Akumal or Puebla?

Akumal is built around the water. Its calm bays are sheltered by the reef and the sea is warm all year. Green turtles feed over the seagrass in Akumal Bay, and the Yal-Ku lagoon is good for easy floating. The beaches are small and partly rocky, though, and in some summers sargassum seaweed spoils the shore for days at a time.

Puebla has no beach life at all. It sits high above sea level, far inland, and the Gulf coast is hours away. Swimming means a hotel pool or one of the spring-fed balnearios on the edge of the city.

Puebla is the clear winner for eating. Mole poblano came out of its convent kitchens, and a single day can take in cemitas and chalupas at a market fonda, tacos árabes in the evening and boxed sweets from the Calle de los Dulces, all for very little.

Akumal has a few sandy-floored restaurants along the bays, serving grilled fish and ceviche at resort prices. The plainer Yucatecan cooking is better and is found in the pueblo across the highway. Many visitors cook in their villas or drive to Playa del Carmen or Tulum for dinner.

Akumal began as a coconut plantation and a base for divers, and apart from a small ecological centre devoted to the reef and the turtles there is little to see in the village itself. Puebla is a place to spend days looking around. Its UNESCO-listed grid of brick and Talavera house fronts is crowded with churches, and it holds the gilded Capilla del Rosario, the Biblioteca Palafoxiana, the Museo Amparo and the forts of the 1862 battle.

In Akumal, going out means a sunset drink at a beach bar and an early night. For anything livelier you take a taxi to Playa del Carmen or Tulum, and many guests come precisely to avoid that.

Puebla offers real evenings out without being a party city. There are mezcal bars and cantinas around the Callejón de los Sapos and rooftop terraces facing the cathedral. Later in the week, students fill the bars and small clubs in Cholula.

Akumal's outdoors is mostly in the water. You can snorkel the Mesoamerican reef straight from the bays, and the cenotes and flooded caves inland draw cave divers. Turtles nest on the protected beaches in summer, and boat trips run into the lagoons of Sian Ka'an. On land, though, it is flat jungle with little to walk.

Puebla's outdoors is for walking and climbing. Snow-capped Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl stand on the skyline, there is a long climb through pine forest up La Malinche, and the Izta-Popo park has high trails. All of these need a car, a tour or an early bus, and the city's own parks are modest.

Puebla has the richer choice close at hand. The Great Pyramid of Cholula is half an hour away, and the folk-Baroque churches of Tonantzintla and Acatepec are nearby. Huejotzingo's convent, Tlaxcala with the murals at Cacaxtla, and even Mexico City are all within reach for a day.

Akumal's trips are about the Maya and the coast. The cliff-top ruins of Tulum are twenty minutes south, Coba's forest pyramid is under an hour inland, and ferries leave for Cozumel from Playa del Carmen. Chichen Itza and Valladolid are about two hours away, which makes a long day.

Akumal suits children better. The bays are shallow and sheltered, snorkelling beside turtles is something children remember, and the Yal-Ku lagoon is gentle enough for younger swimmers. Xel-Ha and Xcaret add zip lines and underground rivers, though summer heat is heavy and everything beyond the beach needs a drive.

Puebla has one big draw in the Africam Safari drive-through park, plus the observation wheel at Angelópolis and the tunnels inside Cholula's pyramid. Most other sights are churches and museums aimed at adults, and narrow pavements and the altitude tire small children.

In Akumal you walk the bay you are staying on and not much further, because the bays and villas are spread out along the coastal highway. Colectivo vans stop when you flag them, which works for a single hop but is awkward with snorkel gear or children. Most visitors hire a car, and it also makes the cenotes and ruins much easier to reach.

Puebla is far easier to manage without a car. The historic centre is a flat grid, and almost every sight is within twenty minutes' walk of the zócalo. Beyond the centre there is no metro and the local buses are hard to follow, so taxis and ride-hailing apps are how you get to Cholula, Angelópolis and Africam. You only need a long-distance bus, a tour or a hire car for the day trips.

Puebla has something worth taking home in Talavera pottery, which you can watch being painted in long-established workshops. El Parián sells onyx and textiles, the Callejón de los Sapos fills with antiques stalls at weekends, and the Angelópolis malls cover fashion. In Akumal, shopping means sunscreen, snorkel gear and groceries, and anyone wanting more drives to Playa del Carmen's pedestrian street.

A week in Akumal costs more, and the biggest part of the bill is your bed, since the bays are lined with villas and condos rather than guesthouses. The extras add up too: tickets for Xel-Ha or Xcaret, cenote entry fees and guided snorkelling trips. You can save by cooking with supplies from the supermarkets in Playa del Carmen or Tulum and eating at the taco stands across the highway, and the swimming in the bays costs very little.

In Puebla you spend little each day without trying. Much of a day there costs next to nothing: walking the old town, going into its churches and visiting museums on their free days. The bill only climbs towards international levels if you choose the most polished boutique hotels and the smartest restaurants.

Puebla at least has stages. The Teatro Principal is among the oldest theatres in the Americas, the university's cultural complex puts on dance and orchestral evenings, the 5 de Mayo festivities bring folk dance into the streets, and mariachis play on the squares. Akumal has at most a guitarist in a beach restaurant, and the nearest real show is the evening spectacle at Xcaret.

Akumal is the easier place to switch off, because the whole day is built around slowing down. You swim in the morning, rest in a hammock, snorkel and go to bed early, with no traffic in the bays. Yoga, beach massage and resort spa treatments are simple to arrange, and a float in a still cenote makes a cool change from the sea.

In Puebla the calm comes in short spells rather than whole days: shaded courtyards, quiet plazas early in the morning and long lunches, with traffic outside the centre breaking the mood. It does have a mineral bath that Akumal lacks, in the sulphurous public pools of the Agua Azul balneario. Small spas around Puebla and Cholula also offer the same temazcal sweat lodge you find along the Riviera Maya.