Cornwall or Isle of Skye?

This is the widest gap between the two. Cornwall has a real beach vacation: surf beaches along the north coast, the turquoise water of Porthcurno in the far west and sheltered coves near Falmouth for calmer swimming, with a season from June to September.

Skye's sea is several degrees colder than Cornwall's, and its shores are mostly for looking at: the coral-sand beach at Claigan, the black sand at Talisker and the icy Fairy Pools for a bracing dip. Plan a walk on the sand there, not a day on it.

Both are at their best with fish and shellfish straight off the boats, but Cornwall has far more places to eat them. Newlyn's catch supplies harbour fish-and-chip counters and serious seafood restaurants in Padstow, St Ives and Porthleven, and pasties and cream teas are everywhere.

Skye's langoustines, Loch Harport oysters and hill lamb are excellent, and a few remote country restaurants are worth the drive. Still, Portree has most of the everyday choice, and even ordinary tables need booking in summer. To drink, Skye offers whisky from Carbost, where Cornwall has cider and Camel Valley sparkling wine.

Cornwall gives a sightseer much more to fill the days: St Michael's Mount across its tidal causeway, Tintagel's clifftop ruins, the mining engine houses on the Penwith cliffs, Tate St Ives with the Hepworth sculpture garden, and the Eden Project.

Skye's history of clans, crofting and Gaelic is told at a few scattered places, chiefly Dunvegan Castle, the Clan Donald ruins at Armadale and the crofters' cottages at Kilmuir. Two days covers them, while Cornwall's sights could fill a week.

Neither is a place for late nights, but Cornwall at least has Newquay, where surfers and stag groups fill the bars and a few clubs in summer, plus a smaller student scene in Falmouth. On Skye the evening ends in a Portree bar or an inn at Sligachan with a dram after the hills, and there are no clubs at all.

Here Skye pulls ahead. The Black Cuillin rise in jagged gabbro straight from the sea, the Quiraing and the Old Man of Storr are among the strangest landscapes in Europe, and boats from Elgol reach Loch Coruisk under the ridge. It is mountain country, with sea eagles and otters, and the weather can close the tops for days.

Cornwall's outdoors is coastal and gentler: the South West Coast Path around Penwith and the Lizard, open walking on Bodmin Moor, and Britain's best surf at Newquay, Bude and Sennen. Go to Cornwall to surf and walk the cliffs, and to Skye to climb.

Cornwall's day trips are short hops between towns with different characters, from St Ives and Mousehole to Fowey and the ferry across to St Mawes. The Isles of Scilly and Plymouth are further afield.

Skye's outings depend on the bridge and the ferries: Eilean Donan and Plockton over the bridge, Raasay after a short crossing, and Harris as a long day from Uig. Cornwall gives more choice and leaves you less at the mercy of the weather.

Cornwall is one of Britain's classic family destinations, and Skye is not. Lifeguarded beaches, bodyboarding and rock pooling fill the dry days, and the Eden Project, the seal sanctuary at Gweek and Newquay's zoo cover the wet ones.

Skye suits families who are happy outdoors in the rain, with dinosaur footprints at Staffin and boat trips to see seals. But little is built for children, many walks run along cliff edges, and summer midges spoil picnics.

Both are driving destinations with narrow lanes, but Cornwall gives you a way out. Its railway runs to Penzance, and branch lines reach St Ives, Falmouth, Newquay and Looe, so staying in one of those towns without a car is realistic.

On Skye a car is essential. Buses from Portree are too sparse to reach trailheads, single-track roads with passing places make every drive slow, and in summer the car parks at the Storr and the Fairy Pools fill early.

Neither is a shopping destination, and both are best for things made locally. Cornwall has more of them: the galleries and potteries of St Ives, independent shops in Falmouth and Fowey, surf gear in Newquay and a proper high street in Truro.

Skye's version is a potter or weaver selling from a workshop down a farm track. Tweed, knitwear and whisky are the things to take home, and Portree has only a few shops.

Both are expensive in summer, but Skye more so: rooms are scarce, cheap meals are rare outside Portree and a hire car is unavoidable. In Cornwall, pubs, pasties, self-catering and the option of arriving by train give more room to save. In both places, spring and autumn are noticeably cheaper.

Cornwall has the more memorable stage in the Minack Theatre, cut into the cliffs above Porthcurno. It also has touring shows at Truro's Hall for Cornwall, folk sessions in pubs and Padstow's May Day celebration.

Skye's live culture is Gaelic: ceilidhs in village halls, fiddle sessions in Portree pubs, concerts at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig in Sleat and piping at the August Highland Games. Neither has much regular theatre, and outside summer on Skye it is often down to chance whether anything is on.

Cornwall makes a slow, pampered stay easier. There are spa hotels above the beaches at Watergate Bay, Carbis Bay and St Mawes, and wood-fired saunas by the sea to pair with a cold swim.

Skye has only a few hotels with treatment rooms. Its rest comes from a cottage on a sea loch in Waternish or Sleat and the long light evenings of early summer. Both lose much of their calm in the summer peak.