Background: Opting for a home birth or a caesarean section in a culture where vaginal birth in a hospital is the norm challenges the health care system. The aim of this study is to describe women with a planned home birth and women with a planned caesarean section on maternal request regarding background factors, experience of care, and the birth experience. Methods: A descriptive study of a secondary analysis of data comprising three cohorts of women who gave birth from1997-2008, including 671 women with a planned home birth and 126 women with planned caesarean sections, where maternal request was present. Data was collected by means of questionnaires. Logistic regression with crude and adjusted Odds Ratios with a 95% confidence interval was calculated. Results: Women with a planned home birth were less likely to have a high Body Mass Index (OR 0.2; 95% CI 0.1-0.6), and less likely to be smokers (OR 0.2; 0.1-0.6) as compared to women with planned caesarean sections. When adjusted for background variables, women with a planned home birth felt safer in terms of feeling less threat to the baby’s life during birth (OR 0.1; 0.03-0.4), satisfied with participation in decision making (OR 6.0; 95% CI 3.3-10.7), more satisfied with support from midwife (OR 3.9 (2.2-7.0), more in control (OR 3.3; 1.6-6.6), had a more positive birth experience (OR 2.9; 1.7-5.0) and were more satisfied with intrapartum care (OR 2.3; 1.3-4.1)compared to women who had their wishes of a planned caesarean section fulfilled. Conclusions: Women who planned a home birth and women who have a caesarean section on maternal request are, from a characteristic point of view, two entirely different groups of mothers. Although women who had their wishes about mode of delivery fulfilled, in a birth context that neither promotes home birth nor caesarean section without medical reasons, most studied variables favoured home birth with more involvement in decision making and a more positive birth experience.