Culebra or Guadeloupe?

Both islands have outstanding beaches, but Culebra's are slightly better and more concentrated. Flamenco is a single postcard bay of fine white sand and calm, clear water, with the old painted tanks at one end, and Tamarindo, Melones and Tortuga on Culebrita each add reefs, seagrass or turtles within easy reach. Facilities are minimal, so you bring your own shade and water.

Guadeloupe spreads its beaches across two distinct coasts: reef-sheltered white lagoons along Grande-Terre's south from Le Gosier to Saint-François, and wilder golden or dark sand on Basse-Terre at Grande Anse and Malendure. Sargassum can reach some east- and south-facing shores, so it helps to be able to switch coasts.

On Culebra, eating is mostly practical. A few casual seafood places, food trucks with mofongo and empanadillas, and kiosks at Flamenco cover it, and with most produce arriving by ferry, many visitors stock a cooler from the grocery stores.

Guadeloupe has a cuisine worth travelling for: accras, colombo curries, court-bouillon and bokit from roadside vans, covered markets full of vanilla and spices, and agricultural rum tasted at the distilleries on Basse-Terre and Marie-Galante. Fine dining is thin even here, but day to day the gap is wide.

Culebra's heritage fits into an afternoon: the canal-side fishing town of Dewey, a small museum in an old navy powder magazine on the bombing-range years, and the ruined lighthouse on Culebrita.

Guadeloupe has much more to see, led by the Mémorial ACTe on the Pointe-à-Pitre waterfront, a serious museum of slavery and Caribbean history. Forts above Basse-Terre and on Terre-de-Haut, Amerindian rock carvings, Hindu temples and the sugar estates of Marie-Galante make a worthwhile layer on a beach trip, if not a reason to come on their own.

Culebra goes to bed early. A handful of open-air bars in Dewey fill at sunset and sometimes have a band at weekends, and there are no clubs at all. Guadeloupe has a real, if limited, night out: bars, a casino and zouk and dancehall clubs in Le Gosier, waterfronts in Sainte-Anne and Saint-François busy until around midnight, and carnival season, when the whole island stays up. You will need a car or a driver to get to most of it.

Underwater, the two are close. Culebra's Luis Pena reserve and the reefs at Tamarindo and Carlos Rosario bring green turtles and rays within reach of a snorkeller, seabirds crowd the outer cays and turtles nest on remote beaches. Ashore, though, the island is low, dry scrub.

Guadeloupe adds a whole volcanic landscape. Basse-Terre's national park covers rainforest, the Carbet falls, the Route de la Traversée under giant trees and the steaming summit of La Soufrière. It also has the Cousteau Reserve for diving, mangroves in the Grand Cul-de-Sac Marin and the windswept cliffs of Pointe des Châteaux.

From Culebra, outings mean boat rides to the uninhabited cays and Culebrita, and reaching Vieques or the main island takes enough effort that most visitors stay put.

Guadeloupe is a base for proper excursions. Ferries run to the painted village and bay of Terre-de-Haut in Les Saintes, to the windmills and distilleries of Marie-Galante and to quiet La Désirade, and a longer crossing reaches Dominica. On the main island, Deshaies and Sainte-Anne each fill an easy afternoon.

Culebra works for school-age children who love the sea, since Flamenco is shallow and calm and the turtles at Tamarindo can be seen from waist-deep water. There is nothing else for them, medical care is limited, and the ferry or small plane makes toddlers hard work.

Guadeloupe copes better with young families. The knee-deep lagoons at Sainte-Anne are ideal, and the aquarium at Le Gosier, the zoo at Parc des Mamelles and the botanical garden at Deshaies fill rainy mornings. French healthcare and familiar food help too, though most outings mean time in the car.

Neither is easy, but the difficulty sits in different places. On Culebra, the hard part is getting there, on a ferry from Ceiba that fills up and runs late, or a small plane. Once there, distances are short, with shared vans to Flamenco and a golf cart or jeep for the rest.

Guadeloupe is simple to reach but large, so a hire car is close to essential, and traffic around Pointe-à-Pitre and the bridges between the two wings encourages staying on one side. Ferries to the outer islands are straightforward, and a scooter does there.

There is almost nothing to buy on Culebra beyond beachwear, a few local paintings and groceries. Guadeloupe still isn't a shopping destination, but it offers more to take home: the covered spice market in Pointe-à-Pitre with vanilla, punches and madras cloth, and rum from the distilleries, as well as French supermarkets and malls for practical needs.

Both are expensive by Caribbean standards, for the same reason: almost everything is shipped in. Culebra charges US prices, its few guesthouses and rentals fill early in winter, and a golf cart or jeep adds to the daily spend. The beaches and snorkelling are free, though.

Guadeloupe runs at French prices or above, with a hire car as a fixed extra and the winter months costing most. It does have more ways to eat cheaply, at bokit vans, markets and lolos. On both islands, a rental with a kitchen is the main way to save.

Culebra has no performing arts beyond an occasional weekend bar band and music at its patron saint festival. In Guadeloupe, music is part of daily life: gwoka drumming at léwòz evenings, zouk everywhere, weeks of carnival parades with drums and conch shells, plus theatre and dance at L'Artchipel in Basse-Terre and the Terre de Blues festival on Marie-Galante.

Culebra relaxes you by having so little going on: no big resorts, little traffic and long, empty afternoons, with only the odd massage or guesthouse yoga class.

Guadeloupe offers that slow pace too, in Deshaies, Les Saintes and on Marie-Galante, and it adds volcanic hot water. You can soak in the Bains Jaunes on the way up La Soufrière, in the warm shoreline pools near Bouillante or at the small thermal spa at Ravine Chaude.