Moorea or New Caledonia?

The beaches are on a par, but they work differently. On Moorea you mostly swim straight into the lagoon from a jetty or deck. Temae in the north-east and the strips around Hauru Point are the main sandy beaches, and the warm water makes swimming easy all year.

New Caledonia has the grander sand, though mostly away from the capital. Kuto and Kanumera on the Isle of Pines and the long beach on Ouvéa are the reasons to go, with Anse Vata and the islets of Amédée and Maître as the easy options near Nouméa. The water there is cooler in the southern winter, and swimmers need to watch for shark signs.

New Caledonia eats better. Nouméa's French bakeries, wine bistros and seafood tables are served by the territory's farmed blue prawns. Long-settled Vietnamese and Indonesian families add bami and nems, and bougna at a tribal homestay is a meal to remember.

Moorea has poisson cru, grilled lagoon fish, evening roulottes and sweet local pineapple. Beyond that there is a short list of restaurants around Cook's Bay and Hauru Point, and many visitors end up cooking for themselves.

New Caledonia has more to see. Renzo Piano's Tjibaou Cultural Centre is a real introduction to Kanak culture, the Museum of New Caledonia holds carvings and ceremonial axes, and the penal colony ruins on Nouville and the Isle of Pines tell a hard nineteenth-century story.

Moorea's heritage takes an afternoon or two: the restored marae under the chestnut trees of the Opunohu valley, the octagonal mission church at Papetoai and a cultural village.

Neither place is for serious nightlife, but New Caledonia at least has some. On Friday and Saturday nights a few bars and small clubs on the Baie des Citrons and at Anse Vata stay busy past midnight. On Moorea the evening is a sunset drink near Hauru Point and an early night, and a night out in Papeete is not practical with the ferry times.

Moorea has the edge, mostly because of how much is packed into a small space. Peaks like Mount Rotui rise straight from the lagoon, the Belvedere lookout and the Three Coconuts trail are a short drive apart, and stingrays and blacktip sharks swim in water you can stand in.

New Caledonia's natural world is larger and more varied, but spread out. Its UNESCO-listed lagoon has dugongs, Anse Vata is known for kitesurfing, and the red earth of the Grand Sud and the Blue River park, home of the kagu, are unlike anything on Moorea. Both get humpback whales in the southern winter.

New Caledonia has a few more places to go for the day: the Isle of Pines by plane or ferry, the convict village at Prony, and the drive up the west coast to Bourail and Fort Teremba. From Moorea there is really only Tahiti, half an hour or so away by ferry, for Papeete's market and the coast road out to Point Venus.

New Caledonia is easier with children. Nouméa adds an aquarium with nautilus and a zoo and forest park to the calm water at Anse Vata. Boat trips go to islets with lifeguards, and French supermarkets and pharmacies make everyday life simple.

Moorea's sandbars full of rays thrill older children who can snorkel, but nothing on the island is built for them. Many resorts are aimed at couples, so families do best in a pension near the northern beaches.

Moorea is much simpler to get around. One quiet road of about 60km circles the island, and with a car, scooter or e-bike nothing is more than half an hour away. Without your own wheels you depend on taxis and shuttles, because buses only meet the ferries.

In New Caledonia, Nouméa's buses reach the beaches, but you need a car anywhere else. The east coast is hours away over the mountains, and the outer islands mean a flight or a fast ferry.

Neither is a shopping trip, but New Caledonia gives you slightly more choice. Central Nouméa has French fashion and swimwear boutiques and some duty-free shops, and the morning market at Port Moselle sells Kanak carvings, vanilla and sandalwood. Moorea comes down to one serious purchase, Tahitian black pearls from shops around Cook's Bay, plus pareos and monoi from roadside stalls.

Both are among the most expensive places you can travel to, and almost everything in either is imported. You save money in similar ways, but in different places: on Moorea through family pensions, roulottes and the supermarket, and in New Caledonia through tribal homestays and simple bungalows on the Isle of Pines and the Loyalty Islands. Domestic flights add more to the bill in New Caledonia.

New Caledonia has a bit more going on. The Tjibaou Cultural Centre stages Kanak dance, theatre and concerts, Nouméa has a modest theatre and some bars with live bands, and kaneka music can be heard at local festivals. On Moorea, live performance means skilled ori Tahiti and fire dancing at resort dinner shows, and the great July Heiva takes place across the water in Papeete.

Moorea is better for unwinding. The whole island runs slowly and quietly, overwater bungalows invite long idle hours, and resort spas offer taurumi massage with tiare-scented monoi.

New Caledonia can be just as calm on Ouvéa or Maré, with spa treatments using niaouli and tamanu oils. Most stays begin in Nouméa, though, which is still a working town, and the one thermal spring, at La Crouen, is a long drive away.