Cancun or Varadero?

Both are among the Caribbean's great beaches, with long strips of pale sand on turquoise water. The difference is in how the sea behaves. Cancun's Hotel Zone has two sides: a calm bay on the northern arm, and an open eastern shore where the waves and currents mean watching the flags. Some summers, sargassum seaweed washes up on that eastern side.

Varadero's northern shore is gentler from end to end. It is shallow and sheltered for most of its length, quieter towards the eastern resorts and the empty coves at the tip, and busier with Cuban families near the town on weekends. The rough spells here come with winter cold fronts and the hurricane season rather than with which stretch of sand you pick.

Cancun offers far more to anyone who will leave the hotel. Downtown's taco stands, Parque de las Palapas and the Mercado 28 and 23 halls serve proper Yucatecan cooking: cochinita pibil, sopa de lima, panuchos and fierce habanero salsas, with ceviche near the lagoon.

Varadero's choice is much narrower. You eat mostly at resort buffets, plus a few private restaurants in town serving ropa vieja, black beans and lobster, depending on what ingredients can be found. Its real pleasures come in a glass: a rum daiquiri, fresh fruit and strong Cuban coffee.

Neither has much history of its own, since both were built as resorts. Cancun's best sight is the Maya Museum, with the small San Miguelito ruins in its grounds and the modest El Rey and El Meco sites nearby, so it gives you a first look at the ancient peninsula.

Varadero's sights tell two separate stories. The Du Pont family's Xanadu Mansion, the old wooden villas in town and the small Municipal Museum, set in a former summer house, cover the early days of the resort. Older still are the pre-Columbian cave drawings in the Cueva de Ambrosio, in the Varahicacos reserve. Either town fills only a few hours, and the serious culture is out on day trips.

Cancun is built for a big night out. Around the Party Center, giant clubs put on acrobats, confetti drops and open bars until four or five in the morning, though nearly every venue chases the same vacation crowd. Downtown's Avenida Tulum has cheaper bars where residents drink.

Varadero's evenings are smaller and gentler. Most happen in resort lobby bars, and in town a few open-air bars, salsa clubs where locals dance well and a disco inside a limestone cave fill out the scene. It is better for dancing than for clubbing, and nights usually end well before dawn.

Both sit on flat limestone with no real hiking, so most outdoor time is spent in the water, and Cancun has more of it. The Mesoamerican Reef off Puerto Morelos and Isla Mujeres, the MUSA underwater sculptures, the Ruta de los Cenotes, whale shark swims in summer and kayaking through the Nichupte mangroves give it a wider range.

Varadero's version is catamaran trips to offshore cays, reef and wreck diving, and short trails through cactus and caves in the Varahicacos reserve. The Yumuri valley and the Zapata wetlands, with their birds and crocodiles, add green scenery inland, but both take a proper excursion to reach.

Cancun gives you the wider choice of outings. Chichen Itza with Valladolid and a cenote makes a long day, Coba and Ek Balam sit in jungle, and Isla Mujeres, Playa del Carmen and the clifftop ruins at Tulum are all easy to reach along the coast.

Varadero has fewer options but one standout: Havana, about two hours away, for Old Havana, the Malecón and the classic cars. Closer in, Matanzas has its nineteenth-century theatre and the Bellamar caves, and the Bay of Pigs makes a longer historical outing.

Both rely on the all-inclusive format, with kids' clubs, children's pools and easy meals, but Cancun has more for children beyond the sand. Its calm bay beaches, an aquarium, gentle lagoon snorkelling and the large eco-parks down the coast can fill several days. The downsides are the strong eastern currents and the need for transport to get anywhere.

Varadero's shallow, warm sea is ideal for small swimmers, and Cubans are warm towards children. Past that, there are only a dolphin centre, boat trips and Josone Park. Supplies such as nappies and medicines are hard to find, and medical care is basic.

Getting around is awkward in both, but Varadero is a little easier day to day. Its old town is a compact grid of numbered streets you can walk comfortably, and the open-top tourist bus, coco-taxis and rental bikes on flat roads cover the rest of the peninsula.

Cancun's Hotel Zone is one long, hot boulevard with patchy pavements, so you depend on the frequent local buses and on taxis, where you should agree the fare first. For longer trips, its ADO coaches and straight, easy roads are more straightforward than Varadero's transfers and hired drivers.

Cancun has much more on offer, even if little of it is distinctive. Air-conditioned malls in the Hotel Zone stock international and luxury labels, and Mercado 28 sells huipiles, hammocks, silver and vanilla, though you will need to bargain and the stalls repeat one another.

Varadero offers little beyond craft stalls on the main avenue and resort shops. The things worth buying are rum and cigars from official shops, and everyday items can be hard to find.

Varadero is the cheaper of the two if you stay inside the package, because its all-inclusive deals undercut many Caribbean rivals. Taxis, excursions and private restaurants are priced for foreigners, though, so roaming independently pushes the cost towards middling.

Cancun's Hotel Zone, with its beachfront hotels, Party Center drinks and ruin tours, costs more. Its saving grace is the wide gap with downtown, where taco stands, local buses and small hotels cost a fraction of resort prices.

Neither has opera, an orchestra or a theatre scene, but Varadero has more real music. Son and salsa trios play in lobbies and on restaurant terraces, and full bands play the dance clubs, often very well. For ballet or serious Cuban music, Havana is within reach. Cancun's performances are mostly staged for visitors: mariachi dinner shows, resort entertainment and big evening spectacles at the eco-parks.

Cancun goes further, with large resort spas offering hydrotherapy circuits and massages on the sand, plus the temazcal, a guided Maya sweat lodge ritual with herbs and steam. The catch is traffic and Party Center noise, so if you want quiet, look to the southern end of the strip or to Puerto Morelos.

Varadero's spas are simpler and their standards vary, with no bathing tradition of its own. Its strength is a slow rhythm, especially in the calm resorts towards the eastern tip.