I have heard that Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket attract different kinds of people. My wife and I are planning a trip in May. Could someone point out the main differences to help us choose which one to pick for our vacation? Thanks, Soundar.

Start with this: Martha's Vineyard (MV) is larger, has several towns, mostly navigated by car, so accessible to a wide ranger and larger number of people.

Nantucket is smaller, more quaint, caters to pedestrians and cyclists over autos, and it costs you a fortune to ferry your car there.

Result: people who are well-heeled and want a quieter, slightly more "authentic" place end up on Nantucket. This may mean the average age is a shade older. People who are almost as well-heeled but perhaps seeking a "livelier" scene in one or another of the towns end up in MV, so perhaps a shade younger. There are also -- I'm sorry to say (snff!) -- a lot of celebs on MV, so there are a few star-chasers around, though not many.

These are generalizations. Others may disagree.

I've only spent one week in Nantucket, but I wouldn't go back. Way too prissy,
rich-looking, conservative crowd. It's a beautiful place, but everything is
incredibly expensive, and I felt like a fish out of water.

Martha's Vineyard is not exactly a budget vacation, but it feels much less snobby as a place. Since it's larger than Nantucket, there's a much wider range of people and styles, including plenty of artsy and laid-back types. I
don't think you can go wrong here!

It's easy enough to have a vacation on MV and take a day trip to Nantucket
(or vice versa, for that matter).

I'll look forward to reading other opinions here.

Have fun!

Nantucket is one of my favorite places on earth. It is a small, beautiful island that seems to have remained untouched by time, tourism, and decay. It's also one of the few places in this country where the average price of a home is higher than that in the Hamptons, and Nantucket reflects that: pretty much everything is expensive. So, of course, it attracts a well heeled type of visitor. I'd argue, though, that two things in the above posts miss the mark: 1) average age of Nantucket visitors being older (my friends and I love the place, and we're in our mid twenties) and 2) prissy or conservative people - no one I've met on Nantucket has been offensive, conservative, snobby, or prissy at all.

You can ride your bike all over Nantucket, visit remote beaches where even during the last week of September you'll be the only person, go out for a fantastic dinner, hit a bar or wander the streets looking at the beautiful old houses, sit at Medakat and watch the sunset, go shopping at great little unique shops... paradise.

Nantucket is small, remote, and untouched. Martha's Vineyard is not half as secluded or charming, but certainly has its fans.

Keep in mind that May is not high tourist season for either place, which is in your favor wherever you go!