Cotswolds or Isle of Skye?

Neither is a beach destination, and Skye has only a slight edge. Its coral-sand beach near Dunvegan and black-sand bays at Talisker and Staffin are fine to walk, though the sea is cold enough that swimming means a quick dip.

The Cotswolds are landlocked in practice: the Severn's mudflats are for walking, and the nearest thing to a beach is the lake shore at the Cotswold Water Park near Cirencester, which at least warms enough in summer for a proper swim.

The Cotswolds eat better day to day, thanks to beamed village pubs cooking local lamb and game, farm shops and markets in Stroud and Cirencester, and a broader restaurant choice in Cheltenham. The catch is that the busiest villages cater to coach parties.

Skye's strength is narrower but distinctive: langoustines, scallops and oysters straight from the lochs, a few celebrated restaurants out in Sleat and Dunvegan, and whisky from Carbost. Away from Portree, though, choice thins, kitchens close early and many places shut for winter.

Here the gap is wide. The Cotswolds are a sight in themselves, with whole wool-trade towns such as Chipping Campden and Burford intact, outstanding parish churches, and Blenheim Palace, Sudeley Castle and Hidcote within a short drive.

Skye's history of clans, crofting and Gaelic lives in a few scattered places: Dunvegan Castle, the Clan Donald ruins and Museum of the Isles at Armadale, and the thatched cottages at Kilmuir. It is absorbing but quickly covered, and Portree is pretty rather than historic.

Both are early-night places. The Cotswolds have a slight advantage in Cheltenham, where bars around the Promenade and Montpellier stay busy on weekends and race days. Skye's evenings are pub evenings, with walkers and climbers swapping routes over whisky in Portree or at the Sligachan and Carbost inns, and many village bars shorten their hours in winter.

Skye is in another league for scenery. The jagged Cuillin rising from the sea, the pinnacles of the Quiraing and the cliffs at Neist Point are among the most dramatic landscapes in Britain, and the coast adds otters, sea eagles and summer whales. The price is rain, cloud on the tops and summer midges.

The Cotswolds offer a softer kind of countryside: beech woods, dry-stone walls, small river valleys and long views from the escarpment along the Cotswold Way. It is lovely for easy rambles and cycling, but it never feels wild.

The Cotswolds sit at the centre of a remarkable ring of excursions: Oxford, Bath, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwick, Gloucester and Worcester are each within about an hour, and several are reachable by train.

Skye's outings mean bridges and ferries to small places: Eilean Donan Castle and Plockton across the water, Raasay by short crossing, Mallaig and the Glenfinnan viaduct beyond Armadale, or a long day on Harris. Each is rewarding, but all depend on weather and sailings.

The Cotswolds are much better set up for children. The wildlife park near Burford, Bourton's model village and shallow river, lambing at farm parks, the Winchcombe steam railway and Warwick Castle fill a week, and pubs welcome families.

Skye appeals to outdoor families who don't mind getting wet, with dinosaur footprints at Staffin and seal-spotting boats from Elgol. There is little built for children, the walks are often steep or along cliff edges, and the drives between sights are long.

You need a car in both, but it is easier in the Cotswolds. Villages lie close together, several stations on the London line give a car-free fallback, and footpaths link neighbouring villages well enough to plan a walking stay. Summer parking in Bibury and Bourton is the main irritation.

On Skye, distances are long, buses are too sparse to reach trailheads, and single-track roads with passing places make driving slow and occasionally nerve-racking, with queues on the Trotternish loop in summer.

The Cotswolds have far more to browse: antique dealers in Tetbury and Stow, galleries and homeware in Burford and Broadway, and a real high street with Regency arcades in Cheltenham.

Skye's shopping is about buying from the maker in craft studios and small galleries in Waternish and Sleat, plus tweed, knitwear and whisky to take home. There is nothing in the way of fashion.

Both are expensive by rural British standards, with the Cotswolds a little easier on the wallet. Manor hotels and cottages there cost a lot, but chain hotels in Cheltenham or Gloucester offer a cheaper base. On Skye, scarce summer rooms book up early and a hire car adds to the bill. In both, shared self-catering helps, and the landscape on Skye and the villages in the Cotswolds cost nothing to enjoy.

The Cotswolds have a proper arts calendar: Cheltenham's Everyman Theatre and its jazz, classical and literature festivals, Wagner at Longborough in summer, and the Royal Shakespeare Company half an hour from the northern villages.

Skye offers something more intimate but far thinner: fiddle and pipe sessions in Portree pubs, village-hall ceilidhs, Gaelic music at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig and piping at the August Highland Games. Outside summer, whether anything is on is largely luck.

The Cotswolds are made for a restful break, with country-house hotels running serious spas in old barns and gardens, and Bath's thermal rooftop pool within easy reach of the southern wolds.

Skye has very few spas. Its restorative side is solitude, a cottage on a sea loch in Sleat or Waternish and long light evenings, which suits people who unwind through quiet rather than treatments.