Anguilla or Guadeloupe?

Anguilla has the better beaches, and they are the whole point of the island: fine white sand and calm, clear water at Shoal Bay East, Meads Bay, Rendezvous Bay and Maundays Bay, which stay uncrowded because there is no cruise traffic or high-rise strip. Boat trips to Sandy Island and Prickly Pear Cays add sandbar days.

Guadeloupe's beaches are good but more varied in character. The reef-sheltered lagoons of Grande-Terre's south coast are the classic white-sand ones, Basse-Terre has wilder golden and darker strands such as Grande Anse, and Les Saintes and Marie-Galante have lovely bays. Sargassum on some shores and rough Atlantic water in the north and east mean choosing your coast with more care.

Neither island has a deep food scene, so the difference is in kind. Anguilla's evenings revolve around polished beachfront restaurants at Sandy Ground and the west end, with crayfish and snapper, plus weekend ribs at the roadside lolos. It is dinner as an occasion rather than food to explore.

Guadeloupe eats more like a place with its own kitchen. There are accras, colombo curries from its Indian heritage and bokit from roadside vans. The covered markets of Pointe-à-Pitre sell spices and vanilla, and agricultural rum distilleries on Basse-Terre and Marie-Galante open for tastings, with French bakeries filling the gaps.

Guadeloupe has much more to see. The Mémorial ACTe in Pointe-à-Pitre is a serious museum of slavery and Caribbean history, and around the island are forts, Hindu temples, Amerindian rock carvings at Trois-Rivières and the sugar windmills of Marie-Galante. It is still a supporting layer to a beach trip rather than the main reason to go.

On Anguilla, sightseeing barely fills a morning or two: Wallblake House in The Valley, the Heritage Collection Museum and the carvings in Fountain Cavern.

Night on Anguilla usually means a long dinner and an early bed. The late exceptions are a handful of beach bars at Sandy Ground, with dancing on the sand at weekends, and the Sunday afternoon sessions that drift into the evening. There are no clubs at all, and the island only really stays up for the March reggae festival and carnival in early August.

Guadeloupe gives you more choice after dark, though it is hardly a party island. Le Gosier has bars, a casino and a few clubs playing zouk and dancehall late at weekends, and the waterfronts of Sainte-Anne and Saint-François stay busy until around midnight. Carnival, from January to Ash Wednesday, fills Pointe-à-Pitre and Basse-Terre with Sunday parades, but with nearly everything a drive away, a night out takes some planning.

This is where the two islands differ most. Guadeloupe's Basse-Terre is volcanic and covered in rainforest, with the steaming summit of La Soufrière at 1,467m, waterfalls, forest roads under giant trees, mangroves to kayak in the Grand Cul-de-Sac Marin and turtles in the Cousteau Reserve.

Anguilla is low, dry and covered in scrub, so its outdoor life is on the water: snorkelling at Little Bay, reef and wreck diving around the cays, sailing and kitesurfing in the trade winds. On land there is little beyond cliff walks and birdwatching at the salt ponds.

From Anguilla there is really one outing: the twenty-minute ferry to Saint Martin, for the harbour at Marigot and the restaurants of Grand Case on the French side and Philipsburg on the Dutch side. A chartered boat to Gustavia on St Barths is possible, but cost and sea conditions make it an occasional treat.

Guadeloupe has a whole set of islands within reach. Ferries go to Terre-de-Haut in Les Saintes, with its painted fishing village below a fort, to the windmills and rum distilleries of Marie-Galante, which is better given a night, and to quiet La Désirade. A longer crossing reaches Dominica for a full day, and Deshaies, Sainte-Anne and Basse-Terre town each fill an afternoon on the main island.

Guadeloupe gives children more to do. Alongside knee-deep lagoons at places such as Sainte-Anne, there is an aquarium at Le Gosier, a zoo in Parc des Mamelles, the botanical garden at Deshaies and gentle walks to waterfalls, backed by French healthcare.

Anguilla is calm and safe, with gently shelving beaches such as Rendezvous Bay that suit toddlers well. Beyond the sand and boat trips to the cays, though, there is almost nothing aimed at children, so older ones tend to get restless after a few days.

On both islands you will want a hire car, but the scale differs. Anguilla is only about 26km long, so every beach is a short, easy drive away. The awkward part is getting there at all, by flying into Sint Maarten and taking the ferry across.

Guadeloupe is much bigger, with up to a couple of hours' driving and slow traffic around Pointe-à-Pitre and the bridges between the two wings. Many visitors base themselves on one side. In return, its ferries to the outer islands are simple, and there a scooter or bicycle is all you need.

Anguilla is not a place to shop. Beyond a few galleries of local painting and sculpture in The Valley, resort boutiques and souvenirs such as sea salt, hot sauce and rum, there is little to browse, and anyone keen to spend heads across the water to Saint Martin.

In Guadeloupe the covered spice market in Pointe-à-Pitre is a colourful stop for vanilla, punches and madras cloth, and the distilleries sell rum to take home. French chain stores and a few malls on the edge of town cover everyday needs. That is more than Anguilla offers, but still nothing to build a trip around.

Guadeloupe is clearly the cheaper of the two, although French prices on imported goods mean it is not cheap. Its villas, apartments and small guesthouses suit groups who share a kitchen, and roadside bokit and market food are good value.

Anguilla is expensive at every level, from its resorts and villas to restaurant meals, taxis and groceries. Budget options are few, and winter is the dearest season on both islands.

Guadeloupe has a real living music culture. Gwoka drumming, recognised by UNESCO, is heard at léwòz evenings, zouk plays everywhere, and carnival brings weeks of drums and conch shells, with L'Artchipel in Basse-Terre town staging theatre and dance.

Anguilla's music is mostly reggae, soca and string bands at beach bars, along with the March reggae festival and the August Summer Festival. It has no stage of any kind.

Guadeloupe has the edge because of its volcanic hot springs. You can bathe at the Bains Jaunes in the forest below La Soufrière, in the shoreline pools near Bouillante and at the small thermal spa at Ravine Chaude, then slow right down in Deshaies or Les Saintes.

Anguilla has no bathing tradition. It offers the polished spas of its luxury resorts and a deep, quiet calm, which suits travellers who want pampering and early nights rather than something to discover.