Havana or Montego Bay?

Havana has no beach in the centre. Where the Malecón meets the sea there is only rock and sea wall, so swimming means a taxi half an hour east to the Playas del Este, white-sand beaches with simple stalls and lively local weekends.

In Montego Bay the beach is the reason to go. You can walk onto the sand at Doctor's Cave on the Hip Strip, the resorts at Rose Hall and Ironshore have sheltered beaches of their own, and the reef keeps the water calm. The town beaches are small, but Negril's long beach is close enough for a day trip.

Montego Bay has the better food. Jerk smoked over pimento wood at roadside pits, patties from bakeries, ackee and saltfish and fish from beach shacks give it a cooking with real character that you can eat on the street. Fine dining is scarce outside the big hotels.

Havana's best meals are in paladares set in old mansions and on rooftops, and some are inventive. Elsewhere the cooking is plain, there is little street food, and menus depend on supplies. The city is at its best in its drinks: daiquiris and mojitos in the old bars, aged rum and strong coffee.

Here Havana is far ahead. Habana Vieja alone takes days: four colonial squares, baroque churches, the Morro and La Cabaña fortresses across the harbour mouth, and the Capitolio at its edge. Beyond it come the art deco blocks of Centro and Vedado, the Plaza de la Revolución and two serious museums.

Montego Bay's heritage takes an afternoon or two. Rose Hall and Greenwood great houses, and Sam Sharpe Square with its memory of the 1831 rebellion, are the main sights, and the town has no major museums. For more history, go to Falmouth.

Havana's nights are longer and more local. Old town bars serve cocktails late, Vedado and Miramar have salsa clubs where Cubans dance seriously, and on warm evenings the whole Malecón turns into an outdoor gathering. It is spread out, so you take taxis between neighbourhoods.

Montego Bay's going out centres on the Hip Strip, with open-air bars aimed at visitors and cruise passengers. Its local sound-system street dances are livelier, but most people go with someone who knows them, and many resort guests never leave the hotel bar.

Montego Bay has much more outdoors close by. The marine park's reefs are good for snorkelling and diving. Behind the coast are rafting on the Martha Brae, zip lines through old estates, the hand-feeding hummingbirds at Rocklands and guided walks into Cockpit Country.

Havana is flat. Its outdoors means the Malecón at sunset and the shade of the Almendares park, and the nearest forest trails and river pools are at Las Terrazas, about an hour west.

Montego Bay has better outings within reach. Falmouth's Georgian streets are about forty minutes away, the Negril cliffs and Ocho Rios are both reachable for a day, and Nine Mile and the Appleton rum estate make full-day tours. The roads are slow, though.

From Havana the easy trips are smaller: Hemingway's Finca Vigía, Cojímar and the rumba town of Matanzas. Cuba's highlights, Viñales and Trinidad, are too far for a day and need overnight stays.

Montego Bay is easier with children, as long as you stay in a resort. The kids' clubs, splash pools and shallow, warm water inside the reef are made for them, and glass-bottom boats and rafting make good outings.

Havana gives children a warm welcome, and the aquarium, the cannons at the fortresses and classic-car rides go down well. But broken pavements, heavy heat and shortages of baby supplies and medicines make it better for older children than toddlers.

Havana is easier to get around. Habana Vieja is compact enough to walk, and the Malecón takes you on to Vedado in under an hour. Beyond that, the classic-car taxis, shared almendrones and bicycle rickshaws cover most needs, as long as you agree the fare first.

In Montego Bay arriving is quick, because the airport is beside the Hip Strip, but the resorts are strung out along the coast and pavements soon run out. Visitors find the route taxis hard to use, so most rely on tourist taxis and hotel shuttles.

Neither is a shopping destination, and neither has fashion streets. Havana's best buys are art from the studios and galleries of Habana Vieja and Vedado, along with cigars and aged rum, with a large craft market by the harbour.

Montego Bay is more about haggling over carvings and straw work at the Harbour Street market and browsing duty-free jewellery near the cruise port. The most rewarding things to take home are Blue Mountain coffee and jerk seasoning.

Havana is the cheaper of the two, but only if you stay in casas particulares, where breakfast is often included, and eat simply. State hotels and smarter paladares charge far more, and you need to carry cash.

Montego Bay is mostly resorts priced for North American visitors, and taxis and excursions are expensive. Roadside jerk and beach-shack fish save money, but an all-inclusive package is usually the most predictable way to keep the bill under control.

Music is where Havana is strongest. Son, bolero and rumba play to a high standard in old town bars and courtyards from midday, and Vedado has proper jazz clubs. The Gran Teatro is home to the Ballet Nacional de Cuba, and there is weekend rumba in the Callejón de Hamel.

Montego Bay has reggae and dancehall and little else. Reggae Sumfest fills the town for a week each summer, but for the rest of the year it is mostly cover bands and resort shows, with almost no theatre or classical music.

Montego Bay is the better place to unwind, though it all happens inside the hotel. Spa pavilions by the sea, adults-only resorts built for quiet and massages on the sand make rest easy.

Havana has few spas and can be hot, noisy and full of fumes. Its version of rest is a rocking chair in a colonial courtyard or a quiet guesthouse in leafy Vedado.