Saint-Martin or St Thomas?

Both islands have outstanding beaches, but they are spread out differently. Saint-Martin has more variety on its own coastline. Orient Bay is the long, social beach with water sports. The west-coast bays, such as Baie Rouge and Baie Longue, have calm, clear water for snorkelling, and Le Galion is shallow and sheltered. When seaweed drifts onto the Atlantic side, the leeward coast is the safer choice.

St Thomas has Magens Bay, a sheltered horseshoe of white sand, and an east end where you can stay within walking distance of Sapphire or Lindquist. Its best sand is on St John, though: Trunk and Cinnamon Bays are twenty minutes away by ferry. Cruise days crowd Magens Bay and Coki Point, so go early.

Saint-Martin is the better island for food, mainly because of Grand Case. That one seafront street has French and creole dining rooms over the water, with lolos next door grilling ribs and lobster at shared tables. Proper croissants, French cheese and wine in the supermarkets, and accras and saltfish give it a French and Caribbean mix that St Thomas cannot match.

St Thomas's best food is its West Indian cooking: pates, kallaloo, fungi with boiled fish and goat stew, sold at roadside stands and lunch counters around Charlotte Amalie. Frenchtown and Red Hook have good fish restaurants with water views. Beyond those, most menus rely on imported ingredients and feel predictable.

St Thomas has far more history to see. Two centuries of Danish rule left Charlotte Amalie with stone warehouses on narrow alleys, step streets climbing the hillside and red-roofed merchant houses. Fort Christian is the oldest building in the territory, and the synagogue, with its sand floor, is one of the oldest still in use in the Americas. Together they fill a good half day or more.

Saint-Martin has much less. You can climb to the ruins of Fort Louis for the view over Marigot's harbour, walk a few streets of balconied creole houses and visit a small museum of Arawak and salt-pan history. Most people finish it all before lunch.

Evenings are low-key on both islands. Where they differ is what you can find later on. On Saint-Martin's French side, nights are long dinners in Grand Case, with street music on busy winter nights. Anyone who wants clubs or casinos after midnight can drive across the open border to Simpson Bay and Maho.

St Thomas has no club scene. Its liveliest corner is the cluster of open-air bars at the Red Hook ferry dock, where boat crews and residents drink late at weekends. Frenchtown adds a few waterside bars. Charlotte Amalie goes quiet once the cruise ships sail.

St Thomas has the better outdoors, and most of it is across the water. About two thirds of St John is national park, with forest trails down to sugar-mill ruins, petroglyphs and quiet bays, plus a marked snorkel trail off Trunk Bay. Red Hook is a base for sailing charters through the sheltered Virgin Islands channels, with diving and paddling too.

Saint-Martin's interior is greener than people expect. Trails climb Pic Paradis, at about 424m, and there is a treetop park on its slopes. On the water, the reserve around Tintamarre and Creole Rock has turtles and rays, and Orient Bay's steady trade winds suit kitesurfers. It is an enjoyable, active offer, but on a smaller scale.

Saint-Martin has the better day trips because its neighbours differ so much. Anguilla is a short ferry ride away, with quiet, low-rise beaches. St Barths offers polished Gustavia and its boutiques, and Saba and Sint Eustatius are volcanic islands for a long day out. You can also drive to Philipsburg and to Maho, where planes land low over the beach.

From St Thomas, St John's Cruz Bay is the easy trip and Water Island a quiet short hop. The British Virgin Islands, from Jost Van Dyke's beach bars to the boulders of Virgin Gorda, mean passports and customs. St Croix's Danish towns take a longer day.

Saint-Martin's appeal for families comes from the water and the kind of place you rent. Le Galion's reef-sheltered shallows and Pinel's calm beach, a short boat ride away, suit small swimmers, and villas with kitchens and pools make daily life easy. Older children get the treetop park in the hills and the planes landing low at Maho. The swell on the Atlantic beaches can be too much for little ones.

St Thomas has more that is built for children. Coral World, next to Coki Point, has an undersea observatory, touch pools and turtles, and the Skyride above the harbour makes an easy outing. Resorts cater well for families, and English and US currency make the practical side simple. The midday heat, though, makes outings more tiring than the island's small size suggests.

On both islands you will want a hire car, and both have narrow roads that clog near the main town. On Saint-Martin, nothing is more than about forty minutes' drive away. Minibuses link Marigot, Grand Case and Philipsburg, and the French-Dutch border is open, so crossing it hardly registers.

St Thomas is harder work for drivers. Traffic keeps to the left, most cars have the steering wheel on the left, and the roads are steep. Open-sided safari taxis run fixed routes instead of buses. Its strong point is the frequent, simple ferry from Red Hook to St John.

One island shops like a French market town, the other like a duty-free main street. On Saint-Martin, Marigot's waterfront stalls sell spices, rum and colourful fabrics, and the streets behind have French boutiques and perfume. A bottle of guavaberry liqueur is the most characterful thing to take home, and Philipsburg's duty-free Front Street is just across the open border.

St Thomas focuses on Main Street in Charlotte Amalie and the old stone warehouses off it. This long-established duty-free district is full of jewellery, watches, perfume and liquor, and US travellers get a generous customs allowance. Away from there, local hot sauces, spice blends and the small art galleries make better souvenirs than the shops by the cruise dock at Havensight.

Both are expensive Caribbean islands, especially in winter, and the costs add up in different places. On Saint-Martin, restaurants charge French prices or more, and most visitors pay for car hire and boat trips. The lolos and supermarket picnics help, and accommodation gets clearly cheaper in late spring and summer.

On St Thomas, the importing of nearly everything raises the cost of rooms, groceries and meals. Taxis charge per passenger, which hits families hardest. Local lunch counters and mostly free beaches are the main savings.

Neither island has much organised performance, but St Thomas has a little more. The Reichhold Center, an open-air amphitheatre on the university campus, puts on occasional concerts and dance. Spring Carnival shows off quelbe folk music and the mocko jumbies on stilts.

Saint-Martin has no venue or regular programme at all. Live music there means steel pan, zouk or soca at a beach bar or on a busy night in Grand Case, and Carnival's parades and soca competitions are the high point of the year.

Neither island has a spa or bathing tradition, so on both you relax by slowing down. Saint-Martin has a bit more besides the resorts, with independent massage studios and beachside yoga. A villa above Anse Marcel or a cove on the west coast is the place to switch off.

On St Thomas, wellness mostly means resort spas with sea views. The east end and north shore are the calm areas, and staying away from the harbour keeps you clear of the cruise-day crowds.