Bacalar or Puerto Escondido?

Bacalar's swimming is in a freshwater lagoon. You get in from docks and balnearios into clear, calm, shallow water, coloured in bands of blue by the limestone bed, and Cenote Azul and the gentle current at Los Rápidos add some variety. What it lacks is sand, waves and anywhere to walk along the shore.

Puerto Escondido has proper beaches, and more kinds of them. Golden Zicatela is for watching surfers and sunset walks, not for swimming. The sheltered coves of Carrizalillo, Puerto Angelito and Manzanillo give calm water and good snorkelling. Mazunte and Zipolite add more sand about an hour away.

Neither town is a place to travel for food, but Puerto Escondido gives you more to choose from. Its kitchen is Oaxacan and coastal: moles and tamales in the market, ceviche at beach palapas, whole grilled fish and mezcal everywhere. On top of that, La Punta and Zicatela have pizza, bakeries and international cooking, and Rinconada has a few more polished restaurants.

Bacalar sticks to Yucatecan cooking such as cochinita pibil, salbutes and sopa de lima in its taquerías, plus a small group of lakeside kitchens. After a few days you will be going back to the same places.

Bacalar comes out slightly ahead because it has one real monument. The eighteenth-century Fuerte de San Felipe looks over the lagoon and holds a small museum on the pirates who raided the town. Its Maya sites are within reach too.

Puerto Escondido has no museums or historic buildings. There is the modest El Adoquin, a small church and the lighthouse, and the local culture shows itself in the market, the fishing beach and the town's festivals rather than in sights.

Puerto Escondido goes out properly and Bacalar mostly goes to bed. In La Punta, open-air bars play reggaeton and electronic music and the parties run late in the high season. Zicatela's beachfront adds sunset bars and mezcal places, though it all quietens in the rainy months.

In Bacalar, a few bars around the square and the hostel crowd make up the whole scene. There are no clubs, and most people are asleep early so they can be on the water at sunrise.

Both towns are built around water, but Puerto Escondido's water does more. Zicatela is one of the world's great big-wave surf breaks, gentler breaks suit learners, and boats go out to see dolphins, turtles and, in winter, humpback whales. The Manialtepec lagoon glows with bioluminescence on dark nights, and Chacahua's mangroves and empty beaches are within reach.

Bacalar's nature is quieter: a paddle at dawn across the lagoon, the ancient stromatolites, and a sail to Bird Island and the Pirates' Channel. Away from the shore, the flat, hot forest has few trails.

Bacalar's excursions have more substance. Chacchoben's jungle temples are about 45 minutes away, Kohunlich's stucco masks and Dzibanché make a full day together, and Chetumal has a good museum of Maya culture. You will need a car or a tour for most of them.

Puerto Escondido's day trips are mostly more beach. Mazunte, San Agustinillo and Zipolite are an hour east, and the bays of Huatulco are around two hours away. Oaxaca city and the mezcal valleys really need an overnight stay.

Families fare about the same in both, and neither town has parks or attractions built for children. In Bacalar the whole day turns on the lagoon: warm, waveless water that is very shallow in many spots, docks to jump from and kayaks to take out. It works best from a lakeside stay with its own dock and with children old enough to paddle a kayak themselves, because beyond the water there is little for them and the humid heat makes walking tiring.

Puerto Escondido makes you choose your beach. Puerto Angelito and Manzanillo are calm enough for paddling and snorkelling, and Carrizalillo is too, though it means a steep climb back up the steps. Zicatela's surf and currents are no place for children to swim. Older children get more variety here, with turtle hatchling releases, dolphin boat trips and gentle surf lessons.

Neither is easy on foot, for different reasons. Bacalar has a compact centre around the fort, but its lodges, balnearios and Cenote Azul are strung along a shore road with little room for walking. A bicycle or taxi covers that road, and a hire car pays off for the ruins.

Puerto Escondido is split into separate pockets, the centre, Rinconada and Zicatela down to La Punta, on steep hills. You walk within each pocket, and plentiful taxis and colectivo vans link them, so you do not need a car.

Puerto Escondido has a little more to buy. El Adoquin sells Oaxacan embroidered blouses, painted alebrijes and hammocks, a bottle of mezcal makes a good souvenir, and the surf neighbourhoods add swimwear and small boutiques. Bacalar has only a few stalls near the square with hammocks and embroidered cotton, and you have to go to Chetumal for anything practical.

Costs work the same way in both: cheap if you eat local food and stay in town, far dearer if you stay on the water. In Bacalar, the lakeside eco-lodges with private docks that draw many visitors are priced like the Caribbean coast. In Puerto Escondido, the expensive end is the design hotels and international restaurants of Zicatela and La Punta. Rooms there cost most during the Mexican vacation weeks, though almost nothing you go to see charges entry.

There is not much on stage in either, but Puerto Escondido has slightly more. The bars of Zicatela and La Punta put on bands, DJs and the occasional son jarocho or jazz night, and the November festival brings traditional dances. In Bacalar, a weekend band on the main square is about as far as it goes.

Both are slow-paced and neither has spas or thermal baths, but the kind of rest differs. In Bacalar, rest means silence: lakeside lodges away from the road, days that follow the light, and yoga, massage or a temazcal arranged through your lodging or a small studio.

Puerto Escondido has more yoga studios and retreats, more again in nearby Mazunte, and cheap massages on the beach. You have to choose your base with care, though, because La Punta stays noisy late into the night.