Antigua Guatemala or San Miguel de Allende?

Neither town is a beach destination, and both sit high in the mountains. Antigua at least has the Pacific within reach. Monterrico is about two hours away by shuttle, with warm water and black volcanic sand, though the heavy surf and strong currents make it better for an overnight stay than for swimming.

San Miguel is many hours from either coast. Its swimming is the warm spring-fed pools in the valley, which are for soaking rather than swimming lengths.

San Miguel is the better place to eat. Its courtyard and rooftop restaurants rework Bajío ingredients such as nopal, mesquite and local cheeses, and local high-desert wines and plenty of mezcal bars add to the choice. The Mercado Ignacio Ramírez and the Sunday tianguis cover the cheaper end.

Antigua's strengths are narrower: coffee grown on the surrounding volcanoes, chocolate tastings, and stews such as pepián and jocón eaten at market comedores. Beyond those, the restaurants on the central park can be ordinary, and the choice wears thin sooner than San Miguel's.

Both are UNESCO-listed colonial towns of cobbled streets that can be seen in two or three days. Antigua has a little more depth. The earthquakes of 1773 left it full of roofless churches and convents, so walking Capuchinas, San Francisco and Santa Clara, with trees growing through broken vaults, is a lesson in history that San Miguel cannot match.

San Miguel's centre is intact rather than ruined. Its main sights are the pink spires of the Parroquia, the art schools around Bellas Artes and the house where Allende was born.

Neither town has a club scene, and both are at their busiest at weekends, when visitors arrive from the capital. In Antigua, evenings centre on a few blocks by the arch, with mezcal and craft-beer bars and salsa nights full of language students and backpackers, and most places close early.

San Miguel's nights feel older and more settled. A rooftop drink as the Parroquia lights up leads on to cantinas, and on Fridays and Saturdays a few dance bars stay open into the early hours.

This is the biggest gap between the two towns. Antigua is ringed by volcanoes and offers real adventure: the easy half day on Pacaya, the overnight climb to a camp near 3,500m on Acatenango facing an erupting Fuego, and trails through coffee farms and cloud forest.

San Miguel's landscape is the dry scrub and cactus of the Bajío. The canyon trails of El Charco del Ingenio, horse riding on the ranches and dawn balloon flights make pleasant mornings out, but there is nothing to match a volcano summit.

San Miguel is the better base for excursions. Guanajuato's painted ravine and Querétaro's aqueduct are each about an hour away, the murals of Atotonilco are closer still, and further out are Dolores Hidalgo, Bernal and the wine country.

From Antigua, the easy outings are the weaving villages in the valley and the museums of Guatemala City. The big sights, Lake Atitlán and the Chichicastenango market, each take two and a half hours or more each way, and many travellers stay the night.

Neither town is built for children, and cobbles make pushchairs hard work in both. Antigua has a slight edge for school-age children, with hands-on activities such as chocolate workshops, coffee-farm visits and the Pacaya walk, as well as ruins with courtyards to explore.

San Miguel's steep streets are harder going. On the other hand, its evening Jardín, with balloon sellers and local families, and its fiesta fireworks and spring pools give older children plenty to enjoy.

Antigua is the easier town to get around. Its flat grid of about a dozen blocks each way can be crossed in a quarter of an hour, tuk-tuks cover short trips, and shuttles run to the airport and the lake, so nobody needs a car.

San Miguel's centre is compact too, but the streets are steep and the altitude of about 1,900m makes every climb harder. It has no airport of its own, and the smaller day-trip destinations need a driver or a hire car.

Both towns are about crafts, not fashion, but San Miguel offers more. Its stepped artisans' market sells tin lanterns, blown glass and silver, its design shops carry furniture, talavera and rugs from across Mexico, and a former textile mill is now full of studios and antique dealers.

Antigua's best buys are handwoven huipiles and textiles from the highland villages, along with jade, coffee and chocolate. Quality varies at the market stalls, so look closely and bargain.

Antigua is the cheaper of the two, even though it is the most expensive place in Guatemala. Hostels are plentiful, comedor lunches and chicken buses cost little, and the ruined churches charge only small entry fees. The guided volcano hikes are the main extra cost.

San Miguel's boutique hotels and restaurants on the Jardín charge prices aimed at foreign residents, and rooms cost most at weekends and during festivals. Its sights are mostly free, though, and street food and cantinas stay cheap.

San Miguel has the livelier music scene. The nineteenth-century Teatro Ángela Peralta stages concerts and dance, and the chamber music and jazz festivals are well established. There is also mariachi on the Jardín every evening and live son or guitar in many bars.

Antigua offers marimba in the park, a few salsa nights and the occasional concert in a ruined cloister. Holy Week is the great spectacle in both towns, but Antigua has no programme of performances to plan a trip around.

San Miguel is the more restful choice, mostly because of the hot mineral springs towards Atotonilco. Open-air pools and domed grottoes fed by naturally hot water are only fifteen minutes away. The dry, mild weather and the town's many spas and yoga classes add to its slow pace.

Antigua can be calm as well, especially in its garden-courtyard hotels with volcano views, and some spas use local coffee and cacao in their treatments. It has no hot springs, though, and saints'-day fireworks can wake you early.