Guadeloupe or St Thomas?

On the beach the two are evenly matched, but they offer different kinds of trip. Guadeloupe's strength is variety. There are white sand and knee-deep lagoons from Le Gosier to Saint-François, darker and wilder forest-backed bays on Basse-Terre, and the empty sands of Marie-Galante. If sargassum seaweed lands on one coast, you can switch to another.

St Thomas is more compact. Magens Bay and the Red Hook coves let you stay within walking distance of the sand, and St John's north shore is twenty minutes away by ferry. The catch is cruise days, which crowd the best-known beaches.

Guadeloupe eats far better. Its Creole cooking is a real reason to visit: salt cod accras, colombo curries from its Indian heritage, fish court-bouillon and bokit vans by the road. On top of that come covered markets, distillery tastings and French bakeries.

St Thomas has honest West Indian food too, such as johnnycakes, pates and kallaloo from stands around Charlotte Amalie. Beyond those, its menus lean on imported ingredients and resort predictability, so meals there tend to be pleasant rather than memorable.

Neither island is a culture trip, but Guadeloupe gives you more to see. The Mémorial ACTe in Pointe-à-Pitre is a serious museum of slavery and Caribbean history. Around the island you can also find forts, Amerindian rock carvings, Hindu temples and the sugar estates of Marie-Galante.

St Thomas has the better-looking old town. Charlotte Amalie's Danish warehouses, step streets, Fort Christian and the sand-floored synagogue make a good half day or full day, but there is little heritage to see outside the capital.

Evenings are low-key on both islands, but Guadeloupe's are spread out. The waterfronts at Sainte-Anne and Saint-François stay busy until around midnight, and Le Gosier has the main cluster of bars and a casino. Almost everything is a drive away, so a night out means either a designated driver or a base in one of those towns. The exception is carnival, from January to Ash Wednesday, when street parties in Pointe-à-Pitre and Basse-Terre keep the whole island up late.

St Thomas keeps its evenings in a couple of spots. The open-air bars by the Red Hook ferry dock draw boat crews and residents until late at weekends, and Frenchtown, just west of the capital, has a few bars on the water. Charlotte Amalie goes quiet once the cruise ships sail, so if you stay near Red Hook, the island's best evenings are on your doorstep.

Guadeloupe has far more to offer on land. Basse-Terre is a protected national park of volcanic rainforest. You can climb La Soufrière to its sulphur vents at 1,467m, cross the island on the Route de la Traversée under giant trees, and walk to waterfalls. Turtles and coral in the Cousteau Reserve add first-class diving.

St Thomas has little wild country of its own, just a steep green ridge with views. Its outdoor life is on the water: sailing east through the Virgin Islands, snorkelling at Coki Point, and the forest trails of St John's national park across the channel.

Les Saintes and Marie-Galante give Guadeloupe the more memorable days out. Terre-de-Haut has painted houses and a fort above one of the Caribbean's loveliest bays. Marie-Galante is a slow world of windmills, distilleries and ox carts, and a longer crossing reaches Dominica.

From St Thomas, St John is the easy choice, with relaxed Cruz Bay at the ferry landing. The British Virgin Islands are close but need a passport and customs, and St Croix fills a long day. Most of these are small island places, so the sea crossing is often half the pleasure.

Guadeloupe works slightly better with young children. Its lagoons at Sainte-Anne stay calm and knee-deep a long way out. The aquarium, the forest zoo at Parc des Mamelles and the Deshaies botanical garden give easy breaks from the beach, and French healthcare keeps things simple.

St Thomas has Coral World's undersea observatory and snorkelling straight off Coki Point, and the English-speaking, US-style logistics help. Steep roads, the midday heat and taxis that charge per passenger make outings there more tiring than you might expect.

Guadeloupe's roads are good and French in style, so a hire car there is a straightforward drive. The main delay is traffic around Pointe-à-Pitre and on the bridges between its two wings, which is why many visitors base themselves on one side. Ferries to Les Saintes and Marie-Galante are simple, and a scooter covers the small islands.

St Thomas is harder work for its size. You drive on the left, usually in a left-hand-drive car, along steep, narrow bends, and traffic around Charlotte Amalie thickens on cruise days. The alternative is the safari taxis, which run fixed routes and charge per person. The ferry to St John from Red Hook is the easy part.

St Thomas is the better place to shop, as long as you know what you want. The duty-free district of Main Street and the Havensight cruise area sells jewellery, watches, perfume and liquor at tax-free rates, with a generous allowance for US travellers. Guadeloupe has nothing to match it. Its best stop is the Pointe-à-Pitre spice market, with vanilla and madras cloth, and rum bought straight from the distilleries is the souvenir to take home.

Self-catering villas and apartments, market food and roadside bokit vans make Guadeloupe the easier island on the budget, especially for families or groups sharing a kitchen. Prices still run at or above mainland French levels, and a hire car adds a fixed cost.

St Thomas sits at the top of the Caribbean price range. High-season rooms, imported groceries and restaurant meals all cost more there, and per-person taxi fares add up quickly for a family. The free beaches and local lunch counters are the main relief.

Guadeloupe has the stronger live music. Gwoka drumming, which is UNESCO-recognised, comes alive at léwòz evenings, and zouk plays everywhere. L'Artchipel in Basse-Terre town stages theatre and dance, and Marie-Galante hosts the Terre de Blues festival.

On St Thomas, the Reichhold Center's open-air amphitheatre hosts only occasional shows. Quelbe, steel pan and the stilt-walking mocko jumbies are mostly saved for the spring Carnival, so on most nights live music means a band at a beach bar.

Guadeloupe has something St Thomas lacks: natural hot springs. You can soak in the forest pools of the Bains Jaunes, the warm rock pools on the shore near Bouillante and the small thermal spa at Ravine Chaude. Its slow guesthouse life in Deshaies and Les Saintes adds to the calm.

On St Thomas, relaxing means resort spas with sea views and a base on the quieter east end or north shore, away from the harbour on busy cruise days.