Acapulco or Puebla?

Here the gap is as wide as it gets. Acapulco's whole life faces its bay, with sandy beaches along the hotel strip, calm family coves at Caleta and Caletilla, and Puerto Marqués for sheltered swimming. The surf on the open-ocean beaches is dangerous, so swimmers stay inside the bays.

Puebla sits on a plateau more than 2,000m up, with the Gulf coast hours away. Swimming there means a hotel pool or a spring-fed balneario on the edge of town.

Puebla is the stronger place to eat, because it is one of the places Mexican cooking began. Mole poblano came out of its convent kitchens, and alongside it come chiles en nogada in late summer, cemitas, chalupas and tacos árabes, with the convent sweets of the Calle de los Dulces for afterwards.

Acapulco has a narrower but real coastal repertoire: pescado a la talla at the lagoon palapas of Barra Vieja, tomato-based ceviche and the Thursday pozole verde. Outside those dishes, the Costera is mostly chain and tourist seafood restaurants.

Puebla has far more to see. Its colonial grid of tiled façades and churches, the towering cathedral, the gilded Capilla del Rosario and the Palafoxiana library could fill several slow days before you even reach the Amparo and Baroque museums.

Acapulco's sights are few: the star-shaped Fuerte de San Diego with its museum on the Manila galleons, Diego Rivera's mosaics on the Casa de los Vientos, and the divers at La Quebrada. Much of its character lies in its jet-set hotels and villas, and one day covers it.

Acapulco is built for a long night out. Beach bars, open-air terraces and big hillside clubs above the Costera run until dawn, and on long weekends and in Easter and Christmas weeks, crowds from Mexico City turn the strip into one long party. The music is loud and mainstream, and midweek outside those peaks it can feel half empty.

Puebla's evenings are gentler: mezcal bars, cantinas and rooftop terraces facing the cathedral around the Callejón de los Sapos. From Thursday to Saturday the students go out in Cholula, where bars and small clubs line the streets near the university, and the city's own clubs are out in Angelópolis.

Puebla has the edge for time on land. Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl dominate the skyline, La Malinche is a full day's climb through pine forest to above 4,400m, and the Izta-Popo park has high trails. Nearly every outing needs a car, a tour or an early bus.

Acapulco's nature is mostly on the water. You can snorkel and dive off Roqueta, fish for sailfish and marlin, take a boat through the mangroves of Coyuca Lagoon and watch turtles being released at Barra Vieja. The heat makes hiking in the hills behind the bay hard going.

Puebla is a far better base. Cholula's Great Pyramid and the tiled village churches of Tonantzintla and Acatepec are about half an hour away, with the Huejotzingo convent, Tlaxcala and the Cacaxtla murals, and even Mexico City, all within a day's reach.

Acapulco's easy outings are the half-day trips to Pie de la Cuesta and Barra Vieja on its edges. Taxco, the obvious cultural excursion, is about three hours inland and is better done with an overnight stay.

Puebla gives children slightly more to do. Africam Safari, where animals walk up to the cars, the tunnels inside Cholula's pyramid, the observation wheel at Angelópolis and the open grounds of the hilltop forts make a varied few days in a milder climate. The many churches and museums are meant for adults, though.

Acapulco's family appeal is simpler: shallow water at Caleta and Caletilla, boats to Roqueta, the CICI water park and resort kids' clubs. Strong heat, traffic and dangerous surf on the open beaches mean most families stay inside the hotel.

Puebla is easier to explore, at least in the centre. The flat colonial grid puts almost every sight within a short walk of the zócalo. Beyond it, taxis or ride-hailing are the practical choice, as buses are hard to read.

Acapulco stretches for kilometres along the Costera Miguel Alemán. Buses and taxis run its whole length, but the gaps between the old town, the hotel strip and Diamante are too long to walk, and taxis are the norm after dark. Neither city has a rail system.

Puebla has a clear thing to buy, Talavera pottery, and you can watch it being painted in long-established workshops. El Parián sells crafts and onyx, and the Callejón de los Sapos fills with antiques stalls at the weekend.

In Acapulco, the best finds are brought in from elsewhere in Guerrero. The artisan market near the old town has Taxco silver and Olinalá lacquerware, though quality varies and bargaining is expected. Beyond that, shopping means beachwear and the chain malls of Diamante.

Both cities are inexpensive, but Puebla is cheaper, even by Mexican standards. Its market lunches, short taxi rides and modest museum entry fees cost very little, as do rooms in restored colonial houses.

Acapulco is also good value, mainly because most of its visitors are Mexican. Room rates climb at Easter, Christmas and on long weekends, and the resorts of Diamante and Las Brisas cost far more than the older hotels on the Costera.

Everyday live music is much the same in both cities: mariachis and guitar trios playing for diners and on the main square. Beyond that, Acapulco has folk dance shows in the hotels and touring Latin pop stars at the large Diamante venue in the peak seasons. Its Philharmonic plays only now and then between tours of Guerrero, and there is no theatre or classical season to plan an evening around.

Puebla has more to buy a ticket for. The Teatro Principal, among the oldest theatres in the Americas, still puts on plays and concerts, and the university's large cultural complex hosts touring productions, dance and orchestral evenings. Around the 5 de Mayo anniversary, concerts and folk dance spill into the streets. Few people come for the stage alone, but here an evening out can be more than a band playing over dinner.

Neither city has a bathing tradition, and they are about equal here, but rest means different things in each. In Acapulco it is a resort spa in Diamante or Las Brisas, or a clifftop hotel pool far from the noise of the Costera.

Puebla offers older rituals: temazcal sweat lodges around Cholula and the sulphurous pools of the Agua Azul balneario. Beyond those, it is mostly about quiet courtyards and long lunches in the old town.