British Virgin Islands or Culebra?

For sand and sea the two are evenly matched, and both have warm, clear water all year. The difference is spread. The British Virgin Islands scatter their great beaches across many islands: Cane Garden Bay on Tortola, the granite pools of The Baths on Virgin Gorda, White Bay on Jost Van Dyke and the empty reef-fringed shores of Anegada. Many are best reached by boat.

Culebra puts its best beach within easy reach. Flamenco's long horseshoe of white sand, with the old tanks in the shallows, is the centrepiece, and the snorkelling beaches near Dewey and Tortuga Beach on Culebrita fill out the week. Facilities and shade are sparse, so you bring your own.

The British Virgin Islands give a food lover more to look forward to. Spiny lobster grilled on Anegada's beaches, rotis and conch fritters in Road Town and the resort dining rooms of Virgin Gorda make a varied, if casual, week.

Culebra is plainer. Dewey's seafood places and food trucks serving mofongo and empanadillas are pleasant, but menus are short, and many visitors keep a cooler from the grocery stores and save a fish dinner for an occasional treat.

Neither is a sightseeing trip, and either will fill an afternoon at most. What differs is the story. The British Virgin Islands show colonial and plantation history: the Old Government House Museum in Road Town, a working rum distillery at Cane Garden Bay and the Cornish engine house of the Copper Mine on Virgin Gorda. Culebra's past is military, told in a small museum in a former navy powder magazine and in the tanks on Flamenco, alongside the canal and drawbridge of Dewey.

The British Virgin Islands have a real evening life, built around the sailing crowd. Boats gather at Great Harbour and White Bay on Jost Van Dyke and in the Bight at Norman Island for rum punch and music, Trellis Bay holds full-moon parties with fire sculptures, and New Year's Eve on Jost Van Dyke is a regional event.

Culebra has a handful of open-air bars in Dewey that fill at sunset and sometimes have a band at weekends. Most of the island is asleep soon after dinner. Neither has clubs.

Both are about what lies under the water, and they are close in strength. The British Virgin Islands add sailing: the sheltered Sir Francis Drake Channel with its steady trade winds is the reason many come, and the wreck of the RMS Rhone is a celebrated dive. On land there are short forest trails on Sage Mountain, the boulder scramble at The Baths and flamingos on Anegada.

Culebra is more about wildlife close to shore. Much of it is a wildlife refuge, the Luis Pena reserve has some of the healthiest reefs around Puerto Rico, and green turtles and rays are routine sightings from Tamarindo. Seabird colonies and nesting turtles add to it, though the land itself is low scrub.

The British Virgin Islands have more places to go for a day. Ferries reach Spanish Town on Virgin Gorda and Great Harbour on Jost Van Dyke, and with a passport you can cross to the Danish warehouses and stepped streets of Charlotte Amalie on St Thomas, or to Cruz Bay and the Annaberg plantation ruins on St John.

From Culebra, outings mostly mean boat trips to uninhabited Culebrita and the cays. Vieques and Fajardo on the main island are within reach, but neither makes a simple day out, so most people stay put.

Both work for families who love the water, with calm, shallow bays, snorkelling straight from the beach and an unhurried, safe pace, and neither has anything built for children. The British Virgin Islands are a little easier, with resort beaches on Virgin Gorda and Cane Garden Bay as simple bases, and a charter that older children will remember.

Culebra's waist-deep snorkelling, where children see turtles easily, is a real draw. The ferry or small plane crossing and limited medical care make it better for school-age children than for toddlers.

Both take effort, but the effort comes at different points. In the British Virgin Islands the challenge is moving between islands: hire cars on Tortola's steep left-hand roads, ferries to Virgin Gorda and Jost Van Dyke, and fewer links to Anegada. That is why a charter yacht or a single resort makes sense.

On Culebra the hard part is arriving, by a ferry from Ceiba that is often full at weekends or a small plane. Once there, distances are short: Dewey is walkable, vans run to Flamenco and a golf cart covers the rest.

Neither is a place to shop, though the British Virgin Islands have a little more. Road Town's Main Street sells local art, spices and rum, and the marinas stock sailing gear and resort wear. Serious shoppers cross to the duty-free streets of Charlotte Amalie. Culebra has a few souvenir shops and local artists in Dewey, and anything you really need is best bought before the crossing.

Culebra is the gentler bill, though not a cheap one. Prices are at US levels and everything comes by boat, but guesthouses, small inns and rentals with kitchens let you cook, and the beaches and snorkelling cost little.

The British Virgin Islands are among the dearest choices in the region. Resorts and villas are priced for a well-off market, taxis are costly and a yacht charter is a large outlay even when shared. Winter is the most expensive season on both.

Neither has a theatre or concert life, but the British Virgin Islands have a living local sound. Fungi, played by scratch bands on washboards and gourds, turns up at beach bars, and the Emancipation Festival in Road Town and a beach music festival at Cane Garden Bay give the year its occasions. Culebra's live music amounts to a weekend band in Dewey and its annual patron saint festival.

The British Virgin Islands offer more to a traveller who wants to be looked after. Resort spas with open-air treatment rooms and yoga decks above the sea are found on Virgin Gorda's North Sound and the private islands, which are the most restful stays.

Culebra has no big resorts and only a few independent massage therapists and guesthouse yoga sessions. Its rest comes from the island itself: little traffic, early nights and long empty afternoons.