Honolulu or Montego Bay?

Both have warm, reef-sheltered water, but Honolulu has more good beaches. Waikiki is crowded but easy for beginner surfing. Ala Moana and Kaimana are calmer, and within an hour you reach the white sand of Kailua and Lanikai, the reef at Hanauma Bay and, in summer, the glassy North Shore.

Montego Bay's sea is a few degrees warmer, and Doctor's Cave Beach is a lovely place to swim. Still, the town beaches are small, and much of the coast is rocky or private. Most visitors end up on their resort's own sand, and the nearest long beach is Negril, a full day out.

Honolulu eats more widely. Poke, plate lunch and Hawaiian kalua pig sit alongside some of the best Japanese food outside Japan, and Chinatown adds dim sum and produce markets. Kaimuki and Kapahulu are where locals go for a meal.

Montego Bay's cooking has just as much character, from pimento-smoked jerk to ackee and saltfish and curry goat, but the range is narrow. Beyond the roadside stands and fish shacks there is little choice, and many visitors eat mostly from resort buffets.

Honolulu has the stronger sightseeing. It tells two big stories, the Hawaiian kingdom and the Pacific war, at Iolani Palace, the Bishop Museum's Polynesian collections and the USS Arizona Memorial, with Asian art at the Honolulu Museum of Art for good measure. That is two or three full days.

Montego Bay's heritage is plantation history: Rose Hall and Greenwood great houses and Sam Sharpe Square, which remembers the 1831 rebellion. It has no major museum, so a day covers it, with Falmouth along the coast for anyone who wants more.

Neither is a place for serious clubbing, and the evenings differ in mood more than in size. Honolulu is more of a bar town: sunset mai tais in Waikiki, cocktail and dive bars in Chinatown and breweries in Kakaako, mostly over well before dawn.

Montego Bay is louder and later when it gets going. The Hip Strip's beachfront bars can run into the small hours, and at weekends there are local street dances with sound systems playing dancehall. It is best to go with someone who knows the scene and to take taxis between places.

Honolulu's landscape is far more dramatic and much easier to reach. Volcanic ridges, rainforest waterfalls and the crater rim at Diamond Head are all within half an hour of the beach. In the water there are turtles, surf breaks and humpback whales in winter.

Montego Bay has its own pleasures: the reefs of the marine park, bamboo rafting on the Martha Brae and hand-fed hummingbirds at Rocklands. Most of it is guided and short, though, and its wilder places, Cockpit Country and the Black River wetlands, take a long day to reach.

Montego Bay has the better outings. Falmouth's Georgian streets are forty minutes away, and Negril's cliffs and Ocho Rios lie in opposite directions along the coast. Inland, Nine Mile and the Appleton rum estate make full days, though the roads are slow and most people go on an organised tour.

Oahu is small, so Honolulu's trips are more of the same island: surf-town Haleiwa, Kailua, the Polynesian Cultural Center and a loop drive around the coast. Going further means a flight to another island, which is better done with a few nights' stay.

Honolulu is much better for children outside the hotel. The zoo, the aquarium, Sea Life Park, the Ko Olina lagoons and an easy first snorkel at Hanauma Bay fill a week, and the local culture welcomes children.

Montego Bay works for families who are content to stay in a resort with a kids' club and splash pools in calm, shallow water. Beyond that there is little for children, and the busy traffic and lack of pavements keep most families close to the hotel.

Honolulu is much easier without a car. Waikiki is flat and walkable, and TheBus reaches Chinatown, Pearl Harbor and even the North Shore, slowly. Many visitors hire a car for only a day or two to drive around the island.

In Montego Bay, the airport's closeness to the Hip Strip is the only easy part. The resorts are spread along the coast, pavements soon run out and the route taxis are hard for a visitor to use. That leaves tourist taxis, hotel shuttles and tour buses, with fares agreed before you set off.

Honolulu is a real shopping destination. Kalakaua Avenue has a long row of luxury fashion houses, the open-air Ala Moana Center is huge, and independent design and surf shops gather in Kakaako and Kaimuki. Aloha shirts, koa bowls and ukuleles make good things to take home.

Montego Bay offers craft-market carvings bought with some haggling, and duty-free jewellery and rum near the cruise port. The most worthwhile buys are coffee and jerk seasoning.

Neither is cheap, but Honolulu is the harder on the wallet. Almost everything arrives by ship, and rooms, resort fees, restaurants and car hire add up fast. Free beaches and hikes and the cheap bus help, and so do poke counters and plate lunches.

Montego Bay's resorts and tourist taxis are priced for North American visitors too, but an all-inclusive package keeps the total predictable. Eating at jerk pits and beach shacks costs very little.

Honolulu has a little more to offer. Slack-key guitar and hula can be seen properly at the free Kuhio Beach shows and the festivals held through the year, and the Hawaii Theatre, the symphony and the opera put on short seasons.

Montego Bay is reggae and dancehall and not much else. Reggae Sumfest fills the town each summer, and the rest of the year brings cover bands and resort shows, with no theatre or classical music to speak of.

The two are fairly level here, and in both the calm comes from resort spas and sea air rather than any bathing tradition. Honolulu adds its own lomilomi massage and dawn yoga on the sand, with Kahala and the windward side for quiet.

Montego Bay leans on its many adults-only resorts and open-air spa pavilions by the sea. There, how restful the stay feels depends almost entirely on the hotel you choose.