Crete or Peloponnese?

Crete has the deeper choice of beaches. The far west alone offers Elafonissi's pink sand and lagoons, the turquoise bay of Balos and the long sunset strand of Falassarna, and there is still the palm beach at Vai, the easy north-coast resorts and the boat-reached coves of the south coast such as Preveli.

The Peloponnese is very good rather than outstanding. Voidokilia's horseshoe bay and Navarino Bay in Messinia, the white sand of Elafonisos and the rocky coves of the Mani are lovely, and outside July and August many beaches are close to empty, which is quieter than Crete's famous western beaches at midday.

Crete edges ahead because its cooking feels more like a distinct regional cuisine: graviera and mizithra cheeses, dakos, snails and the free raki to end a meal, with the best eating in Chania's and Rethymno's backstreets and Heraklion's market street. Avoid the north-coast resort strips.

The Peloponnese eats simply and well, with Kalamata olives and oil, Mani cured pork and grilled fish at harbour tables. Its real strength is wine, with Nemea's reds and the Moschofilero whites of the Tripoli plateau, so it suits a winery-touring trip more than Crete does.

The Peloponnese has the broader set of sights. Olympia, Mycenae, Tiryns, Epidaurus, Ancient Corinth and Messene give it the classical and Bronze Age heavyweights, and Mystras, Monemvasia and the Venetian castles at Methoni and Koroni add a medieval layer of equal weight.

Crete's strength is narrower but deep: the Minoan world at Knossos, Phaistos and the Heraklion Archaeological Museum, plus the Venetian harbour of Chania and Rethymno's Ottoman balconies. Both regions require a lot of driving to see everything, though Nafplio puts the Argolid sites within an hour.

Crete offers far more after dark. Malia and Hersonissos run loud package-resort clubbing for young groups all summer, while Chania's harbour, Rethymno's waterfront and Heraklion's old-centre café-bars give a more grown-up night busy with Greek students.

In the Peloponnese an evening usually means dinner and a harbour-front drink in Nafplio or Kalamata. Only Patras, a university city on the north coast, has a real bar and club scene, and it lies far from most visitors' bases.

Both are mountainous and equally rewarding for walkers, so the difference is in the kind of landscape. Crete's draw is its gorges, Samaria above all, cutting through the White Mountains down to the Libyan Sea, with the coast path between Loutro and Sfakia and climbing at Agiofarago.

The Peloponnese is greener inland, with the Lousios gorge and its cliffside monasteries, the waymarked Menalon Trail, Taygetos above Sparta and the dry Mani walking down to Cape Tainaron. It also adds birdwatching at the Gialova lagoon and winter skiing on Chelmos.

The Peloponnese gives more varied outings from a single base. From Nafplio, Hydra and Spetses are a short ferry ride away, the Nemea wineries are close and Athens is about two hours by road, while Messinia offers Pylos, Methoni and the Mani villages.

On Crete the outings are mostly the island's other towns and its inland villages such as Anogia and Margarites, plus boat trips to Chrissi or Gramvousa. Its long-distance option is the fast ferry from Heraklion to Santorini, which makes a full, tiring day.

Crete is the easier family destination. Gently shelving sands on the north coast and near Chania, resort hotels with children's clubs, several waterparks and the aquarium at Gournes give plenty of choice for hot days, and Elafonissi's shallow lagoon is ideal for small children.

The Peloponnese has good sandy bays at Tolo, in Messinia and on Elafonisos, but no theme parks, zoos or aquariums, and its shadeless ancient sites need early starts. Within the region, Nafplio is the easiest town to stroll with a pushchair, and families should expect long hours in the car.

Both need a hire car, and neither is easy without one. Crete's advantage is a dependable bus line along the north coast linking its four main towns, but the steep roads south and the busy highway make driving tiring, and some south-coast villages are reachable only by summer boat.

The Peloponnese has fast motorways from the Corinth Canal to Kalamata and towards Olympia, so the main towns are quick to reach by car, but its buses rarely reach sites or beaches. Mountain and Mani roads are just as slow as Crete's.

Neither is a shopping trip, but Crete offers more to browse. Chania's leather-makers' lane, knife-makers and covered market hall, and Heraklion's market street for cheeses, honey and raki, give it real craft shopping.

The Peloponnese is mainly for edible souvenirs: Kalamata olives and oil, mountain honey and wine bought at Nemea wineries, with Nafplio's lanes the best place for jewellery and ceramics.

The Peloponnese is the cheaper of the two, especially in the Mani and Arcadian villages away from Nafplio and the Messinian resorts. Crete is still gentler than the Cyclades, with good-value village rooms and tavernas, but costs climb around Chania's old town, the western beaches and Elounda. In both, car hire is the cost you cannot avoid and summer pushes prices up.

The Peloponnese has the one standout event: ancient drama on summer weekends in the theatre at Epidaurus, along with Kalamata's dance festival in July. Crete's live culture is more informal, built on lyra music and circle dances in Rethymno's and Chania's music tavernas, at village saints' day festivals and in Anogia, with summer festivals in Heraklion's and Chania's fortresses.

Both are restful mainly for their slow pace, and neither has a strong spa tradition. The Peloponnese does have actual thermal water, at Loutraki, on the Methana peninsula and in the sulphur-fed lake at Kaiafas, while Crete's best spas are resort spas around Elounda. For quiet escapes, Crete has Loutro, reached only by boat or on foot, and the Peloponnese has the stone villages of the Mani and Arcadia.