Bali or Maui?

Maui has the easier beaches. On the west coast, Napili and Kapalua are sheltered bays where you can swim straight out over the reef. On the drier south coast, Wailea's crescents lead down to the wide sweep of Big Beach. The one thing to plan around is the winter swell on the north shore.

Bali's beaches each do a different job. Kuta, Seminyak and Canggu are for surfing and sunsets, but you swim between the flags there. Sanur and Nusa Dua have calm lagoons, and the Bukit has its cliff coves, reached by steps. The sea is a couple of degrees warmer than Maui's.

Bali has a cuisine of its own, and Maui has a pleasant local food scene. Because Bali is Hindu, pork is central to its cooking: suckling pig, slow-cooked duck in banana leaf and lemongrass satay, eaten at warungs and morning markets. On top of that come Canggu's coffee roasters and the ambitious tasting menus of Ubud and Seminyak.

Maui's best eating is unpretentious: fresh poke, kalua pork plate lunches and saimin in Kahului, Wailuku and Kihei, plus farm stands upcountry around Kula. The oceanfront resort restaurants are expensive and uneven, and few people plan a trip around eating there.

Here the two islands are far apart. In Bali, religion is part of everyday life, with offerings on the pavements, sea temples at Tanah Lot and Uluwatu, Besakih on the slopes of Mount Agung and the UNESCO-listed subak rice terraces of Jatiluwih. Ubud adds a palace, painting museums and rock-cut shrines, and village processions can appear at any time.

Maui's history comes down to a missionary house museum in Wailuku, the sugar museum at Puunene and the great stone platform of Piilanihale Heiau near Hana. Much of its meaning lies in sacred places like Haleakala rather than in buildings, and it fills a day or two at most.

Bali has a real night out, though only in the southwest. You can spend the afternoon at a pool club in Seminyak, Canggu or on the Uluwatu cliffs and stay as the DJs take over. Canggu has bar-hopping along the rice-field lanes, Seminyak has cocktail lounges, and the clubs of Kuta keep going until the early hours.

On Maui, evenings mostly end with a sunset drink and dinner, because the next day often starts before dawn. A few casual bars in Kihei and Paia are the liveliest it gets, and there are no clubs.

Both islands are volcanic and both have sunrise climbs, but Maui's landscape has the wider range. It rises from the reef to Haleakala's red and grey cinder crater, which you can hike into on the Sliding Sands trail. The road to Hana runs through rainforest to the Kipahulu pools, humpback whales gather offshore from roughly December to April, and Molokini's sunken crater has very clear water for snorkelling.

Bali answers with the pre-dawn walk up Mount Batur, the crater lakes and waterfalls of Munduk, and rice terraces for walking and cycling. Its sea is famous too, with world-class surf breaks on the Bukit, the Tulamben wreck and manta rays off Nusa Penida.

Neither island has much in the way of day trips, but Bali has more places worth visiting. Among the old Bali Aga villages, Tenganan keeps its double-ikat weaving and Penglipuran its single street of matching gateways. Sidemen and Amed make slow days out in the east, and Nusa Lembongan is a short boat ride from Sanur.

Maui's one real separate destination is Lanai, across the channel by ferry. Otherwise, the island's outings are drives through its scenery that stop in Paia, cowboy-town Makawao or Hana along the way.

For families the two come out about even, but the trips feel different. Bali has more to do: a water park, a safari park, Ubud's Monkey Forest and villas with private pools, and children are made very welcome. On the other hand, you need to watch for stomach upsets and animal bites, and there are few pavements for pushchairs.

Maui is the more straightforward choice. Calm beaches have turtles to snorkel with, the Wailea and Kaanapali resorts have kids' programmes, and the Maui Ocean Center and a whale-watching boat are easy highlights. There are no theme parks, and the cold at the Haleakala summit catches small children out.

Maui is the easier island to get around. With a hire car on good roads, both the west and south coasts are about an hour from the airport at Kahului. Only the famous drives are slow: the hairpins and one-lane bridges on the road to Hana, and the long climb up Haleakala.

Bali has no public transport a visitor can really use, and the roads linking the airport, Kuta, Canggu and Uluwatu are clogged for much of the day. Most people hire a driver by the day or use ride-hailing apps, and scooters are only for experienced riders.

Bali is much the better island for shopping, and the best things to buy are crafts. On the road to Ubud, Celuk makes silver jewellery, Mas carves wood and Batubulan carves stone. Look out for ikat weaving from the east, and for linen, ceramics and furniture from designer-run boutiques in Seminyak and Canggu.

Maui's shopping is a pleasant extra. There are resort arcades in Wailea and Kaanapali, surf boutiques in Paia and galleries in Makawao. Good things to take home are aloha shirts, koa wood, and coffee or lavender from the upcountry farms.

This is where the two islands differ most. In Bali, a villa with its own pool, a warung lunch, a massage and a driver for the day all cost little, and prices drop further inland and on the east and north coasts. Only the beach clubs, brunch cafés and clifftop resorts in the southwest charge close to Western prices.

Maui is among the most expensive vacations in the United States. Groceries and restaurants cost well above mainland levels because nearly everything arrives by ship, a hire car is hard to avoid, and boat trips and luaus quickly add up. Self-catering eases the bill, but only a little.

Bali's dance and gamelan traditions are still very much alive, and easy to see. Ubud's palace courtyards stage Legong, Barong and shadow puppetry almost every night, the Kecak is chanted at sunset on the Uluwatu cliffs, and the Bali Arts Festival fills weeks of the dry season in Denpasar.

On Maui, Hawaiian music is the thing to look for: slack-key guitar and ukulele in hotel lounges. Touring shows and local theatre play at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center and the old Iao Theater in Wailuku. Most visitors only see hula at a luau dinner show.

Bali is one of the world's great places to slow down. Ubud and its valleys are full of yoga studios, meditation retreats and spas overlooking rice fields and river gorges, and a Balinese massage costs little at any level. There are also the dragon-spouted hot springs at Banjar and the purification ritual at Tirta Empul. Stay away from the noise of Kuta and Canggu if rest is the aim.

Maui's calm comes from its large resort spas in Wailea and Kapalua, which offer lomilomi massage and hydrotherapy, and from a few small yoga retreats in the hills around Haiku and Kula. Early nights and the remoteness of Hana make it restful in a simpler way.