Acapulco or Mexico City?

There is no contest here. Acapulco's bay has sand along its whole curve, with calm swimming at Caleta, Caletilla, Roqueta Island and Puerto Marqués. The long surf beaches of Revolcadero and Pie de la Cuesta are for watching sunsets, not for swimming.

Mexico City sits inland at altitude, so swimming there means a hotel pool. Visitors who want both usually pair the two cities and add a few days on the coast at the start or end of the trip.

Acapulco has a few dishes worth seeking out: pescado a la talla grilled over wood at Barra Vieja, its tomato-based ceviche, and green pozole on Thursdays. Beyond those, the Costera is mostly chains and tourist seafood places.

Mexico City is one of the main reasons to travel in Mexico for food. It has al pastor stands, breakfast tamales, the markets of Medellín, San Juan and La Merced, cantinas and pulquerías, and highly regarded tasting menus in Roma, Condesa and Polanco. The catch is that the best places are spread across a huge city.

Acapulco's history fits into a day. The main sights are the star-shaped Fuerte de San Diego, which guarded the Manila galleons, the divers at La Quebrada, Rivera's mosaic on the Casa de los Vientos and the cathedral with its unusual domes. The city's real character is its mid-century resort glamour.

Mexico City could fill a week with museums and monuments alone. It has the Templo Mayor beside the Zócalo, Rivera's murals in the National Palace, the Anthropology Museum with its Sun Stone, Bellas Artes, and the Kahlo and Rivera houses in Coyoacán and San Ángel. Rivera's work appears in both cities, but on very different scales.

Acapulco's nights are big and mainstream. Beach bars and hillside clubs along the Costera stay open until dawn and are fullest when crowds from the capital drive down for long weekends, Easter and Christmas. Midweek in the quieter months, the strip can feel half empty.

Mexico City has more variety and busy nights all year. In Roma and Condesa you can walk between cocktail bars, mezcalerías and rooftop terraces, the Centro has old cantinas, and there are salsa halls, electronic clubs and the large LGBTQ scene of the Zona Rosa. In both cities, take a car home late at night.

Both cities have a fair amount of outdoors, but of opposite kinds. Acapulco's is mostly about water: the horseshoe bay seen from the Scenic Highway, snorkelling off Roqueta, sailfishing, mangrove boat rides on Coyuca Lagoon and turtle releases at Barra Vieja. The heat makes hiking hard work.

Mexico City's is mostly about altitude. There are pine forests at Desierto de los Leones, the slopes of Ajusco, the pass between Iztaccíhuatl and Popocatépetl and, in winter, the monarch butterfly reserves. Getting out of the city through traffic takes time, and air quality can be poor in the dry season.

Acapulco's outings stay close to town: half days at Pie de la Cuesta for the lagoon and Barra Vieja for grilled fish. Taxco is around three hours away and works better as an overnight trip.

Mexico City is a far better base. Teotihuacan is about an hour away, and Puebla and Cholula about two. Cuernavaca, Tepoztlán, the Xochicalco ruins and Taxco all lie to the south. Leave early to beat the traffic out of the city.

Acapulco gives children calm, shallow water at Caleta and Caletilla, boat rides to Roqueta, the CICI water park and resort kids' clubs. However, the heat, the traffic and the dangerous surf on the open beaches mean most families stay inside their resort.

Mexico City has more to fill the days. There is the zoo, the boating lakes and the Papalote museum in Chapultepec, an aquarium in Polanco, trajinera boats at Xochimilco, lucha libre and the pyramids. Long journeys and the altitude can tire children, so plan the city one neighbourhood at a time.

Neither city is easy to get around, but Mexico City is easier. Acapulco is one long boulevard served by buses and taxis, with no rail. The hills are steep, and the old town, the strip and Diamante are too far apart to walk between.

In the capital, the districts visitors use most (the Centro, Roma, Condesa, Polanco and Coyoacán) are good on foot. A cheap metro, the Metrobús and a bike-share system link them, and ride-hailing cars fill the gaps. The downsides of its size are crowded trains at rush hour, pickpockets and heavy traffic.

Acapulco's best buy is silver from Taxco. You can find it in the artisan market near the old town, alongside Olinalá lacquerware, hammocks and masks, and there are chain malls in Diamante.

Mexico City brings together crafts from the whole country at La Ciudadela. It also has the Saturday bazaar in San Ángel and the Sunday flea market at La Lagunilla, luxury shops on Masaryk and Mexican designers in Roma and Condesa.

Both cities are inexpensive by international standards, and in both the cost depends on where you stay. In Acapulco, the older Costera hotels, seafood lunches and buses are cheap, while Diamante, Las Brisas and the busy weeks of Easter, Christmas and long weekends cost more.

In Mexico City, prices rise in Roma, Condesa and Polanco, where hotels and restaurants approach European levels. The Centro, street food, the metro and free museum days keep a stay cheap. In short, the coast costs more at certain times of year, and the capital costs more in certain districts.

Live performance in Acapulco is informal. There are mariachis and trios at dinner, folk dance shows in hotels, touring pop stars in Diamante and occasional concerts by the Acapulco Philharmonic, but no regular theatre or opera.

Mexico City has full opera and symphony seasons at Bellas Artes and the Ballet Folklórico, which works well for visitors without Spanish. It also has the university orchestra at Sala Nezahualcóyotl, jazz and son clubs, the mariachis of Plaza Garibaldi, and lucha libre at Arena México.

Acapulco's beaches are less restful than they look, and for a calm stay the noisy capital edges it. On the coast, quiet mostly means paying a resort for it: the spas of Diamante and Las Brisas, or a clifftop hotel with its pool above the bay. Otherwise, stay out at Pie de la Cuesta, away from the music and traffic of the Costera.

Mexico City has the temazcal, a pre-Hispanic steam bath ritual, good day spas in Polanco, Roma and Condesa, and slow mornings on the shaded plazas of Coyoacán. For a proper retreat, the warmer towns of Cuernavaca and Tepoztlán, south of the city, have spas and temazcales of their own.