Ambergris Caye or Holbox?

What separates the two is the sand. Ambergris Caye has the clearer, warmer sea, turquoise and kept calm by the reef. But its shore is a narrow strip with seagrass close in, so most swimming happens off the end of a dock. The quieter beaches north of San Pedro and the still lagoon water at Secret Beach are the exceptions.

Holbox is the better beach island. Its entire north shore is fine pale sand on shallows you can wade far into, with Punta Cocos for sunsets and the sandbar at Punta Mosquito. The water there is a milkier green and cooler in winter, and seaweed can wash up on both islands.

Both islands eat from the sea, and neither is worth the journey for its food alone. Ambergris Caye has the wider range. It runs from San Pedro taco stands and fry jacks at breakfast to candlelit dining rooms in the northern resorts, with Belizean dishes such as stew chicken with rice and beans, and lobster through a long season.

Holbox is smaller and its menus repeat sooner: ceviche, grilled fish and the island's own lobster pizza around the square, cheap tacos at night and smoothie-bowl cafés for the backpackers. There is no deeper Yucatecan cooking to explore.

Neither island is a place for sightseeing. Ambergris Caye at least has a little history, with the low Maya mounds at Marco Gonzalez and Bacalar Chico and a church beside San Pedro's small park. On Holbox the nearest thing to a sight is the street murals on its painted wooden houses. For real Maya temples, both send you to the mainland.

San Pedro offers a proper small-town night out. Bars on the sand and over the water fill at sunset, a few dance spots run past midnight, and weekly rituals at the beach bars become part of a stay. It is busiest at weekends and in the winter season.

Holbox is quieter by nature. A sunset drink, a reggae bar with a sand floor and perhaps a hostel bar or beach party are the extent of it. Most of the village is asleep well before midnight.

Both islands are about wildlife in the water, but of different kinds. Ambergris Caye has the Belize Barrier Reef a few hundred metres offshore, with turtles and eagle rays at Hol Chan and nurse sharks at Shark Ray Alley. Divers can go out to Turneffe and the Great Blue Hole, and anglers fish the lagoon flats for bonefish and tarpon. That reef is there all year, and it gives Ambergris Caye the edge.

Holbox's highlights are more seasonal but no less memorable. From roughly June to September you can swim beside whale sharks, there are flamingos on the southern lagoon, and the shallows glow with plankton on dark nights. Both islands are flat, with kitesurfing on the steady winds and no real hiking.

Ambergris Caye has a handful of good outings. Sleepy Caye Caulker is under an hour away by water taxi, and organised trips cross to the Maya sites of Altun Ha or Lamanai, the second reached by boat up the New River through jungle.

Holbox has almost nothing in this line. Its boats go to sandbars and bird islands, and Valladolid, Ek Balam and Chichen Itza are too far for a comfortable day once the ferry is counted. Plan those as a separate stop on the trip.

Both suit families who want warm, calm water and an easy pace rather than organised entertainment, and neither has anything built for children. Holbox's sandy shallows are kinder to toddlers, and its car-free village feels safe, though pushchairs struggle in the sand and the journey in takes much of a day.

Ambergris Caye works better with older children who can snorkel with turtles and rays at Hol Chan, and English is spoken everywhere. Resort pools in the north make up for the swimming off docks.

Holbox is the simpler island once you arrive. The village is small and walkable, cars are not allowed, the beach runs along its edge and golf-cart taxis go to the far points. The sand streets do turn to mud after rain. Reaching it takes a couple of hours by road from Cancun and then a ferry.

Ambergris Caye is more spread out. San Pedro is walkable, but the resorts north of the river bridge line one long road, so most visitors rent a golf cart or use water taxis, and there is no bus. You arrive by a short flight or a boat ride of about an hour and a half from Belize City.

Neither island is worth a shopping trip, but San Pedro's Front Street gives you a bit more to browse. You will find Belizean coffee and chocolate, hot sauces, rum, carved hardwood bowls and a few galleries of local painting. Holbox stops at hammocks, jewellery and beachwear from the stalls around its square.

Both islands cost more than the mainland around them, since nearly everything comes in by boat. Ambergris Caye is the steeper of the two. Food and drink are priced at North American levels, beachfront rooms are expensive in winter, and cart hire and dive trips add up quickly, though guesthouses and taco stands in San Pedro help.

Holbox is easier on a backpacker budget, with hostels, taco stands and everything reachable on foot. The whale shark swim is a big expense. Bring cash from the mainland, as many places take nothing else and cash machines are few.

Neither island has a stage to speak of, so this should not decide the trip. Ambergris Caye adds a little colour with Garifuna drumming, punta dancing and the street music of its summer lobster festival. On Holbox it is a guitarist or a small band in a beach bar or on the square some evenings.

Holbox is the more restful island. With no cars and no high-rise buildings, the place itself slows you down. Yoga classes, beach massages and small spas in boutique hotels add to that, especially on the calm stretches west of the village.

On Ambergris Caye, how calm your stay is depends on where you sleep. The resorts well north of the river bridge are the quietest base, with open-air treatment rooms, yoga decks facing the reef and nights where little stirs but the wind in the palms. San Pedro, with its golf carts, is the busier end. Neither island has a bathing tradition of its own, so on both it is the pace, not a spa culture, that does the work.