Acapulco or Puerto Vallarta?

The two are close on beaches, but the setting differs. Acapulco's sand curves around one big urban bay, with the hotel strip on Condesa and Icacos, sheltered family coves at Caleta and Caletilla, and Puerto Marqués next door for clear, calm swimming. The water is warmer in winter, but the open-ocean beaches at Revolcadero are for looking at, not swimming.

Puerto Vallarta spreads its beaches out more. There is the busy town beach of Los Muertos, coves to the south such as Las Animas and Yelapa reached by water taxi, and the wide, gentle sands of Nuevo Vallarta. Surf beaches on the Riviera Nayarit are about an hour away, which makes for more variety, though the sand is coarser and golden.

Both cities grill whole fish over wood, pescado a la talla in Acapulco and zarandeado in Puerto Vallarta, but Puerto Vallarta has more good food overall. Acapulco's highlights are the palapa restaurants at Barra Vieja and the Thursday ritual of pozole verde, while much of the Costera is chains and tourist seafood.

In Puerto Vallarta, the evening taco stands of the centre and Zona Romántica, aguachile, local raicilla and chef-run dining rooms in the hills give more options and more good meals across a stay.

Neither city is a sightseeing destination, and each fills about a day. Acapulco has more history: the star-shaped Fuerte de San Diego tells the story of the Manila galleons, and the cliff divers at La Quebrada and Diego Rivera's mosaics are on hand. Puerto Vallarta is better for wandering, with whitewashed hillside streets, the crown-topped Guadalupe church and the sculptures along the Malecón.

Both stay out until dawn, but the style differs. Acapulco is big-club territory, with large venues on the Costera and the hillside above the bay. It is packed with visitors from Mexico City on long weekends but can feel half empty midweek, and it means taxis between venues.

Puerto Vallarta mixes dance clubs on the Malecón with rooftop and mezcal bars in the Zona Romántica, where one of Latin America's best-established gay scenes adds range that Acapulco's mainstream strip lacks.

This is one of the widest gaps between the two. Acapulco's nature is mostly the view of its horseshoe bay, plus a few outings: snorkelling off Roqueta Island, sailfish trips, and mangrove boat rides on Coyuca Lagoon. The hills behind it offer almost no marked trails.

Puerto Vallarta has the Sierra Madre rising in jungle straight from the sea. Humpbacks calve in the bay from December to March, and Los Arcos and the protected Marietas Islands offer snorkelling. Trails run along the roadless south shore, and there are canyons, a botanical garden and surf to the north.

From Acapulco, the easy outings are half-days to Pie de la Cuesta and Barra Vieja on the city's edge, and Taxco, the one real cultural trip, is far enough away to need an overnight stay. Puerto Vallarta has a full list of day trips. Sayulita, San Pancho and Bucerías each lie within an hour, Yelapa is a boat ride away, and the old silver town of San Sebastián del Oeste is up in the pine-covered mountains.

Acapulco has generations of Mexican family vacations behind it. Children can paddle in the shallow coves of Caleta and Caletilla, cross by boat to Roqueta Island or spend a day on the slides and wave pools of the CICI water park. The big all-inclusives run kids' clubs, but the strong heat and long taxi rides make outings beyond them harder going.

Puerto Vallarta gives children more to do outside the hotel, from the small jungle zoo at Mismaloya to snorkelling boat trips and water parks, and local warmth towards children makes eating out easy. Its weak point is the old town, where steep cobbled streets are hard work with a pushchair, and the summer heat and humidity wear small children out.

Puerto Vallarta gives visitors a real centre to walk. The old town and Zona Romántica are linked by the Malecón and the footbridges over the Cuale, and water taxis reach the south-shore villages. The streets are steep and cobbled, though.

Acapulco is a long boulevard rather than a centre. The old town, the hotel strip and Diamante are too far apart to walk between, so the stay runs on buses and taxis, especially at night.

Both lean on crafts, but Puerto Vallarta has the more distinctive ones, especially Huichol yarn paintings and beadwork from the nearby mountains, along with a good spread of galleries and a few independent boutiques. Acapulco's large artisan market is a decent place to bargain for Taxco silver and Olinalá lacquerware, but beyond it there are mainly beachwear stalls and the malls of Diamante.

Acapulco's dear spells are short and easy to avoid. Prices climb in Easter week, at Christmas and over Mexican long weekends, and only the luxury resorts of Diamante and the Las Brisas hillside are expensive all year. Outside those dates even the large all-inclusives are reasonably priced, and the older hotels along the Costera stay modest.

Puerto Vallarta's high season lasts the whole winter, which is also when the weather is best. Those are the months when beachfront hotels, Malecón restaurants and boat tours cost the most. Eating at taco stands, riding the local buses and sleeping in a simple guesthouse in the old centre narrows the gap a good deal. It rarely closes it, though, because the boat trips to Los Arcos, the Marietas and Yelapa that make a stay worthwhile carry tourist prices whatever you do.

Neither has theatre, opera or a classical season worth planning around, so evenings out are informal in both. Acapulco offers mariachis, hotel folk-dance shows and Latin pop concerts in Diamante. Puerto Vallarta has a slight edge in variety, with winter cabaret, drag and comedy in the Zona Romántica, Latin jazz in bars and the Papantla flyers on the Malecón.

Puerto Vallarta is the better place to slow down. As well as resort and hillside hotel spas, it offers temazcal sweat-lodge ceremonies and yoga retreats in the roadless villages of the south shore.

In Acapulco, relaxing mostly means staying put at a resort spa in Diamante or a clifftop hotel above the bay, as the Costera rarely quietens. Pie de la Cuesta is the place to escape to.