St Barts or St Thomas?

Both islands are built around their beaches, with warm, clear water all year, so the difference lies in their character. St Barts has a string of small public coves, from the wild, shadeless sweep of Saline and Gouverneur to the reef-sheltered lagoons of Grand Cul-de-Sac, with walk-in Colombier for real seclusion, and they are rarely crowded.

St Thomas offers longer strands, above all the sheltered horseshoe of Magens Bay, plus the east-end beaches around Red Hook and snorkelling off Coki Point. Its trump card is St John's north shore a short ferry ride away, though cruise days can fill the best-known beaches.

St Barts eats noticeably better, in a French key: fresh croissants from Gustavia's boulangeries, supermarkets stocked with French cheese and wine for villa cooking, and polished dinners on hillside terraces. The catch is that almost everything sits at the same expensive, refined level.

St Thomas has the more local flavour, with saltfish pates, kallaloo, fungi and goat stew from roadside stands and lunch counters, and decent waterside restaurants in Frenchtown and Red Hook. Beyond those, menus tend to be predictable, and it is not a place to plan a trip around meals.

Neither island is a sightseeing destination, but St Thomas has more to show. Charlotte Amalie's Danish-era warehouses, step streets such as the 99 Steps, Fort Christian and the sand-floored synagogue fill a half day to a full day of history.

St Barts's Swedish past survives in a handful of things, the clock tower, the Wall House museum and the fort ruins above Gustavia, along with the church at Lorient and the village of Corossol. An hour or two covers them.

St Barts has a real scene, if a seasonal and expensive one: from Christmas into spring, beach lunches at St Jean run into afternoon parties, and evenings move to Gustavia's harbour bars, a couple of late clubs and the yachts. The New Year week is the loudest of all, though much shuts in late summer and autumn.

St Thomas stays casual, with open-air bars around the Red Hook ferry dock busiest at weekends and a few waterside spots in Frenchtown. There is no club scene, so nights end with conversation rather than dancing.

St Thomas gives far more to do outdoors, mostly thanks to its neighbours. Most of St John is national park, with trails down to sugar mill ruins and petroglyphs, and the sheltered channels of the Virgin Islands make this one of the great sailing grounds, with charters, kayaks and dive boats leaving Red Hook.

St Barts has lovely hill-road views and protected reefs where turtles turn up while snorkelling, plus kitesurfing in the Grand Cul-de-Sac lagoon. On land, though, the dry, scrubby hills offer only short walks such as the cliff path to Colombier, and a few days covers it.

St Thomas is the better base for days away, all by boat: St John and Cruz Bay are a short hop, the British Virgin Islands are close enough for a day with a passport, and St Croix's Danish towns make a longer outing.

From St Barts there is realistically one trip, the hour's ferry to St Martin for Marigot, Grand Case and Philipsburg. Other neighbours need a charter or small plane, so most stays never leave the island.

St Thomas suits children better. Magens Bay's calm water, beach snorkelling at Coki Point, Coral World's touch pools and turtles, and the Skyride give a family several easy days out, and English and familiar brands make the logistics simple.

St Barts is very safe, with shallow lagoons at Grand and Petit Cul-de-Sac and Shell Beach, and a villa pool fills much of the day. But nothing is made for children, and older ones can run out of things to do.

Neither island has a bus service that visitors can rely on, so most people hire a car, but St Barts is the simpler place to get about. Every beach is only a few minutes' drive from any villa, and you can walk around the Gustavia harbour and along the main strip at St Jean. The difficult parts are the narrow, steep hairpin roads with blind corners and the tight parking in Gustavia in high season, and the few taxis have to be booked.

St Thomas asks more of a driver. You drive on the left, mostly in left-hand-drive cars, on winding hill roads, and the traffic around Charlotte Amalie gets heavy on cruise days. Safari taxis running fixed routes are an alternative to hiring a car, though each passenger pays a separate fare, and walking only works within the old town or a single resort area.

Both rely on duty-free status, but they sell different things. Gustavia's harbour streets lean towards luxury fashion boutiques alongside watches and jewellery, with resort wear in St Jean and straw work from Corossol.

Charlotte Amalie's Main Street and its old stone warehouses are aimed at targeted tax-free buys, jewellery, watches, perfume and liquor, with generous allowances for US visitors and local hot sauces and art at small galleries.

Both are expensive, but St Barts is in a class of its own, with winter villas and beach lunches priced for the very wealthy, plus the small-plane flight and obligatory hire car. Cooking from the supermarket helps only a little.

St Thomas is still costly, especially in winter and for families paying per-person taxi fares. It does, however, have a cheaper layer to fall back on, from roadside food stands and lunch counters to free beaches.

Formal performance is thin on both, with St Thomas slightly ahead. It has the Reichhold Center's open-air amphitheatre for occasional concerts and dance, and living traditions of steel pan, quelbe and mocko jumbies that come to the fore at spring Carnival.

St Barts's highlight is its long-established January music festival of classical music and opera in Gustavia's churches. The rest of the year it means harbour bands and DJs in season.

St Barts is the more restful island. With no high-rises, no casinos and few crowds, its days settle into beach, lunch and sunset, and the luxury hotel spas and visiting masseurs and yoga teachers are of a high standard. The New Year week is the exception.

St Thomas can be calm on the north shore and east end, but resort spas are its only offer. The capital and popular beaches feel busy when several cruise ships dock, so a quiet stay means basing yourself away from the harbour.