Kefalonia or Santorini?

Beaches are Kefalonia's strongest card, and it comes out well ahead. Its coves are spread around a large island. Myrtos and Petani have white pebble below green cliffs, Xi has reddish sand in shallow water, and Skala and Lourdas have long stretches of sand. The water is exceptionally clear, and the coves are worth driving between.

Santorini's beaches are black sand and pebble below cliffs of red, grey and ochre rock. Perissa, Perivolos and Kamari are well set up with sunbeds, but the dark sand gets very hot and the meltemi can churn the sea. Most visitors treat a beach day as a break from the caldera rather than the reason for coming.

Santorini eats and drinks better. Its volcanic soil gives intense small produce such as fava, cherry tomatoes and capers. The wine is the real attraction: Assyrtiko from basket-trained vines and sweet Vinsanto, tasted at wineries around Pyrgos and Megalochori. Avoid restaurants that charge mainly for the sunset.

Kefalonia's cooking is plainer and more homely: meat pie, salt cod with aliada and thyme honey in family tavernas by the harbours. Robola from the Omala valley makes a pleasant tasting outing, but outside Argostoli the menus repeat themselves.

Santorini has far more to see. Akrotiri, a Bronze Age town preserved under volcanic ash, is a sight of real importance, and its wall paintings continue in the museum in Fira. Add Ancient Thera, the cliff villages with their captains' mansions and the fortified inland cores of Pyrgos and Emporio.

On Kefalonia the 1953 earthquake wiped out most old buildings, so its heritage comes in fragments: Venetian Fiskardo, the castles at Assos and Agios Georgios, a Mycenaean tomb and the ruined village of Old Vlachata. They make good outings but rarely shape a trip.

Neither island is a party destination, but Santorini offers more after dark. A few lanes in Fira have cocktail bars and small clubs that run into the early hours in high summer, and Kamari and Perissa add beach bars with music.

Kefalonia's evenings are a long dinner followed by a drink on the Lithostroto in Argostoli, along the bar strip at Lassi or by the harbour at Skala or Fiskardo. Outside July and August most places close before midnight.

Both islands offer strong scenery, but of very different kinds. Kefalonia is green and mountainous. Mount Ainos has its fir forest and semi-wild horses, Melissani and Drogarati are caves to go underground in, turtles feed in Argostoli harbour, and kayaking and sailing towards Ithaca are the main activities.

Santorini is one dramatic, treeless volcano. The 10km rim path from Fira to Oia, the climb up the lava cone of Nea Kameni and sailing or diving inside the flooded caldera are unforgettable, but you can cover them in a day or two.

Both islands rely on boats for their outings, and neither has a long list. From Kefalonia the easy choice is Ithaca, a short crossing from Sami to Vathy and the fishing villages. Summer boats also reach northern Zakynthos and Lefkada, and Fiskardo and Paliki make good drives within the island.

Santorini has a wider spread of Cycladic islands within reach, from quiet Thirasia to Ios, Folegandros, Naxos and even Knossos on Crete. However, nearly everything leaves from the one port at Athinios, and wind can cancel crossings.

Kefalonia is the easier island with children. The gently shelving sand at Skala, Lourdas and Xi, the boat ride through Melissani and turtle spotting fill days well, though the drives between sights are long and winding.

On Santorini, the stepped, crowded caldera villages are hard work with a pushchair, and some cliff hotels turn small children away. Families do best on the flat seafronts of Kamari and Perissa, where there is a small water park, but the dark sand gets very hot in high summer.

Santorini is the easier island to get around, mainly because it is small: no drive takes more than about an hour. Buses link everything through Fira, so staying there works without a car, though in summer the buses are packed and parking in Oia is scarce.

Kefalonia is large and mountainous. Argostoli to Fiskardo alone is about an hour and a half on winding roads, and the buses run too rarely to rely on, so a hire car is close to essential.

Santorini has more to browse, all of it in the cliff-top lanes of Oia and Fira. You'll find galleries of island artists, jewellers near Fira's cathedral, linen, ceramics and plenty of souvenirs, though there are no markets or high street.

Kefalonia offers little beyond everyday shops on Argostoli's Lithostroto and a few boutiques in Fiskardo. On both islands the best things to take home are edible: Robola, thyme honey and mandoles on one, and Assyrtiko, Vinsanto and capers on the other.

Kefalonia is clearly the cheaper choice. Apartments and small hotels around Skala, Lourdas and Lassi are good value, and taverna meals are reasonably priced. Hiring a car and staying in Fiskardo or Assos are the main extra costs.

On Santorini the view drives the price. Cave suites on the rim in Oia and Imerovigli cost more than almost anywhere in Greece. Even budget travellers end up staying in Kamari or Perissa and walking up to the rim just for the sunset.

Neither island has a theatre, opera or regular concert season. What differs is the kind of music you might hear. Kefalonia has its own tradition: kantades serenades and an old philharmonic band, best heard at village festivals and open-air concerts in Argostoli in summer. Santorini's main event is an international classical festival held in Fira at the end of summer, plus occasional concerts in old mansions and wineries.

Kefalonia slows you down through its pace rather than pampering, and it has no spa or bathing tradition of its own. Long lunches in hill villages, harbour evenings in Assos and Fiskardo and quiet stays on Paliki or the north-east coast make it easy to unwind. Treatments mean the spas of the larger resort hotels around Lassi and Skala.

Santorini's idea of rest is more polished: a luxury cave hotel in Imerovigli or Oia, with a heated plunge pool facing the caldera. Boats also stop off Palea Kameni so you can swim into its warm, rust-coloured spring water. Day crowds on the rim can break the calm, so Imerovigli and the wine villages of Pyrgos and Megalochori make quieter bases.