, mild weather and a large zoo and marine park. A base in the south avoids the steep, winding north.

In both places you will want a hire car to see much. The Algarve is the simpler drive, with one motorway along a flat coast that gets you from Lagos to Tavira in about an hour, while its trains and buses serve visitors poorly.

Tenerife has better public transport, with a tram between Santa Cruz and La Laguna and buses up to Teide. Driving there is harder, though, because the volcanic relief makes the mountain roads slow and winding.

Tenerife is a little better for shopping, mainly because of Santa Cruz. The capital has pedestrian streets of Spanish chains and a department store, and the island's low tax keeps perfume and electronics cheap. The Algarve is more about produce and crafts, such as cork, cataplanas, Porches ceramics and sea salt from Loulé's market hall. It has malls, but no real shopping city.

Tenerife is slightly easier on a budget. The islands' low tax makes drinks, petrol and everyday goods cheap, and self-catering apartments in Los Cristianos or Puerto de la Cruz keep accommodation down even in winter. In the Algarve, eating out is good value, but villas and beach hotels get expensive in July and August. Staying in Tavira or Olhão, or travelling in June or late September, helps.

Tenerife is far better for evening performances, as long as you are willing to make the trip into Santa Cruz. The Auditorio is home to a symphony orchestra and a short opera season, and the old theatres in the capital and La Laguna put on plays and concerts.

The Algarve offers little beyond modest municipal theatres in Faro and Loulé, a few summer festivals and fado staged for tourists in restaurants.

For relaxation the two are much alike, and in both the spas are mostly in big resort hotels. What sets the Algarve apart is Caldas de Monchique, a wooded spa village with springs used since Roman times. Tenerife has thalassotherapy pools in Costa Adeje and an even climate that stays restful all year. In both places, the quiet is found away from the resorts, in Tavira or the west coast of the Algarve, and in Garachico or Anaga on Tenerife.