Anguilla or Culebra?

Both islands are first and foremost beach destinations, and their sand and water are equally good: white, calm and warm. The difference is in what surrounds them. Anguilla has more than thirty beaches, and its west-end bays, among them Meads, Rendezvous and Maundays, are backed by resorts and villas, with food and drinks close at hand. Shoal Bay East adds snorkelling just offshore.

Culebra centres on Flamenco, one sweeping horseshoe bay with the painted tanks at one end, while its smaller beaches near Dewey have reef and seagrass right off the sand. Facilities are sparse, so you bring your own shade and water. On both islands, winter swells can make the north-facing beaches rough.

Anguilla gives you far more to look forward to at dinner. The west-end beaches and Sandy Ground have a string of accomplished beachfront restaurants, crayfish and snapper are on most menus, and the roadside lolos grill ribs and chicken on weekend afternoons.

Culebra's eating is a handful of casual places and food trucks in Dewey, good for mofongo or grilled fish, and the menus shrink when ferry supplies run low. Many visitors cook for themselves. Neither island has markets or a deep food culture, but only Anguilla makes a meal the high point of the day.

Neither island is a place for sightseeing, and a morning covers the essentials of either. Anguilla's history is in Wallblake House, the Heritage Collection Museum and the Amerindian carvings in Fountain Cavern. Culebra's is told in a small museum in an old navy powder magazine, focused on the island's settlement and its decades as a naval firing range, and you can see it in the tanks on Flamenco and the ruined lighthouse on Culebrita.

Anguilla at least has a night out to offer. Sandy Ground's beach bars stay open late at weekends with dancing on the sand, and Sunday sessions at beach bars around the island run on into the evening. On Culebra, a sunset drink at one of Dewey's open-air bars, sometimes with a band at weekends, is about as late as it gets. Neither island has clubs.

Culebra is the better island if you want to be in the water rather than beside it. Much of it lies within a national wildlife refuge, the Luis Pena reserve has some of the healthiest reefs around Puerto Rico, and you will often see green turtles and rays when snorkelling from Tamarindo or Carlos Rosario. Seabird colonies on the cays and turtles nesting in spring and summer add to it.

Anguilla has decent snorkelling at Little Bay and the cays, plus diving on wrecks, but its real outdoor draw is the wind: sailing, kitesurfing and its own wooden racing sloops. On land both islands are low, dry and scrubby, with cliff walks on Anguilla and short hikes up Monte Resaca on Culebra.

Anguilla has a real neighbour on its doorstep. Saint Martin is about twenty minutes away by ferry, with Marigot and the restaurants of Grand Case on the French side and duty-free Philipsburg on the Dutch side, and St Barths can be reached by chartered boat.

From Culebra the outings are to Culebrita and the empty cays, which are lovely but more beach days than visits to somewhere new. Vieques and the main island need a flight or a long crossing, so most people stay put.

For children, both islands offer much the same: calm, shallow water, a safe and quiet island and nothing built for them on land. Anguilla's gently shelving bays at Rendezvous, Meads and Shoal Bay West, along with its family-minded resorts, make it the easier choice with toddlers. Culebra suits school-age children who can snorkel, since turtles appear in waist-deep water at Tamarindo, but the ferry or small plane and the limited medical care count against very young ones.

Anguilla is the simpler island to reach and to get around, though both need some planning. You fly into Sint Maarten and take a short ferry across. From there, a hire car puts any beach on the 26km island within a short drive on quiet roads.

Culebra's ferry from Ceiba takes an hour or more, often fills up at weekends and does not always run on time. The alternative is a small plane. Once you are there, Dewey is walkable and shared vans run to Flamenco, but the steep roads to the other beaches call for a golf cart or jeep, and the cays need a water taxi.

Shopping is no reason to choose either island. Anguilla has a few galleries of local painters and sculptors, resort boutiques, and sea salt, hot sauce and rum to take home, and duty-free Saint Martin is a short ferry ride away. Culebra has a handful of souvenir and beachwear shops and some artists' jewellery in Dewey, so buy what you need before the crossing.

Culebra is much easier on the wallet, though it is not cheap. Its guesthouses, small inns and rentals with kitchens let you cook for yourself, and the beaches, the snorkelling and the ferry cost little, even if a golf cart adds to the daily bill.

Anguilla is expensive on almost every count. Most places to stay are high-end resorts and villas, and meals, drinks, taxis and groceries all carry the cost of an island that imports nearly everything. The lolos and the few simple guesthouses help only a little.

Anguilla has a real live music calendar for an island its size: reggae, soca and string bands at weekend beach bars, the long-standing reggae festival in March, and calypso and soca during the August Summer Festival. Culebra has a band in Dewey on some weekends and music for its patron saint festival once a year. Neither has a theatre or concert hall.

Both islands restore you mainly through their slow pace, but only Anguilla adds proper spas. Its luxury resorts have extensive treatment rooms open to the sea breeze, so a massage or a full spa day fits easily around the beach. Culebra has no big resorts, just a few independent massage therapists and yoga at some guesthouses, and its rest comes from empty afternoons and early nights.