Cancun or Havana?

Cancun's beach runs for 22km along the Hotel Zone. The northern arm has calm bay water for children, and the eastern shore faces open Caribbean surf. When sargassum reaches the eastern side in some summers, the bay beaches are still clear.

Havana's seafront is the rock and sea wall of the Malecón, so a swim means a half-hour trip east to the Playas del Este. The sand and water there are lovely and the weekend crowd is local. With basic facilities, though, it makes a day off from the city rather than the point of the trip.

Neither city is worth the trip for food alone, and they let you down in similar ways: resort buffets in Cancun, dull state restaurants in Havana. The difference is where the good meals are. In Cancun they are downtown, at taco stands, the stalls by Parque de las Palapas and the market halls, serving Yucatecan dishes such as cochinita pibil and sopa de lima.

Havana has little street food. Its best meals come from paladares in old mansions and on rooftops, cooking Cuban staples with the odd inventive touch. The city's real strength is its bars, home of the daiquiri, the mojito and aged rum.

Cancun was built as a resort from the 1970s. Its one real sight is the Maya Museum, with the small San Miguelito ruins in its grounds, and its true heritage lies hours inland.

Havana is the opposite case, a city that is itself the sight. You can spend days in the colonial squares, baroque churches and harbour fortresses of Habana Vieja, then in the art deco and mid-century streets of Centro and Vedado. The Bellas Artes and the Museo de la Revolución are there for a rainy afternoon.

Cancun wins on scale and stamina. The Party Center's huge clubs put on acrobatic shows and open bars, and the crowds stay until dawn, though it is one style of night aimed at visitors.

Havana's evenings are looser and more local. Rum flows in the old town bars, Cubans dance seriously in the salsa clubs of Vedado and Miramar, and the Malecón becomes an open-air meeting place. There are few proper clubs, however, and getting between neighbourhoods takes taxis.

In Cancun the outdoors means water. There is snorkelling and diving on the Mesoamerican Reef and among the MUSA sculptures, swimming in cenotes inland, whale sharks in summer and mangrove kayaking on the Nichupte lagoon.

Havana offers sunset walks along the Malecón and some shade in the Almendares park. Proper landscape starts about an hour west at Las Terrazas, with its forest trails and river pools. Neither city has hiking on the doorstep, but only Cancun can fill a week with outdoor activity.

Cancun is the stronger base. Chichen Itza with Valladolid, or Coba with Ek Balam, make long but manageable days. Isla Mujeres, Playa del Carmen and the clifftop ruins of Tulum are close, and comfortable coaches help.

From Havana the easy outings are smaller: Hemingway's Finca Vigía, the village of Cojímar and the port of Matanzas. Cuba's highlights, Viñales and Trinidad, need overnight stays and a hired driver or tour.

Cancun is far better set up for children. All-inclusive resorts have kids' clubs and shallow pools, the bay beaches are gentle, and the eco-parks down the coast can fill whole days with underground rivers and animal encounters.

Havana greets children warmly and has some treats, such as the National Aquarium, classic-car rides and the cannons at the fortresses. Little else is designed for them, though, and the broken pavements and scarce baby supplies make it better suited to older children.

Cancun is one long boulevard, and with the heat and patchy pavements even short hops mean a bus or a taxi. Further afield, the coaches and the straight peninsula roads make the region easy to reach.

Havana is the easier city to get around because its core can be walked. Habana Vieja is compact, and the Malecón links it to Vedado in under an hour. Classic-car taxis, shared almendrones and rickshaws cover the rest, although the buses are hard for visitors to use.

Cancun at least has proper shops. Its air-conditioned malls carry international and luxury labels, and Mercado 28 sells hammocks, silver and huipiles, though the stock repeats from stall to stall.

Havana has no fashion or department stores, but what it sells is more its own: cigars, aged rum, coffee and paintings bought straight from artists' studios in Habana Vieja and Vedado.

Cancun's Hotel Zone is priced for international visitors. Resort meals, drinks in the Party Center and tours add up quickly, and the savings are found downtown.

Havana costs less for most travellers, provided they stay in casas particulares with breakfast included, use shared taxis and eat simply. Hotel comfort there is charged at international rates, and you need to carry cash.

Cancun's stage is the folkloric dinner show and the resort's nightly entertainment, with no orchestra or theatre scene to plan around.

In Havana, music is a reason to go. Son, salsa and rumba play from midday in bars and courtyards, Vedado has serious jazz clubs, and the Ballet Nacional de Cuba dances at the Gran Teatro. There is also weekend rumba in the Callejón de Hamel and cabaret at the Tropicana.

Cancun is the better place to rest. The large hotels have full spas with hydrotherapy and massages on the sand, and the Maya temazcal sweat lodge is a local ritual worth trying. For real quiet, stay at the southern end of the strip or in Puerto Morelos.

Havana has few spas and no bathing tradition. Its version of rest is a rocking chair in a colonial courtyard or a balcony in leafy Vedado, in a city that is often hot and noisy.