Brač or Ischia?

Both islands are serious beach destinations, but you swim from very different shores. Brač is nearly all pebble and rock. Zlatni Rat at Bol is its showpiece, a fine-pebble spit with pine shade and very clear water, and the north coast has shallow town beaches. Lovrečina is one of its few sandy stretches.

Ischia has more sand: the long dark volcanic curve of Maronti, with steam rising at its western end, the sunset beach at Citara and the calm bay of San Montano. Away from these, its coves are rocky and often easiest to reach by water taxi. Both islands are crowded at their famous beaches in high summer.

Ischia eats better and with more character. Rabbit braised in terracotta is its signature dish, fishing harbours such as Sant'Angelo and Forio serve fresh seafood, and white wines from the terraces of Monte Epomeo can be tasted at small wineries.

Brač's konobas do good grilled fish, lamb, spit-roasted vitalac and excellent olive oil, but the waterfronts at Bol and Supetar lean towards menus written for visitors, and many places close once summer ends. On both islands the best meals are found in the hill villages rather than on the harbours.

Ischia has the stronger sights, though neither island takes long to see. The Aragonese Castle on its rock off Ischia Ponte is a proper half-day out, and the museum at Lacco Ameno holds Nestor's Cup, found at one of the earliest Greek settlements in the West.

Brač's heritage is quieter and built in its white limestone: the cliffside hermitage at Blaca, reached only on foot, the Illyrian walls and Venetian tower at Škrip, the stonemasons' harbour of Pučišća and a Tintoretto in the Dominican monastery at Bol. It works best as a few unhurried days of village wandering.

Neither island is a place for a big night out, and evenings on both revolve around a long dinner by the water. On Brač the late life is in Bol in July and August, with beach bars along the path to Zlatni Rat and a few open-air dance spots. Anyone after more takes the catamaran to Hvar.

On Ischia the action gathers around Ischia Porto, which has wine bars, cocktail terraces and a couple of summer discos. The passeggiata along the shopping street gives evenings there a more sociable, strolling character.

These are two equally rewarding landscapes of very different kinds. Brač's interior is a dry, stony karst plateau of olive groves and dry-stone walls, rising to Vidova Gora, which looks straight down on Zlatni Rat. On the water, wind sports and gravel cycling are its specialities.

Ischia is volcanic, greener and steeper, with chestnut woods and vineyards on the paths up Monte Epomeo and steam vents on the south coast. Its marine protected area makes it the better island for snorkelling, diving and boat trips. On both islands, midsummer is too hot for serious walking.

Ischia has far more within a boat ride. Procida is a short hop away, Naples is about an hour by fast ferry, and the boats to Pozzuoli reach the Roman amphitheatre, the Solfatara crater and sunken Baia. In summer there are direct boats to Capri and Sorrento as well.

From Brač, Split's Diocletian's Palace is the outstanding outing, and Trogir can be added on the same day. Hvar and the Makarska coast are also within reach. The choice is shorter, though, and it depends on ferry timetables that thin out quickly after summer.

Both islands suit a slow beach vacation with children and offer little built specially for them. On Brač, the sheltered north coast towns such as Supetar and Postira have shallow water and apartments with kitchens, and a car makes outings easy. Zlatni Rat itself drops off fairly quickly.

Ischia's draw for families is sand at San Montano and Maronti, plus the thermal parks, which work as easy days in the water. Against that, some villages are all steps and the summer buses are packed.

On both islands getting around takes some effort, but in opposite ways. Brač is an island for a car or scooter: the roads are quiet, buses are too infrequent to rely on, and the drive over the plateau to Bol is slow and winding. Long ferry queues at weekends are part of the deal.

On Ischia a car is more trouble than it is worth, with narrow roads, scarce parking and limits on visitors' cars in high season. Here you pick a base, walk within it, and rely on the loop bus, microtaxis and water taxis for everything else.

Ischia has a proper shopping walk, along Via Roma and Corso Vittoria Colonna between the port and Ischia Ponte, with linen, leather sandals, resort fashion and jewellery, plus ceramics and cosmetics made with the island's thermal waters. It is pleasant on an evening stroll.

Brač offers little beyond what the island produces: carved stone from Pučišća, olive oil, honey and lavender. For anything more you would cross to Split.

Ischia is a little easier on the wallet. Its many family-run spa hotels sell half-board stays that include thermal pools, and its buses and ferries are fairly priced. Brač in midsummer costs roughly what Western Europe does, and car ferry fares add up.

On Brač, private apartments in the north coast villages or inland are the way to save. On both islands, the months either side of high summer are noticeably cheaper.

Neither island has a real programme, but Ischia offers a few more evenings out. There are chamber concerts in the Mortella gardens created by William Walton, and screenings and concerts at the Aragonese Castle during the summer film festival. Naples' opera house is across the water.

Brač has summer concerts on the squares of Bol and Supetar and the chance of hearing klapa singing. For opera and theatre, it relies on Split's summer festival.

Brač relaxes you by asking very little of you. A good day there is a morning swim, a long lunch in the shade, an hour among the olive groves and an evening on the harbour at Pučišća or Povlja, which go quiet early. Pampering is limited to massages and saunas in a few of the bigger hotels at Bol and Supetar. The calm also depends on the season, with June and September far more peaceful than midsummer.

On Ischia, rest is the reason for the trip rather than a side effect of it. Many visitors plan the whole day around warm water, moving between pools of different heat and the cool sea, with treatments booked in between, in a bathing culture that goes back centuries. That gives the island a pull well beyond summer, because the springs stay warm after the beaches empty, and April to June and October are its most restorative months.