Cook Islands or New Caledonia?

Both are lagoon destinations of the first rank, and the difference is in how the beaches are spread out. In the Cook Islands everything centres on Rarotonga's south-east, where you can wade to the motu off Muri or snorkel straight from the sand at Titikaveka, and on Aitutaki's turquoise sandbars around One Foot Island. The water there is a degree or two warmer and good all year, though Aitutaki gets very shallow at low tide.

New Caledonia spreads its best sand more widely. Nouméa has easy town beaches and boats out to islets like Amédée, while the Isle of Pines has the white bays of Kuto and Kanumera and the natural pool at Oro, and Ouvéa has its single 25km beach. Summer brings cyclone risk, and some beaches carry shark warnings.

New Caledonia eats better, thanks to its French base. Nouméa has real bakeries, bistros pouring French wine, lagoon crab and the territory's farmed blue prawns, plus Vietnamese and Indonesian dishes at the Port Moselle market. Bougna, cooked on hot stones at a tribal homestay, is worth ordering a day ahead.

The Cook Islands offer a shorter menu: ika mata, grilled tuna and wahoo, and umu feasts. The Saturday Punanga Nui market in Avarua is the highlight, and beyond it most meals come from beach cafés and resort kitchens using imported produce.

Neither is a sightseeing destination, but New Caledonia gives a curious visitor more. Renzo Piano's Tjibaou Cultural Centre is a serious introduction to Kanak culture, the Museum of New Caledonia holds carvings and ceremonial axes, and penal colony ruins stand on Nouville and the Isle of Pines.

In the Cook Islands, heritage is the stone marae of Arai-te-Tonga, coral-lime mission churches and a small museum in Avarua, all seen in a morning. The culture is more alive in daily village life than in anything you visit.

Both go quiet after dark, but Nouméa gives a little more. Its waterfront at the Baie des Citrons and Anse Vata has a few small clubs busy past midnight on both Friday and Saturday. On Rarotonga, Friday in Avarua's bars is the only real night out, Sunday is a day of rest, and there are no clubs at all.

New Caledonia is the far bigger outdoor destination. Its reefs are a World Heritage Site where divers meet dugongs, rays and turtles, and the trade winds make Anse Vata a kitesurfing spot. On land, the red earth of the Grand Sud, the kagu and kauri trees of Blue River, and the rainforest and Mont Panié around Hienghène fill days of exploring, most of the plants found nowhere else.

The Cook Islands work on a smaller scale. Rarotonga has the half-day Cross-Island Track past the Needle, easy kayaking and snorkelling inside the reef, and humpbacks visible from shore in winter, with Atiu's caves further afield. A few active days cover it.

New Caledonia has more places to go for a day. From Nouméa you can fly or ferry to the Isle of Pines, drive the west coast to Bourail and Fort Teremba, or take a shorter run to the convict ruins at Prony.

From Rarotonga the only real outing is the fly-in day tour to Aitutaki, and even that is better done as a stay of several nights. The other islands need overnight trips.

For children the two come out even, and both rest on calm, shallow water inside the reef. The Cook Islands make it simplest, with Muri and Titikaveka safe for paddling, resorts with kids' clubs and short distances, but nothing built for children.

New Caledonia adds a few attractions, the Aquarium of the Lagoons and the Michel Corbasson park with its kagu, along with lifeguarded islet beaches. Against that, drives on Grande Terre are long for small children.

The Cook Islands are much easier. Rarotonga's single coast road loops 32km, with a bus in each direction that stops wherever you flag it down, and a scooter or bicycle on Aitutaki covers the rest.

New Caledonia needs a car almost from the start. Nouméa sprawls around its bays, the east coast is hours away over the mountains, and the outer islands mean domestic flights or a fast ferry plus transport arranged at the other end.

Shopping is a minor part of either trip, and what differs is what you bring home. The Cook Islands mean black pearls in Avarua and pareu, carvings and pandanus weaving at the Saturday market. Nouméa has French swimwear and fashion boutiques and some duty-free shops, plus Kanak carvings, Loyalty Islands vanilla and sandalwood.

Both are expensive because nearly everything arrives by ship, but New Caledonia costs more. Prices there sit above mainland France, and car hire and domestic flights add up quickly. Tribal homestays on the islands are the main way to save.

The Cook Islands are dear too, especially the Aitutaki resorts and lagoon cruises. Still, the cheap local bus, backpacker lodges and market meals on Rarotonga make a careful budget easier to hold.

The Cook Islands are the place for performance. Their log-drum rhythms and ura dancing are famous across the Pacific and staged at island-night dinners several evenings a week. Sunday hymn singing in village churches is unforgettable, and the Te Maeva Nui festival in late July and early August brings dance teams from every island.

New Caledonia has the Tjibaou Cultural Centre's programme and a modest theatre in Nouméa. Kaneka music is mostly heard at festivals rather than any night you choose.

Both restore you through slowness rather than spas, so they are much alike. Rarotonga has no building taller than a palm, quiet Sundays and coconut-oil massage at the Muri resorts, plus a few yoga classes.

New Caledonia's calm is found on the Isle of Pines, Ouvéa and Maré rather than in Nouméa, which is a working town. Its spas use niaouli and tamanu oils, and there is a thermal spring at La Crouen, though it is a long drive from anywhere.