Guanajuato or Nuevo Vallarta?

There is no contest here. Guanajuato is a long day's drive from either coast, so swimming means a hotel pool or a warm balneario out in the countryside.

Nuevo Vallarta is built along a wide golden beach on Banderas Bay. The sand slopes gently into warm water, and the surf at Sayulita and the sheltered coves of Punta Mita are both within about an hour.

Neither is a serious food destination, and the difference is more in kind than in quality. Guanajuato's food is inland, cheap and simple: enchiladas mineras, the upstairs counters of Mercado Hidalgo and gorditas around the plazas. The best meals are in family places a few alleys back from the Jardín de la Unión.

Nuevo Vallarta's good cooking is coastal: pescado zarandeado, aguachile and ceviche in a coconut, with raicilla to drink. You mostly find it in Bucerias or Puerto Vallarta, not inside the resorts where most visitors eat.

Guanajuato is why many people come to this part of Mexico. It has painted houses stacked up a ravine, the baroque Valenciana church, the Alhóndiga with its murals and the macabre mummy museum, enough for two or three full days.

Nuevo Vallarta is a planned enclave of hotels, golf and a marina, with nothing historic of its own. For culture you have to go to Puerto Vallarta's cobbled old streets and crowned church.

Guanajuato has the livelier evenings, thanks to its university. There are terraces around Plaza San Fernando, mezcal bars and a few clubs in the alleys, best from Thursday to Saturday. The scene is small but right on the doorstep.

In Nuevo Vallarta, a night out usually means a lobby bar or a poolside show, and the strip is quiet by midnight. For anything bigger you take a taxi to the malecon and the Zona Romantica in Puerto Vallarta.

Guanajuato's outdoors is dry, rocky hills and the views from them. You can climb to the Pípila for the rooftops, spend half a day on the outcrops of La Bufa, stroll out to the old colonial reservoir park at Presa de la Olla, or head further to the oak forest and bike trails of the Sierra de Santa Rosa. It suits walkers who like a hill and a view, but there are no water sports or boat trips.

Nuevo Vallarta has much the richer outdoors, and most of it is on the water. Humpback whales calve in Banderas Bay in winter, the Marietas Islands offer snorkelling among seabirds and rock arches, and sportfishing boats go out all year. Inland, the Ameca mangroves hold herons and crocodiles, and the Sierra Madre foothills add jungle walks and river canyons.

Guanajuato makes the better base for outings, because the Bajío's colonial heritage lies all around it. San Miguel de Allende, Dolores Hidalgo, Querétaro with its aqueduct and the half-abandoned mining town of Mineral de Pozos are all within reach.

Nuevo Vallarta's trips are mostly along the coast and more alike: Puerto Vallarta half an hour south, the surf and galleries of Sayulita and Bucerias, and the boat-only village of Yelapa. The old mining village of San Sebastián del Oeste in the mountains gives a change of scene.

Nuevo Vallarta is made for families. It has pools, water slides, kids' clubs and a calm, partly gated enclave, plus turtle releases and whale trips that children remember. The summer heat limits time outdoors to mornings and evenings.

Guanajuato welcomes children but has almost nothing built for them, and its steep stairways are hard work with a pushchair. Teenagers tend to enjoy the funicular, the tunnels under the town and the singing callejoneadas.

Guanajuato is compact. Almost everything is a short walk from the Jardín de la Unión, buses and taxis run through the tunnels, and a funicular takes you up to the Pípila. The catch is the steep climbing at about 2000m.

Nuevo Vallarta is spread along a boulevard of resorts, so beyond the beach very little is in walking distance. Taxis, shuttles or a hire car do the work, although the airport is only about twenty minutes away.

Neither is a shopping destination, but Guanajuato has more to browse on foot: leather, cajeta and sweets in Mercado Hidalgo, and majolica-style ceramics and silver in the shops around the centre. Nuevo Vallarta has resort boutiques and a modest mall, and for Huichol beadwork and galleries you go to Bucerias or Puerto Vallarta.

Guanajuato is much the cheaper stay. Market meals, buses and museum entries cost little. The exceptions are the boutique hotels and the restaurants on the main plazas, and rooms are scarce during the Cervantino in October.

In Nuevo Vallarta, nearly all the accommodation is resorts and condominiums priced for North American visitors. All-inclusive packages keep costs predictable, and tacos in Bucerias cost far less than anything inside the enclave.

Guanajuato has a real performing arts life. Each October the Cervantino fills the Teatro Juárez, the plazas and the university courtyards, and all year round estudiantinas lead singing walks through the alleys most evenings.

Nuevo Vallarta offers resort entertainment: poolside shows, mariachis, folkloric dance at themed dinners and one large acrobatic dinner show. For cabaret and drag you go to Puerto Vallarta.

Nuevo Vallarta is the better place to switch off. It has long pool days, resort spas with hydrotherapy circuits, yoga on the beach and the temazcal sweat lodge, the area's one local bathing tradition.

Guanajuato is no retreat, with crowds at weekends and street music late into the night. Wellness there means a hotel massage or a half day at a thermal balneario such as Comanjilla, near León.