Cebu or Phuket?

Cebu City faces a port, so swimming means crossing to Mactan. There the sand is mostly small coral-based strips behind resorts, usually reached with a day pass. The best swimming is by outrigger boat to the sandbars of Nalusuan and Hilutungan, and the famous beaches at Moalboal and Malapascua are three hours or more away.

Phuket has the real beach coastline. Its west-coast bays run from crowded Patong to the calmer Kata and Nai Harn and the open stretch of Mai Khao, with plenty of choice wherever you stay. The catch is the monsoon from May to October, when rip currents make those bays dangerous, so plan a beach trip for November to April.

Cebu's food is built around lechon, the whole spit-roasted pig, along with puso rice pouches, street skewers and the sutukil fish grills on Mactan. It is hearty and cheap, but the choice thins out quickly beyond these.

Phuket has more depth. Phuket Town's shophouses serve Hokkien noodles, moo hong and morning dim sum, alongside fiery southern curries and seafood sold by weight, and the resorts add a layer of upmarket dining. Most of the best of it is in town rather than on the beaches.

Neither is a place to visit mainly for culture, and you can see the sights in either in a day or two, but the history is of a different kind. Cebu's is Spanish and Catholic: Magellan's Cross, the Basilica del Santo Niño with its daily crowds of worshippers, Fort San Pedro and the ancestral houses of Parian, all within walking distance in the old downtown.

Phuket's history is Chinese and Buddhist. The pastel Sino-Portuguese shophouses and clan houses of Thalang Road and Soi Romanee date from the tin-mining boom. Wat Chalong and the hilltop Big Buddha are spread out across the island rather than grouped in one quarter.

Phuket has much the bigger night out, though most of it is of one kind. Every evening Bangla Road in Patong closes to traffic and fills with beer bars, go-go bars and clubs that run until dawn, and Bang Tao and Kamala add beach clubs with sunset sessions.

Cebu's evenings are smaller and more local. They centre on the open-air bars and beer gardens of IT Park and the older clubs of Mango Avenue, and a typical night means karaoke and grilled snacks rather than dancing. Only during Sinulog in January is Cebu worth visiting for the partying.

Phuket's outdoors are mostly on the water and close at hand. You can kayak among the limestone towers and hidden lagoons of Phang Nga Bay, take a boat to the Racha islands or Phi Phi, or go out to the Similans in the dry season for some of Thailand's best diving. On land, Khao Phra Thaeo adds a small patch of rainforest.

Cebu has excellent outdoor attractions, including Moalboal's sardine shoals, canyoneering to Kawasan Falls and the whale sharks at Oslob. They lie about three hours south, though, and are best done with an overnight stay. Nearer the city, the Busay hills, Mactan's reefs and Olango's migrating shorebirds make good half days.

Cebu's day trips lead to history. A fast ferry reaches Bohol in about two hours, where Tagbilaran, the stone church at Baclayon and the old river towns fill a day. On the island itself, the road south passes Carcar's colonial houses and rotunda on its way to the Spanish-era coral-stone churches at Argao and Boljoon. Allow for traffic, which can double the time.

Phuket's day trips lead to other islands, nearly always by boat. You can go to busy Phi Phi Don, about two hours away, or to the quieter fishing villages and rubber plantations of the Koh Yao islands. Krabi, Ao Nang and Khao Lak are within reach on the mainland, but there are almost no historic towns nearby.

Phuket is the easier place to bring children. The resorts at Kata, Karon and Nai Harn have kids' clubs and gentle shallows in the dry season, and there are plenty of outings: water parks, the aquarium at Cape Panwa, elephant sanctuaries and short boat trips. Families mainly need to avoid Patong after dark and the west-coast sea during the monsoon.

Cebu welcomes children just as warmly but has less to do with them. The options are a Mactan resort pool, an island-hopping day, the Cebu Ocean Park aquarium and the air-conditioned malls, and the safari park is two hours' drive away.

Both are hard work to get around, and neither has a railway. In Cebu the problem is congestion, worst on the bridges to Mactan and the airport. Metered taxis and ride-hailing are cheap, though, and the downtown sights are close together.

Phuket's problem is distance. The beaches are strung out along a hilly coastal road, the single west-coast bus runs infrequently and stops early, and taxis charge high fixed fares. Renting a scooter is tempting but risky on the steep, winding roads.

Cebu's most memorable purchases are things to eat or things made by hand. Dried mangoes and otap pastries are the gifts to take home, and family workshops on Mactan build acoustic guitars and ukuleles from local wood. Carbon Market and the Taboan dried-fish stalls show the everyday side of the city, and the malls at Ayala Center and SM Seaside cover everything else.

Phuket's typical buys are made-to-measure suits from beach-town tailors and pearls. For an afternoon of browsing, Phuket Town's old quarter is the better choice. Its shophouses hold galleries, batik and local design, and on Sundays a walking-street market runs along Thalang Road.

Cebu is the cheaper of the two, especially if you stay in the city, eat street barbecue and use taxis. Costs only climb once you book a Mactan resort or hire boats for island hopping and diving.

Phuket is still good value by Western standards, but taxis across a spread-out island, restaurants aimed at tourists and beachfront rooms push daily costs up. Rooms at the main beaches also get much more expensive from December to February.

Neither island is a place for theatre or concerts, but the evening entertainment differs. Cebu has the Sinulog street dancing in January, and all year its bar cover bands often have excellent Filipino singers. Phuket has ladyboy cabaret revues, staged Thai cultural shows for tour groups and reggae sets in beach bars.

In Cebu, a restful stay means leaving the city. Downtown's noise, traffic and heat send you across to a Mactan resort, where the spa, the pool deck and a warm-oil hilot massage are the whole programme. Neighbourhood massage houses are easy to find, but little else on the island is built around rest.

Phuket goes much further, and it gives you a choice of where to slow down. Mai Khao in the far north, Nai Harn and Rawai at the southern tip, and the east coast all move at a gentler pace than Patong. Wellness there is an industry in its own right, ranging from open-air massage shopfronts to the Muay Thai and fitness camps in Chalong, where visitors stay for weeks to train.