Havana or Varadero?

In Havana, swimming means a half-hour trip. The Malecón meets the sea with rock and a sea wall, so the white sand at Santa María del Mar and Guanabo makes a day out, with basic shade and food stalls.

Varadero is built around its beach. The northern shore of the Hicacos Peninsula is one continuous stretch of powdery sand on shallow, sheltered water, a few steps from the hotel, and it gets quieter and roomier towards the eastern resorts. Winter cold fronts sometimes bring red flags, but for days spent in the sea it is in a different league.

Neither is a place to travel for the food, but Havana gives a curious eater more to work with. Its paladares, in old mansions, on rooftops and in family flats in Vedado, Miramar and Habana Vieja, range from honest ropa vieja to genuinely inventive cooking. The old bars that made the daiquiri famous are a reason to stay out on their own.

In Varadero most meals are eaten at the resort, from buffets and à la carte restaurants that are dependable but forgettable. A handful of private restaurants in town serve the same Cuban staples with less choice. Fresh tropical fruit and a rum cocktail are the simple highlights.

This is where Havana is furthest ahead. Habana Vieja is a UNESCO-listed grid of colonial plazas and baroque churches, and the Morro and La Cabaña fortresses guard the harbour. Centro and Vedado add art deco streets, the Capitolio and serious museums of art and of the revolution. A week barely covers it all.

Varadero's sights fit into an afternoon. They are the Du Pont family's Xanadu Mansion on its headland, a small museum in an old wooden summer house and pre-Columbian cave drawings in the Varahicacos reserve. Anyone interested in Cuban history ends up going to Havana.

Havana's nights are longer and more varied. Old town bars serve rum until late, salsa clubs in Vedado and Miramar fill with serious local dancers, and arts centres mix galleries with DJs. On warm evenings the whole Malecón becomes an open-air meeting place, though moving between areas means taking taxis.

In Varadero, evenings mostly stay inside the resort, with lobby bars and animation shows. In town, a few open-air bars, salsa clubs and a disco inside a limestone cave make a cheerful outing, but nights usually end well before dawn.

Havana's outdoor life barely leaves the pavement: walking or cycling the Malecón as the waves break, watching the sunset from the fortresses and finding shade in the wooded Almendares park. The nearest real landscape is the Las Terrazas reserve an hour west, with forest trails and waterfalls.

Varadero offers more time outdoors, and most of it is spent on the water. There are catamaran trips to the offshore cays, snorkelling and diving on reefs and wrecks, and kitesurfing when the winter winds blow. On land, the Varahicacos reserve has short trails among giant cactus and caves, and the Cueva de Saturno has a pool for swimming inside a cave.

The easy outings from Havana are modest: Hemingway's house at Finca Vigía and the fishing village of Cojímar on the outskirts, with Matanzas an hour and a half east. Cuba's finest towns are too far for a day and need an overnight stay.

Varadero is better placed. Havana itself, about two hours west, makes an outstanding day out. Matanzas, with its theatre and the Bellamar caves, is only forty minutes away, and the colonial town of Cárdenas is a short drive south. The Bay of Pigs is a longer trip with a strong history behind it.

Cubans in both places are fond of children, so the difference comes down to practicalities. Havana suits older children who like history and music, with the fortress cannons, the National Aquarium in Miramar and classic-car rides. Broken pavements, heavy summer heat and scarce supplies wear out parents of toddlers.

Varadero is much easier with small children. The sea right off the sand is shallow and usually calm, many resorts have kids' clubs and children's pools, and the all-inclusive format takes care of meals. In either place, families should bring medicines and nappies with them.

Both rely on taxis of every kind, including classic cars and round coco-taxis, and Havana is slightly the easier of the two. It has a walkable heart: Habana Vieja is best explored on foot, the Malecón leads to Centro and Vedado in under an hour, and shared almendrones run fixed routes beyond. Pavements are uneven, so take care after dark.

Varadero is one long road of about 20km. The numbered streets at the town end are pleasant to walk, but the eastern resorts are spread out and served by an open-top tourist bus. Leaving the peninsula means booking a transfer, a tour or a driver.

Havana's best buys are its art. The studios and galleries of Habana Vieja and Vedado sell paintings and prints by working Cuban artists, and the large craft market by the harbour adds guayabera shirts, leather and carved wood. Cigars, aged rum and coffee from the state shops complete the bag, though there is no fashion or department-store shopping and shelves can be sparse.

Varadero offers less of everything. Open-air stalls along the main avenue sell carvings, crochet and Che Guevara T-shirts, resort shops cover the beach essentials and a small mall serves the hotel zone. Rum and cigars from the official shops, where they are sure to be genuine, are the purchases worth making.

Costs come out much the same, but the way to spend less differs. Havana rewards independent travellers: a room in a casa particular with breakfast, shared taxis, live music and museum entry all cost little. State hotels and paladares aimed at foreigners push the bill up, and you need plenty of cash.

Varadero's bargain is the all-inclusive package, which undercuts many rival Caribbean resorts for a white-sand week. Once you leave it for taxis, excursions or private restaurants, spending climbs to a middling level.

Music is Havana's strongest suit, and the gap here is wide. Son, bolero and rumba play from midday in old town bars and on street corners, and Vedado has dedicated jazz clubs and the Jazz Plaza festival. The Gran Teatro is home to the Ballet Nacional de Cuba, and the National Symphony plays at the Teatro Amadeo Roldán.

Varadero's music is casual and often good, from trios in hotel lobbies to bands in the town's dance clubs, alongside resort cabaret with feathers. There is no theatre or concert hall, so for ballet or serious jazz you have to head west to Havana.

Havana offers slowness rather than spas: afternoons on a shaded balcony, a rocking chair in a colonial courtyard and the sea at dusk from the Malecón. Noise, heat and exhaust fumes get in the way of real rest, so a guesthouse in leafy Vedado or Miramar helps.

Varadero is the better place to switch off. The days are long, warm and quiet with nothing to organise, especially in the calmer resorts at the eastern end. The larger hotels have spas with treatments in open-air cabins by the sea, though standards vary.