Cayman Islands or Cozumel?

The Caymans have the better beach. Seven Mile Beach is one unbroken sweep of white sand with sheltered water, and the lagoons at Rum Point and Starfish Point add quieter, shallow swimming. Little Cayman and Cayman Brac offer emptier sand still.

Cozumel's water is just as clear and warm, but its western shore is mostly low limestone. Sandy spots near Palancar and Punta Sur are largely run as beach clubs, and the beautiful east-coast coves are usually too rough for swimming. What it does offer is reef a few strokes from the ladders.

Grand Cayman eats noticeably better. Waterside restaurants in Camana Bay and along Seven Mile Beach cover sushi, steak and refined seafood, and the weekend fish fries in West Bay and the East End serve turtle stew, conch fritters and fish cooked Cayman style.

Cozumel's best meals are simpler and found away from the cruise strip: cochinita pibil and panuchos in family places a few streets back, tacos around the main square and ceviche from the morning's catch. It is good Yucatecan home cooking, but the range is narrow.

Neither island is a trip for sightseeing, and each can be covered in half a day. The Caymans' heritage is colonial and political: the stone great house at Pedro St James, the National Museum in the old courthouse and the National Gallery.

Cozumel's past is Maya. The low, scattered temples of San Gervasio sit in the forest, and the island museum tells the story of the pilgrimage to Ixchel. For the great Maya cities you have to cross to the mainland.

Both islands go to bed early, so plan on a sunset drink rather than a night out. The Caymans keep a slightly longer evening going, with beach bars on Seven Mile and Friday nights at a few small clubs among expats and locals, though licensing laws stop things by around midnight or one.

Cozumel's bars around the square in San Miguel are busiest in the late afternoon while the cruise ships are in, then go quiet. Anyone after a real club takes the ferry to Playa del Carmen.

For divers this is a close contest between two famous reefs that work differently. The Caymans are known for sheer walls, with Bloody Bay Wall off Little Cayman and Grand Cayman's North Wall, plus wrecks, easy shore dives, Stingray City and a bioluminescent bay.

Cozumel is famous for drift diving. The current carries you along the coral walls at Palancar, Santa Rosa and Columbia past turtles and eagle rays. On land, both islands are flat. The Caymans have the Mastic Trail, blue iguanas and the bluff on Cayman Brac, and Cozumel has crocodile lagoons at Punta Sur and a windy east coast for kitesurfing.

Cozumel has far more to offer beyond its own shore. The ferry to Playa del Carmen takes under an hour, and from there Tulum's clifftop ruins, the cenotes and Coba can each fill a long day, though Chichen Itza needs an overnight stay.

From Grand Cayman, the only real trip away is a small plane to Cayman Brac or Little Cayman, and most people who go stay a few nights. Otherwise the outings are drives around the island to the East End and Bodden Town.

The Caymans are easier with children, especially young ones. They can wade among starfish in the shallow lagoons, stand with stingrays at Stingray City and visit the turtle farm and the blue iguanas. Family-minded condos and good healthcare round it out.

Cozumel works best for families with older children who can snorkel. Chankanaab's lagoon and sea lions and the semi-submarine trips appeal to them, but the rocky shore and the rough east coast make small children harder to manage.

Getting around is about as easy on both islands, and on both you will probably hire a car at some point. Grand Cayman has informal minibuses linking West Bay, Seven Mile and George Town, with driving on the left and slow rush hours into town.

On Cozumel, one road loops the island, so a full circuit takes a relaxed day by jeep or scooter. Taxis charge fixed zone fares, and the mainland ferry leaves right from the San Miguel pier.

Shopping on both islands is aimed at cruise passengers, and neither is worth planning a day around. The Caymans have a little more polish, with Camana Bay's bookshops and galleries next to the duty-free jewellers, and caymanite carvings as the local craft.

Cozumel's waterfront sells tanzanite, silver and tequila, along with Mexican crafts such as hammocks, embroidered blouses and vanilla, and the sales pitch on cruise days is pushier.

There is a wide gap in cost. In the Caymans nearly everything is imported, so meals, drinks, rooms and boat trips all cost a lot, and even a self-catering condo outside the peak season keeps it well above a budget trip.

Cozumel can be as cheap or as dear as you make it. Stay in a guesthouse in San Miguel and eat at the market and taco stands, and costs stay moderate. Diving is the main expense on both islands.

Grand Cayman at least has a stage. The Harquail Theatre in George Town puts on local drama, dance and seasonal productions, and the street calendar adds Batabano in spring and the parades and fireworks of Pirates Week in autumn.

Cozumel has no theatre or concert hall, so its performances happen outdoors. The pre-Lent carnival, one of the oldest in Mexico, fills San Miguel with comparsa dance troupes. For the rest of the year there are mariachis around the square and folkloric dance at resort dinners.

The two islands are broadly level for rest. Neither has a bathing tradition of its own, and on both the calm comes from a slow island pace more than from treatments. The Caymans have the wider choice of resort spas, with yoga classes and massage on the sand along Seven Mile Beach. For deeper quiet there is the short flight to Little Cayman, where a morning dive and an early night make up most of the day.

Cozumel's spas are also mostly inside resorts. What it adds is the temazcal, a Maya sweat lodge run by a few places, which has nothing like it in the Caymans. Otherwise the stillness is on the southern hotel strip, where several resorts take adults only, or on the undeveloped east coast, where an afternoon can pass watching the waves break.