Bora Bora or Cook Islands?

Both are lagoon destinations of the first order, and the difference lies in how you reach the water. On Bora Bora you mostly swim straight off a bungalow deck or a resort motu. Matira Point is the one great public beach, and most other good sand needs a boat.

The Cook Islands give you more beaches you can simply walk onto. At Muri you can wade out to the motu, and at Titikaveka you can snorkel straight from the sand. Aitutaki adds sandbar islets such as One Foot Island, though its beaches are often narrow and very shallow at low tide.

The two eat much alike, down to the signature dish of raw fish in lime and coconut, called poisson cru on Bora Bora and ika mata in the Cook Islands. On Bora Bora most meals are French-Polynesian cooking in a small set of resort dining rooms. The best local food comes from snack counters and food trucks around Vaitape.

The Cook Islands make it easier to eat outside a hotel. The Saturday Punanga Nui market in Avarua, the evening stalls at Muri and umu feasts give a stay more variety, even if neither place will satisfy a serious food lover for long.

Neither is a sightseeing destination, but the Cook Islands have more to show. Rarotonga has Arai-te-Tonga and other marae, coral-lime mission churches from the 1800s and a small national museum in Avarua. The old way of life is still close to the surface on Atiu and Mangaia.

On Bora Bora, the island tour takes in a few restored marae, Second World War guns on the hills and the church at Vaitape, and that covers it in a few hours.

Rarotonga at least has a night out. On Fridays the bars around Avarua fill with locals and visitors and stay busy until late. Bora Bora has nothing like it: a sunset cocktail at the resort bar, a long dinner and bed. Neither has any clubs, and on Aitutaki evenings are as quiet as on Bora Bora.

Bora Bora has the more spectacular setting and the richer lagoon. The jagged peak of Otemanu rises above the water, and you can snorkel with stingrays and blacktip reef sharks or dive the reef passes for lemon sharks and manta rays. On land there is less to do: 4x4 tracks up to viewpoints and a guided climb of Mount Pahia.

Rarotonga is the better island for walking. The half-day Cross-Island Track climbs through rainforest past the Needle. From July to October humpback whales can be seen from the shore, and Atiu adds caves and coral terraces. Its lagoon outings, though, are gentler than Bora Bora's.

Day trips are thin from both, and most visitors stay put. From Bora Bora you can go by boat or plane to Tahaa for its vanilla and pearl farms, to Raiatea for the sacred marae of Taputapuatea, or to quiet Maupiti, all of which take organised tours or careful timing.

From Rarotonga the one real outing is the fly-in day tour to Aitutaki, which takes under an hour each way. That lagoon is better as a second base for a few nights, which turns a Cook Islands trip naturally into two islands.

The Cook Islands are clearly the better choice with children. The water at Muri and Titikaveka is warm, shallow and sheltered, children are welcome everywhere, and many resorts have family rooms and kids' clubs. Neither destination has zoos, aquariums or theme parks.

Bora Bora's shallows at Matira are just as good for paddling, but the island is designed for couples. Some overwater bungalows are unsafe for children who cannot swim, and the cost weighs heavily on a family. Older children who love snorkelling get the most from it.

Each main island is circled by a coast road of about 32km, but Rarotonga is far easier to use. A bus runs around it in both directions and stops wherever you flag it down, so you can manage without your own wheels.

Bora Bora has few buses and scarce taxis. If your resort is out on a motu, every trip to Vaitape or Matira depends on the hotel's boat shuttle, and lagoon outings are mostly organised tours.

Black pearls are the main buy in both places, and neither will fill more than a morning. On Bora Bora you buy them in showrooms in Vaitape and the resorts, and there are pareos and carvings at the craft stalls by the quay. The Cook Islands' best shopping is the Saturday Punanga Nui market, which feels more local. You may also see tivaevae, the appliquéd quilts, though they are rarely for sale.

Both are costly because almost everything is shipped in, but Bora Bora is in a class of its own. Overwater bungalows are priced as once-in-a-lifetime luxury, and boat transfers, tours and spa visits add more. Family-run guesthouses and self-catering from Vaitape's grocery stores only soften the bill.

The Cook Islands are expensive too, especially resorts on Aitutaki. Still, self-catering bungalows, backpacker lodges, market meals and the cheap local bus on Rarotonga make a careful budget possible.

The Cook Islands have far more to watch and hear. Their log-drum rhythms and ura dancing are famous across the Pacific, and island-night shows run on several evenings a week on Rarotonga and Aitutaki. On Sunday mornings visitors can hear the unaccompanied imene tuki hymns in village churches, and Te Maeva Nui in late July and early August brings dance teams from every island to Avarua.

On Bora Bora, Polynesian dance mostly means the fire dancing and drumming of resort dinner shows. The Heiva in July is the time to see local groups compete.

Both are places to do very little, and they offer it in different ways. On Bora Bora, wellness centres on polished resort spas, some with treatment rooms over the lagoon, using monoi oil and tiare flowers. The calm of a bungalow deck does the rest.

In the Cook Islands the rest comes from the place itself. There are no buildings taller than a coconut palm, Sundays are quiet and the outer islands are slower still. Polynesian massage is widely offered outside the resorts, and there are a few yoga classes.