Granada, Nicaragua or Tamarindo?

Granada has no beach of its own. Its lakefront is a promenade over murky water, so swimming means going to Laguna de Apoyo, a clear, calm crater lake with docks and lodges. The Pacific is two hours away at San Juan del Sur.

Tamarindo is built around the sand itself. It has a curving golden bay with gentle surf for learners and quieter swimming at the south end and Langosta, and Playa Grande, Avellanas and Conchal, with its clearer water for snorkelling, are a short drive away. Watch for rip currents, and keep away from the crocodiles at the river mouth.

Neither town is a place for memorable meals, but they eat in different ways. Granada's strength is cheap Nicaraguan street food: vigorón on a banana leaf from the park kiosks, nacatamales and the evening fritanga grills. The tourist restaurants on La Calzada are hit and miss.

Tamarindo's menus are shaped by its foreign residents, so you find fish tacos, poke, wood-fired pizza and Argentine grills, with Costa Rican sodas serving casados and ceviche. There is more variety at first, but there is no market life and the choices start to repeat after a week.

Granada is the obvious pick here. Its colonial streets of ochre and blue courtyard houses, the yellow cathedral, the view from La Merced across the roofs to Mombacho and the Zapatera statues in the San Francisco convent make two rewarding days, even without major museums.

Tamarindo grew from a fishing village into a surf strip and has no historic buildings or museums at all. If you are curious about Costa Rican heritage, you have to drive inland to the older towns of the Nicoya Peninsula.

Tamarindo has the busier evenings. They start with sunset drinks on the sand and move to open-air bars along the main road, and a few dance clubs take turns hosting the big night, so something is on most nights.

Granada's nightlife is one street, La Calzada, with cheap rum at tables in the street, hostel bars and salsa at weekends, and it goes quiet early on weeknights. Neither place has much depth, but Tamarindo keeps going for longer.

Both are strong for the outdoors, but on different ground. Around Granada the landscape is volcanic: cloud-forest trails on Mombacho, kayaking among Las Isletas and the rim of Masaya's active crater.

Tamarindo's outdoors is the sea and its edges: surf breaks for every level, diving at the Catalinas Islands, kayaking through the mangroves past crocodiles, and leatherback turtles nesting at Playa Grande in season. Choose Granada to hike volcanoes and Tamarindo to spend your days in the water.

Granada has more within easy reach. Masaya's craft market and Monimbó quarter are half an hour away, and the same road continues to the Pueblos Blancos, with pottery workshops in San Juan de Oriente and Catarina's lookout over Apoyo. Managua is about an hour away.

From Tamarindo, most outings are into nature. The cultural ones are few: Santa Cruz, the region's folkloric centre, the pottery village of Guaitil with its traditional kilns, and Nicoya's old colonial church about an hour away. The rough roads of the wet season slow everything down.

Tamarindo is easier with children. The gentle waves suit children's surf lessons and Langosta is calm at low tide. Mangrove boat trips, turtle nights, zip-lines and resort pools fill the days, as long as you keep an eye on the rip currents.

Granada has its good moments, from carriage rides to the monkey island in Las Isletas and the steaming crater at Masaya. But the steady heat, broken pavements and basic medical care make it better for older, adaptable children than for toddlers.

Granada is the easier town on foot. Its compact colonial grid puts the cathedral, the lakefront and Xalteva a few minutes apart, and cheap taxis and horse carriages help in the midday heat. Tamarindo is small too, but its road has few pavements and fills with traffic and dust, so people walk along the sand or use golf carts and scooters.

Out of town, Granada has cheap but confusing former school buses to Masaya and Managua. Tamarindo's buses miss most beaches, so a rental car, ideally a four-wheel drive, ends up doing much of the work.

Neither is a shopping destination, but Granada gives you more to bring home. Hammocks, Pueblos Blancos pottery, rocking chairs, cigars, coffee and rum are made nearby and sold around La Calzada and the park, and Masaya's market has a wider choice. Tamarindo's shops sell surf gear, swimwear and souvenirs, and its best craft, Guaitil pottery, is better bought in the village itself.

Granada costs far less. Courtyard guesthouses, street food, taxis, buses and volcano tours are all cheap, and even the hotels in restored mansions look modest by North American or European standards.

Tamarindo is a popular resort in Costa Rica, the costliest country in the region. Rooms, meals and tours cost close to home prices, and transport adds up. Hostels, surf camps and sodas soften this, and prices are lower in the wet season.

Neither has a theatre or concert season, so the difference lies in what you come across by chance. Granada's is the more local kind: marimba players and folkloric dancers around the park and La Calzada, dance evenings in hotels and music at religious processions. Tamarindo offers bar bands, acoustic sets and the odd fire dancer on the sand, and Guanacaste folk music is mostly left to the festivals in Santa Cruz.

Tamarindo is the better choice for wellness. It has daily yoga classes, retreats that combine surfing and yoga, and massage everywhere from beach tables to resort spas, and Langosta and Playa Grande are quieter than the main strip. The nearest hot springs, near Rincon de la Vieja, are two hours away.

Granada has less on offer, with a few massage studios and treatments in hotels. What it gives you instead is a slow pace of shaded courtyards, rocking chairs and pools. For a proper retreat, the yoga lodges at Laguna de Apoyo are a short drive away.