Akumal or Huatulco?

Both are first-rate for swimming, and the difference lies in the kind of beach. Akumal's bays are small and sheltered behind a Caribbean reef. You get soft sand in Akumal Bay, with turtles grazing just offshore, but stretches of seagrass and limestone elsewhere. Sargassum seaweed can spoil a stretch of summer days.

Huatulco offers more variety. It has nine Pacific bays of golden sand framed by rocky headlands, and some, like Cacaluta and El Órgano, can only be reached by boat or a forest path. The open coast beyond the coves has strong surf, though, so you swim inside the bays.

Huatulco eats better. Oaxacan cooking comes down to the coast here, with mole, tamales in banana leaf and mezcal from the hills, and the market and fondas around La Crucecita's square feed locals as well as visitors.

In Akumal, the bayside restaurants are a short list of grilled fish and tacos at resort prices. The better Yucatecan cooking, such as cochinita pibil, is in the pueblo across the highway, and many visitors simply cook in their villa and drive to Playa del Carmen or Tulum for a real meal.

Neither is a place for sightseeing, but Huatulco has a little more on its doorstep. You can see the painted dome of La Crucecita's church, visit the small ceremonial site and lookout at Copalita, and take in the colonial church in Santa María Huatulco, all in a single morning. Within Akumal itself there is only the ecological centre devoted to the reef and turtles, and its history as a plantation and divers' base has left little to visit.

Huatulco at least has evenings out. There are mezcal bars and a few spots for dancing around La Crucecita's plaza and bars by the Santa Cruz marina, and things get livelier in the winter high season. Akumal shuts down after a sunset margarita, so a night of bars means a taxi to Playa del Carmen or Tulum. Many people choose Akumal precisely for that quiet.

The two are equally strong, but in different settings. Akumal's nature is mostly underwater. The reef starts just off the bays, and inland there are cenotes and flooded caves that draw cave divers from around the world, plus the mangrove lagoons of Sian Ka'an. On land, though, it is flat jungle with nowhere to hike.

Huatulco has more to do on dry land. Its national park runs dry forest down to cliffs, sea arches and blowholes, humpback whales pass offshore from December to March, and you can raft the Copalita River or visit waterfalls and coffee farms in the Sierra Sur foothills.

Akumal is much the better base. The clifftop ruins of Tulum are about twenty minutes away and the forest pyramid of Coba under an hour, and from Playa del Carmen ferries cross to Cozumel. Chichen Itza and Valladolid make a long but rewarding day out.

From Huatulco, the best outing is west along the coast to Mazunte, Puerto Ángel and Zipolite, with Puerto Escondido farther on. Oaxaca city is too far for a day trip and needs an overnight stay.

Akumal has the edge for a family week. Villa rentals with their own kitchens and pools give children room to spread out, and the coast's big eco-parks, one of them only a few minutes down the road, are there for the days when the sea has lost its novelty. The drawbacks are heavy summer heat and a village with little of its own for children, so almost every outing starts with the car.

Huatulco is easier to manage day to day. The town is small and calm, the Tangolunda resorts have pools and kids' clubs, and the gentle water over coral at La Entrega suits a first snorkel. But it has no zoo, aquarium or theme park, so older children may run short of things to do as the week goes on.

Huatulco is easier without a car. La Crucecita is compact enough to walk and Santa Cruz is a short stroll away, and taxis are plentiful for the other bays. Akumal is strung out along a highway with colectivo vans as the only public transport, so most visitors hire a car. You will want one anyway for the cenotes and ruins.

Huatulco is the only one of the two with things worth taking home. The stalls around La Crucecita's plaza sell Oaxacan textiles, embroidered blouses, black pottery, alebrijes, mezcal and mountain coffee. In Akumal, shopping means sunscreen, snorkel gear and groceries, and anyone who wants more heads to Playa del Carmen's pedestrian street or the craft shops of Valladolid.

Akumal is the kind of Caribbean resort that Huatulco undercuts, and the gap shows at every turn. Akumal's bays are lined with villas, condos and resorts priced for foreign visitors, whereas Huatulco has a working town in La Crucecita where you can sleep a short walk from the square and pay ordinary Mexican rates. Eating follows the same pattern. Akumal's meals by the water come at resort rates and its cheaper Yucatecan kitchens are across the highway in the pueblo, while Huatulco's inexpensive Oaxacan cooking is in the middle of the town you are staying in.

Getting about costs more in Akumal too. Its cenotes, ruins and eco-parks are spread along a highway, so travel becomes a real part of the budget, whereas Huatulco's bays lie close together and the walk from La Crucecita down to Santa Cruz costs nothing. Akumal gives some of it back in the bays, where swimming among turtles costs little once you are there. Huatulco only gets close to Akumal's prices at the Tangolunda all-inclusives and in the winter high season.

Neither town is somewhere to plan an evening around a show. Huatulco's resorts put on Oaxacan folk dance and the plaza fills with music at festivals, while Akumal manages a guitarist in a beach restaurant. The nearest real performance to Akumal is the large evening spectacle at Xcaret, near Playa del Carmen.

Both run at an unhurried pace, and both offer the temazcal sweat lodge with herbs and a guide. Akumal's extra is a swim in a cool, still cenote, along with yoga and massage that are easy to arrange at the villas. Huatulco has fuller resort spas in Tangolunda and Conejos, though fewer yoga retreats than along the coast to the west.