Akumal or Cancun?

Both have warm, clear Caribbean water all year, but Cancun has much more beach. Its Hotel Zone runs for about 22km of fine pale sand. Calm, shallow bays face Isla Mujeres on the north side, and open surf runs down the eastern shore, so you can pick the water to suit the day.

Akumal's beaches are small, sheltered bays, and parts of the shore are seagrass or limestone rather than sand. What it offers is closeness to the sea life: turtles grazing a few metres out and the Yal-Ku lagoon for floating. When sargassum arrives, Cancun can fall back on its bay side, while in Akumal you check which coves are clear.

Cancun eats better, mainly because of its downtown. The night-time taco stands, the stalls around Parque de las Palapas and Mercado 28 and Mercado 23 serve a much wider range of Yucatecan cooking, from sopa de lima to salbutes, than anything near the resorts.

Akumal has a few sandy-floored restaurants on the bays and some plainer family kitchens in the pueblo across the highway. Many visitors cook in their villas and drive to Playa del Carmen or Tulum when they want a proper meal out.

Neither place has much history of its own, but Cancun has a little more to see. The Maya Museum in the Hotel Zone, with San Miguelito's ruins in its grounds, is worth an afternoon, and El Rey and El Meco add a little more. Akumal's only institution is a small ecological centre about the reef and its turtles, so in both places the heritage means driving out to the ruins.

These two are opposites after dark. Cancun's Party Center has huge clubs with acrobatic shows, open-bar wristbands and crowds who stay until four or five in the morning. Downtown, the bars around Avenida Tulum are cheaper and full of locals.

Akumal has a few beach bars that close in the late evening, and many people stay there precisely to avoid the kind of night Cancun offers. If you want to go out, it means a taxi to Playa del Carmen or Tulum.

Akumal has the better outdoors, and you hardly need to leave the village for it. You can snorkel the reef straight from the bays, and the cenotes on the roads to Tulum and Coba belong to one of the longest underground river systems known, which draws cave divers from around the world. Turtles nest on Xcacel and the other protected beaches from May to October, and Sian Ka'an is close by.

Cancun has to travel further for the same reef and cenotes, out to Puerto Morelos, Isla Mujeres and the Ruta de los Cenotes. It does have its own extras: the MUSA underwater sculptures, kayaking in the Nichupte mangroves, kitesurfing, bird-watching boats to Isla Contoy and swimming with whale sharks in summer.

Both towns reach the same Maya sites, and the difference is which ones are close. From Akumal the cliff-top ruins of Tulum are about twenty minutes away and Coba under an hour, and Chichen Itza and Valladolid take about two hours.

From Cancun those sites are a longer haul, with Chichen Itza two and a half hours away and Tulum nearly two. In return, Isla Mujeres is a short ferry ride, and Ek Balam and Holbox are easier to reach from the north.

Cancun is the easier choice with children. Its all-inclusive resorts have kids' clubs, shallow pools and buffets that suit fussy eaters, the bay beaches on the north side are gentle, and there is an aquarium for a day out of the sun.

Akumal's main attraction for families is the chance to snorkel beside turtles in shallow, sheltered water, and the Yal-Ku lagoon suits younger swimmers. Xel-Ha is only a few minutes away. Apart from that the village has little for children, so a family there spends more time in the car.

Neither place is good for walking, but Cancun is easier without a car. Frequent buses run the length of Boulevard Kukulcan and on to downtown, ADO coaches go to Playa del Carmen, Tulum and Valladolid, and ferries leave for Isla Mujeres from several points.

Akumal's bays and villas lie off the coastal highway, and the only public transport is the colectivo vans that stop on request. They are fine for one trip but awkward with snorkel gear or children, which is why most visitors hire a car.

Cancun has the only real shopping of the two. Its Hotel Zone malls have international and luxury labels, and Mercado 28 sells hammocks, silver, ceramics and vanilla, though the stock is much the same from stall to stall. In Akumal you can buy sunscreen, snorkel gear and groceries, and not much else.

Neither is cheap for Mexico, but Cancun gives you more ways to spend less. Small hotels downtown cost far less than anything on the beach, and taco stands, local buses and ADO coaches all keep costs down.

Akumal has almost no budget lodging in the bays, and car hire and cenote fees add up over a week. Renting a place with a kitchen and eating in the pueblo helps, and the snorkelling from the bays costs very little.

Neither is a place to go for performances, but Cancun has slightly more. It has folkloric dinner shows with mariachi, a small theatre downtown and music in the squares on some evenings. In Akumal you might hear a guitarist in a beach restaurant, and the nearest real show is the evening spectacle at Xcaret.

Both are equally good for rest, but in different ways. In Akumal the rest comes from the place itself: there is no traffic in the bays, the evenings end early and a cool cenote is a short drive away. Its spa treatments are a handful run by resorts and villas.

Cancun has bigger spas, with hydrotherapy circuits and ocean-view treatment rooms, but the strip around them is noisy and busy with traffic. You can book a temazcal sweat lodge in either.