Halkidiki or Peloponnese?

Halkidiki has the edge, simply because beaches are the whole point of the region. Its three peninsulas give you a choice: organised sand with sunbeds on Kassandra, or granite coves and pine-backed bays on Sithonia, all with calm turquoise water.

The Peloponnese runs it close and has more variety. There is the Voidokilia horseshoe and Navarino Bay in Messinia, the tropical-looking sand of Elafonisos and pebble coves in the Mani. Its beaches are spread across a much bigger area, though, and they empty out more noticeably outside high summer.

The Peloponnese eats better. It has Kalamata olives and oil, Mani cured pork, the Agiorgitiko reds of Nemea and Moschofilero whites from the Arcadian plateau, and Kalamata and Nafplio both have a decent range of places to eat.

Halkidiki's best meals are grilled fish in Nikiti, Toroni or Ouranoupoli. Its local finds are Athos wine and pine honey. The Kassandra resorts mostly serve repetitive menus, and serious eaters end up driving into Thessaloniki.

This is where the two differ most. The Peloponnese is one of Greece's great heritage regions. It has Mycenae's Lion Gate, the theatre at Epidaurus, Olympia and Messene from the ancient world, then Mystras, Monemvasia and the Venetian castles of Methoni and Koroni from the medieval centuries.

Halkidiki has one great heritage site, the monasteries of Mount Athos, and most visitors can only see them from a boat. Beyond that it offers half-days at Olynthos, Stagira, the Petralona cave and the stone village of Afytos.

Halkidiki goes out later, but only in summer and only on Kassandra. Kallithea has open-air clubs, and Pefkohori and Hanioti have bar strips that fill with young Greeks from Thessaloniki at weekends.

In the Peloponnese, evenings are mostly harbour-front drinks in Nafplio or Kalamata. Its only real club scene is in the university city of Patras, which is out of the way for most visitors.

Halkidiki's nature is a coastal one: pine forest meeting clear water, at its finest around Sithonia's headlands and Mount Itamos, and best enjoyed from a kayak or a boat to Diaporos.

The Peloponnese has much more for anyone who walks. Taygetos rises to about 2,400m, the Lousios and Vouraikos gorges link monasteries and stone villages, and the bare Mani runs down to Cape Tainaron. There is also birdlife at the Gialova lagoon and skiing on Chelmos in winter.

For Halkidiki, the obvious day trip is Thessaloniki, with Vergina and Pella beyond it, plus Ammouliani or Kavala from the Athos side.

The Peloponnese gives you more and better choices. From Nafplio you can take a ferry to car-free Hydra and Spetses or drive to Nemea's wineries. Further south are Monemvasia, Elafonisos and the Mani villages, and Athens is a two-hour drive. You will need a car for nearly all of them.

Halkidiki is the easier choice with small children. The sand on Kassandra and around Gerakini shelves very gently, the sea is usually calm, and many large resorts are designed around families, so most days need no planning.

The Peloponnese has good family beaches too, at Tolo, in Messinia and on Elafonisos, and Mycenae or Olympia will interest older children if you go early in the day. Expect long drives and little shade at the sites.

You need a car in both. In Halkidiki the peninsula shape is the problem: to go from one to the next you drive back to the base and down again, and Kassandra's single road gets slow on summer weekends.

The Peloponnese is a little easier, because motorways link the Corinth Canal with Kalamata and Olympia. Once you leave them, the Mani and mountain roads are slow and winding, and buses are no use for reaching sites.

Neither is a shopping destination, but the Peloponnese has a bit more. Nafplio's old lanes sell jewellery, worry beads and ceramics, and there are lively weekly markets in Kalamata and Tripoli. In Halkidiki the best things to buy are olive oil, honey, and the icons and incense sold in Ouranoupoli. Otherwise it is resort beachwear.

The Peloponnese works out somewhat cheaper. Family-run rooms in Mani and Arcadian villages and inexpensive taverna meals help, although a hire car and site entry fees add to the bill. Halkidiki is moderately priced thanks to its many simple apartments, but beachfront rooms and sunbeds on Kassandra get expensive in high summer. In both regions, June and September give you the same sea for less.

The Peloponnese has the one performance worth planning a trip around: ancient drama at night in the theatre of Epidaurus, plus Kalamata's summer dance festival. Halkidiki's summer stages are the open-air Kassandra Festival at Siviri and the Sani Festival's jazz and classical evenings. These are pleasant if you are already there, but for anything more you go to Thessaloniki.

The two are about equal, and both are mostly about slowing down. Halkidiki has the more striking thermal bathing, at Agia Paraskevi above the sea, and its quietest stretches are on Sithonia and towards Ouranoupoli.

In the Peloponnese the peace is in stone villages and empty out-of-season coves. Its bathing is in the old spa towns of Loutraki and Methana and at the sulphur lake at Kaiafas.