Guanajuato or Mexico City?

Neither city is a beach destination. Both sit high on the central plateau, and swimming means a hotel pool. Around Guanajuato you can try the warm-water balnearios in the countryside, while from Mexico City the Pacific at Acapulco is several hours away and best added as a separate stay on the coast.

This is one of the widest gaps between the two. Guanajuato eats simply and cheaply: enchiladas mineras, gorditas from street vendors, and the food counters and cajeta stalls at Mercado Hidalgo. The best meals are in small family places off the main square, but after a few days the choice starts to repeat.

Mexico City is a food destination in its own right. Al pastor at late-night stands, blue-corn quesadillas and markets such as Medellín and La Merced lead on to the cantinas, bakeries and highly regarded tasting menus of Roma, Condesa and Polanco, with pulquerías and good Mexican coffee as well. The only drawback is how spread out it all is.

In Guanajuato the town itself is the sight: a UNESCO-listed ravine of ochre, pink and blue houses, the baroque Templo de la Valenciana, the Teatro Juárez and the Alhóndiga de Granaditas, the granary stormed in the opening battle of the War of Independence, which now holds the regional museum. Add the Quijote museum and the mummies and you have a rich but compact set, covered in two or three days.

Mexico City works on another scale and goes much deeper. The Templo Mayor beside the cathedral shows the Aztec capital beneath the colonial one, and the National Museum of Anthropology is a world-class collection in its own right. Kahlo's house in Coyoacán and the Xochimilco canals add more, enough to fill a week. Both cities claim Diego Rivera: Guanajuato has his birthplace, and the capital has his great murals at the National Palace.

Guanajuato's evenings revolve around its university: terraces on the Jardín de la Unión and Plaza San Fernando, then small bars and mezcal spots in the alleys from Thursday to Saturday. It is sociable and easy, but you will not find much clubbing.

Mexico City offers a full night out. Roma and Condesa let you walk between cocktail bars and rooftops, the Centro keeps its old cantinas, and there are electronic clubs until dawn, salsa and cumbia halls and a large LGBTQ scene in the Zona Rosa. Expect to take a ride-hailing car home.

The two are broadly level, but the outdoors works differently. In Guanajuato you walk straight out of town: up to the Pípila or the rocks of La Bufa for views over the rooftops, with the oak forest trails of the Sierra de Santa Rosa a little further out.

From Mexico City the landscapes are bigger and harder to reach. The volcanoes at Paso de Cortés, the crater lakes of Nevado de Toluca and the winter monarch reserves are all real highlights, but getting through the traffic uses up much of the day. Air quality also suffers in the dry season.

Both make excellent bases, but the outings are of different kinds. From Guanajuato the trips are mostly colonial towns: San Miguel de Allende, Dolores Hidalgo with its Talavera workshops, Querétaro's aqueduct and the ghostly mining town of Mineral de Pozos, all easy by bus.

Mexico City adds the ancient world. Teotihuacan's pyramids lie about an hour away, and Cholula's church-topped pyramid sits beside tiled Puebla, while Taxco and Tepoztlán lie to the south. Here an early start matters, because leaving the city is slow.

Mexico City is the better choice with children. Chapultepec has the zoo, boating lakes and the hands-on Papalote museum, and there is an aquarium in Polanco, a theme park on the southern edge, trajinera boats at Xochimilco and lucha libre. The trade-off is long journeys and crowded trains.

Guanajuato suits older children who enjoy the funicular, the tunnels under the town and perhaps the mummies. It has little else aimed at families, and the stairways rule out a pushchair.

Guanajuato is easier to manage. Almost everything is a short walk from the Jardín de la Unión, and cars and buses run through tunnels below the streets. The catch is the gradient: steep lanes and stairways at about 2000m make walking slow, though cheap taxis and the funicular help.

Mexico City's favourite districts are pleasant on foot, but they are far apart. You will combine the metro, the Metrobús and ride-hailing cars, while dealing with rush-hour crushes, pickpockets on trains and heavy traffic.

Guanajuato's shopping is modest: majolica-style ceramics, silver, wooden toys and Cervantes keepsakes, plus sweets and leather at Mercado Hidalgo. For serious leather, people go to León.

Mexico City gathers crafts from the whole country at La Ciudadela, and adds a Saturday art bazaar in San Ángel, antiques at La Lagunilla and the herb and piñata stalls of the Sonora market. It also has the fashion Guanajuato lacks, from the luxury houses of Masaryk to Mexican designers and concept stores in Roma and Condesa.

Both are inexpensive, with cheap street food, market meals and transport, so the difference lies in where costs rise. In Guanajuato that means boutique hotels in colonial mansions, the terraces on the main plazas and especially October, when the Cervantino makes rooms scarce.

In Mexico City it depends more on the neighbourhood. Staying and eating in Roma, Condesa or Polanco can feel like a European capital, while the Centro and local eateries keep a trip cheap all year.

Guanajuato's performing life is concentrated in October, when the Festival Internacional Cervantino fills the Teatro Juárez, plazas and university courtyards with international theatre, dance and orchestras. Through the rest of the year, there are the nightly student callejoneadas and a modest programme in the theatre.

Mexico City offers a full calendar all year. Bellas Artes hosts the national opera, symphony and the Ballet Folklórico, which works well even without Spanish, and Sala Nezahualcóyotl and the Auditorio Nacional add concerts. There are also mariachis in Plaza Garibaldi and lucha libre at Arena México.

Neither city is restful, but Mexico City has more on offer. The pre-Hispanic temazcal steam bath and good day spas in Polanco, Roma and Condesa are within reach, and Cuernavaca and Tepoztlán work well as a quiet retreat to the south. Guanajuato relies on hotel spas and the thermal balnearios near León, such as Comanjilla. Its weekend crowds and street music late into the night rule out real calm.