Cancun or Huatulco?

Cancun's beach is one of the great Caribbean shorelines: about 22km of pale coral sand along the Hotel Zone with turquoise water. Families have the calm bay side around Playa Langosta. The eastern shore from Punta Cancun south has open-sea waves, and in some summers it gets sargassum seaweed.

Huatulco offers a different kind of beach. Instead of one long strip, it has nine separate coves of golden sand between rocky headlands. Some of them, like Cacaluta and El Órgano, can only be reached by boat or forest path. It is more varied and secluded, but it can't match Cancun's long run of soft white sand.

Both cities eat about equally well, and in both the best food is away from the resort buffets. In Cancun, that means going downtown for taco stands, Parque de las Palapas and Mercado 28, where the cooking is Yucatecan: cochinita pibil, sopa de lima and habanero salsas.

Huatulco serves Oaxacan cooking instead: mole, tlayudas and tamales, with mezcal and coffee from the hills behind town. The fondas and market in La Crucecita are a short walk from the plaza rather than a bus ride, and beach palapas grill whole fish right on the bays.

Neither city has much history of its own, since both were planned as resorts. Cancun has the stronger single sight in the Maya Museum, with the San Miguelito ruins in its grounds. Huatulco has the painted dome of the church in La Crucecita and the small Copalita site with its clifftop forest walk. In both places, a morning or an afternoon covers it.

Cancun goes out in a big way. The clubs around the Party Center put on acrobatic shows, sell open-bar wristbands and keep going until four or five in the morning, while downtown bars on Avenida Tulum give a cheaper, more local alternative. It is loud and all aimed at the same crowd, but the choice is wide.

Huatulco's evenings are a long dinner, then mezcal around the La Crucecita plaza or a beachfront bar in Santa Cruz, and most of the year the town is quiet by midnight. If you want a party here, you have to head up the coast to Zipolite.

Huatulco has the better outdoors, and much of it is on land as well as at sea. The coast is a national park of dry tropical forest, cliffs, blowholes and coral that is easy to snorkel. Humpback whales pass from December to March. Inland, there is rafting on the Copalita River, waterfalls and coffee farms in the Sierra Sur foothills.

Cancun's nature is almost all water. There is diving on the Mesoamerican Reef, the underwater sculptures of MUSA, swimming in cenotes and swimming with whale sharks in summer. On land it is flat scrub with no real hiking.

Cancun has much better day trips, mainly because the Maya world is within reach. Chichen Itza and Valladolid make a long day out. Coba and Ek Balam pair well, and Tulum's clifftop ruins, Playa del Carmen and the ferry to Isla Mujeres are all close.

Huatulco's best outing is a laid-back hour west along the coast to Mazunte's turtle centre, Puerto Ángel and Zipolite, with the surf town of Puerto Escondido a little further on. The heritage of Oaxaca city is too far for a day, so it needs an overnight stay.

Cancun is built to keep children busy. Its big resorts have shallow pools and kids' clubs, the northern bay beaches are calm, and there is an aquarium in the Hotel Zone plus eco-parks with underground rivers down the coast. The catches are the strong currents on the eastern shore and needing transport for every outing.

Huatulco is calmer and easier to manage, and children can snorkel among fish just off La Entrega. But there is no aquarium or theme park, so after a week of beaches older children may get restless.

Huatulco is the easier of the two. Its bays are only short drives apart, La Crucecita is compact enough to walk, and taxis and colectivos cover the main routes. The more remote coves still need a boat or a hire car.

Cancun stretches along one long road, Boulevard Kukulcan. The frequent buses work well, but the distances, the heat and patchy pavements mean you won't walk much. For longer journeys it has the better coaches, with ADO running to Playa del Carmen, Tulum and Valladolid.

Cancun has more shopping, even if much of it could be anywhere. Air-conditioned malls in the Hotel Zone stock international fashion, luxury labels and duty-free, and Mercado 28 downtown sells hammocks, silver and huipiles if you are willing to bargain.

Huatulco has no proper shops, just stalls around the plazas in La Crucecita and Santa Cruz. Their Oaxacan textiles, black pottery and alebrijes are more distinctive, but serious buyers wait for Oaxaca city.

Huatulco is the cheaper of the two. Small guesthouses in La Crucecita, market breakfasts, fondas and short taxi rides keep everyday costs low. Prices only rise if you stay in the Tangolunda resorts or book boat tours.

Cancun's Hotel Zone is priced for international visitors, and beachfront rooms, Party Center drinks and organised tours soon add up. You can cut costs a lot by eating downtown and using local buses, but a stay on the sand will never be cheap.

Neither city is a reason to go for theatre or concerts, but Cancun offers a bit more. There are folkloric dinner shows with mariachi, large evening spectacles of music and dance at the eco-parks, and a small theatre downtown. Huatulco has little beyond Oaxacan folk dance in the resorts and occasional music on the La Crucecita plaza during festivals.

Both cities are about equally good for relaxing, and both offer the temazcal, a guided steam bath with herbs that goes back to before the Spanish arrived. The difference is where the calm comes from. In Cancun it comes from the large resort spas, with hydrotherapy circuits and treatment rooms looking out to sea, but the boulevard traffic and the noise from the Party Center make the Hotel Zone itself far from peaceful.

Huatulco is the reverse: its spas are more modest, but the whole low-rise town is quiet and slow, so a peaceful stay comes without much effort.